The Enid Blyton Society

pete9012S wrote:See what your chums over at S&R say:

Eileen Soper:
It was not until 1941 that her career as a book illustrator took off when the publishers Macmillan suggested her name to Enid Blyton , firstly for a series of Nature Readers.

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Tony Summerfield wrote:
I do hate it when authoritative statements are made which are absolute rubbish! The Macmillan Nature Readers were published in 1945 and by this time Soper had already done quite a bit of illustrating for Enid.

pete9012S wrote:

Tony Summerfield wrote:
I do hate it when authoritative statements are made which are absolute rubbish! The Macmillan Nature Readers were published in 1945 and by this time Soper had already done quite a bit of illustrating for Enid.

Do you think they meant to say The Macmillan ENID BLYTON READERS 1 from 1942?


http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... +Readers+1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rob Houghton wrote:I don't agree about Eileen Soper's illustrations being 'artistically' or 'technically' superior to other illustrators. I think many other Famous Five artists were 'technically' and 'artistically' better. Eileen Soper was often very 'rough' with her lines in her Famous Five illustrations - often drew people with very angular faces, didn't put much detail on faces, had women with big wide square shoulders, etc etc - but her illustrations create a nostalgic feeling amongst readers who grew up with her work, and also convey that same feeling to those of us who didn't grow up with her.

I still like Eileen Soper's Famous Five work (although I think her work for other books, such as the 'Bright', 'Happy', 'Gay' story book series, was technically and artistically superior and much more accomplished than her FF work) - but I also like several others, who were just as accomplished - in fact most of the illustrators (except perhaps Jolyne Knox) up until 2010 'do it' for me in various degrees.

But I do think Eileen Soper's work for the Famous Five - especially in the later books - is often overrated - sometimes it looks rushed and unfinished, compared to her early Famous Five work, and her other illustrations for short stories.

I bet I'm shot down now!!

Rob Houghton wrote:I know we've discussed these covers before, but I had a closer look at this one today, when I saw it on eBay -



In my view, this is a great example of why I dislike the modern covers. First, they don't really portray anything - no scene from the book - certainly no excitement. 'Five Go Off In A Caravan' is one of the most picturesque and most exciting adventures of The Famous Five, with the long lazy caravan journey, the fierce villains, the under-ground adventures, but none of this is shown or even hinted at, on the cover.

Then you have the terrible depictions of the characters - sub-human. But that's just my own opinion.

Then you have a glimpse of circus tents between the hills - but in this book the circus tent is packed away - its not erected - because the circus isn't open - so why depict it on the cover?

Last but not least - Pongo seems to be being depicted as some kind of small monkey that can cling to someone's head. Pongo is a chimpanzee - much bigger than the strange creation the illustrator has depicted.

Are these covers seriously the best the publishers could come up with?

Anita Bensoussane wrote: I feel the same about Eileen Soper. I love her illustrations for the Nature Plates and for Enid Blyton's short stories but her work for the Famous Five books varies. Sometimes it's excellent and full of atmosphere but at other times it looks as though it was hastily dashed off.