The Enid Blyton Society

My first copy of this book was with the Mary Gernat illustrations, which I liked for the quirkiness. Unlike Anita, I actually quite like the rough style...far better than J. Abbey. I now have the original hardback version, but his illustrations have always seemed awkward to me, out of proportion, with large heads and small bodies. He also seemed a lazy illustrator to me, using the same stock image of a character in several illustrations with just minor changes. Often the characters seem to be 'pasted in' to a scene, and dont all seem to be part of the same drawing, as they bear no resemblance to each other in perspective or angle.

My favourite Find Outer illustrator by far is Lilian Buchanan. She has a lightness of touch that is missing in the illustrations of J Abbey and Treyer Evans - although Treyer Evans is my second favourite. J Abbey, in my opinion, was one of Enid's worst illustrators!

J Abbey, in my opinion, was one of Enid's worst illustrators!

Worse than Betty Maxey?!

...actually I think I DO prefer Betty Maxey...but only just..but then I grew up with the Betty Maxey illustrations and didn't know any better until I was in my 20's! I didn't really count Betty Maxey as being one of the worst of Enid's illustrators because she wasn't an illustrator that Enid actually chose herself.

Did Enid actually choose her illustrators, or were they normally chosen by the publishers?

I'm not totally sure, but was under the impression she at least 'vetted' them before they were used, as I've seen photos of her going through illustrations.