The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Enid used many illustrators in her books. Discuss them here.
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pete9012S
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The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by pete9012S »

THE FAMOUS FIVE 1942 - 1964

Enid Blyton's Famous Five through the years a pictorial comparison.


http://share.pho.to/4sRrx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


There has been a wide ranging reaction to the Betty Maxey depictions of the Famous Five from 1967-1974.
The comments have ranged from 'excellent' to 'dire'.
How did everyone's favourite Famous Five illustrator fare in depicting the same characters for around twenty years?

There seems to be a point were the children are almost grown up.Note their relative heights (especially Julian's) through the series to adults.
It is stated in the book that Mr Penruthlan is 'a giant of a man' and yet Julian seems only about two or three inches shorter than him,making Julian surely somewhere around the six foot mark himself.

Comparing Julian later on,he can appear to be shorter than some of the woman or other adults he is talking too,showing that Eileen Soper certainly did bring the children down in size after having being requested to do so.

I did notice reading the books when young that the Five grew taller and got bigger in the illustrations in the books,did you?
It didn't seem to be a problem,as I was growing bigger and taller myself between reading each book,as I'm sure you yourself were... :D
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Re: The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I think perhaps that you could do with a slightly better picture to start that off, Pete, your other scans are so nice! :lol:

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

I have never understood why people must try and put ages to the Famous Five as it isn't done with many other fictional characters, even Enid Blyton's. It would be plain silly to say that by the final Secret Seven book Peter would be in his early 20s. Poor William Brown in Just William would be over 50 and Anthony Jennings would certainly be close to 40!! :roll:
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Re: The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by pete9012S »

Thank you Tony. I have swapped the first pic for your superior scan! :D
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Re: The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I see now why the illustrations in my Famous Five books haven't greatly affected the way I picture the Five in my imagination. My Knight paperbacks have a mixture of Eileen Soper and Betty Maxey illustrations, and Soper varies the children's ages while Maxey is wildly inconsistent in her portrayal of Uncle Quentin. Therefore, I haven't been exposed to a settled image of the Five and their world.

Of all the Enid Blyton illustrators I think Stuart Tresilian's pictures for the Adventure series have lodged in my mind most, affecting the way I imagine the characters to look. The same applies to Gilbert Dunlop's representations of Snubby and co. (even though the fifth Barney book was illustrated by Anyon Cook). And Rene Cloke has influenced the way I picture characters like Elizabeth Allen, Mister Meddle and Mr. Pink-Whistle, while Grace Lodge has influenced me when it comes to characters like Binkle and Flip, Brer Rabbit and Tiptoe and Jolly.
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Re: The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by Moonraker »

Tony Summerfield wrote: I have never understood why people must try and put ages to the Famous Five as it isn't done with many other fictional characters...
Yes, I agree. A case in point is Malcolm Savilles's Lone Pine members. The twins were 10 in book one, set in WWII. Later books are set in the late 60s, and they're still 10! You just have to suspend belief - the alternative would be to have less books, and we don't want that!
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Re: The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I thought after all your hard work, Pete, you would like to see exactly what the torch was lighting up, so as it was a nice sunny day today I spent several hours giving a fairly grotty dustwrapper a makeover for you!

http://enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-det ... ve+Special" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wonder how long it will be before this appears on someone else's website!!
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Re: The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by pete9012S »

That's very impressive Tony,thank you!
I've replaced my rather grotty,well worn depiction on the site for yours.. :D
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Re: The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

A lovely and imaginative idea for a dustwrapper illustration - thanks, Tony!
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Re: The Famous Five 1942-1964 A Pictorial Comparison

Post by yarvelling »

Thanks for that original post Pete; it's a great illustration of the artist's development of the characters throughout the series of books, even if she did fall into the trap of trying to be too *logical*, and having every story following in strict chronological order! :)

It also demonstrates quite nicely the point that I made in the Betty Maxey thread, where Eileen Soper's style of drawing seemed to change, and 'loosen up'; in Treasure Island, the drawings are tight, and detailed.... as the series progressed they seemed to get more angular and looser; less detail - still beautiful drawings, just less attention lavished on them!

As for the ageing; as I mention earlier, I think she made the mistake of trying to work the stories too closely into a strict chronological flow. I don't think Enid Blyton ever wrote the books this way though. She never places them in *time* as such. Never a year mentioned, only seasons: Summer hols, or Easter hols, etc.
Even the stories written during WWII never referenced the ongoing conflict; one or two only ever mention a vague war in the past...

I think to avoid the inevitable ageing problem, she probably just ignored it!! Much like she avoided mention of other unpleasant bodily functions; they're just not really *needed* as such in a work of fiction!
Likewise, many other authors are 'guilty' of the same thing; even in more adult books - characters never age, or use the loo.

It struck me as rather novel in a way that when reading the Harry Potter books, the characters were allowed to age naturally because that was integral to the overall plot; and rather cleverly, the characters aged and developed at the same pace as the intended audience: Harry was 11 when he first attended Hogwarts; and about the age group that I believe JK Rowling was aiming the book for. The books also developed in complexity of language used and depth of plot as each 'year' progressed, so that the reader would not 'out-grow' the books; by the time they were 16 or 17, they'd never feel like they were still reading a children's book.

Enid never had that requirement with her stories and so only the vaguest of continuities was followed - in any of her series, not just the FF's! It also allowed a new 10 year old in 1960 to pick up the latest book and not feel out of their depth, or have nothing to relate to characters that by rights should have been late teens/early twenty year-olds! :) She was right therefore, to ask Eileen Soper to reign-in the character a bit, and draw them as younger again! :)
Betty Maxey never did this, presumably as she started re-illustrating the books randomly throughout the late 60's and early 70's, and hadn't followed the characters in a strict time-line as Eileen had done. One of the few things that Betty Maxey actually got *right* with her illustrations of the FF books (to me, but I won't open that argument here ;) )!!

Enid's books were pure escapist fun, full of mystery, adventure and intrigue, set in an idyllic and rather generic Britain, with few mentions of real places; just lots of exciting spots for adventure, and all based loosely on several real places all mixed together..
A timeless fantasy world created for fantasy adventures, though based, and still grounded on reality. :)
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