Mary Gernat

[Courtenay]

I thought he was referring to his own!

He wore girls' knickers??

[Rob Houghton]

Welcome to the forums, Roger.

A lovely idea, and I would definitely be interested also.

One of my favourite of your mother's covers, and also one of my favourite Enid Blyton books, is the cover for 'The Rubadub Mystery' - dramatic and exciting!

[Daisy]

I thought he was referring to his own!

He wore girls' knickers??

One of my favourites is this amusing illustration for Claudine at St. Clare's:

I was at school in the 50s, and navy blue was the choice of colour for under garments! Let's hope somebody doesn't use it as an avatar....

Girls are not mentioned in Nigel's comment!

[Julie2owlsdene]

I have one or two of those illustration in some of my paperbacks. I like them very much.

[lizarfau]

One of my favourites is this amusing illustration for Claudine at St. Clare's:

I was at school in the 50s, and navy blue was the choice of colour for under garments! Let's hope somebody doesn't use it as an avatar....

Girls are not mentioned in Nigel's comment!

Ah, but he was commenting on the colour of Claudine's knickers in the illo.

Anyway, to get back on track, it would be great to see a definitive list of Mary Gernat's covers. I'd like to know which of Malcolm Savile's Lone Pine series she illustrated as they're not always credited.

[walter raleigh]

Yes, hopefully Roger will pop back and give us all a bit more detail on his mother's career. It'd be nice to have a definitive list, straight from the horse's mouth as it were - especially of her Blyton work.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree - a list would be great.

[Rob Houghton]

Yes, hopefully Roger will pop back and give us all a bit more detail on his mother's career. It'd be nice to have a definitive list, straight from the horse's mouth as it were - especially of her Blyton work.

The paperback of Tally Ho Cottage is really lovely - one of my favourites.

Not connected to Mary Gernat, but the other paperback you bought, of The Castle Of Adventure has a cover illustration that has been one of my faves for a long time, before I even read the actual novel, as my sister owned a copy when I was too young to read it.



It has to be one of Blyton's most dramatic paperback covers - pity it's uncredited. I remember the back had a car crashing down a steep bank - which always made the book seem twice as dramatic than it really was!

[walter raleigh]

I agree it is a very striking cover. Shame we don't know the illustrator for these editions as they are lovely pictures. My favourite would be "Circus" though:

[Rob Houghton]

I agree - in fact all the Adventure books had great first-time paperback illustrations...apart from 'Island' which I'm not over keen on.

getting back to Mary Gernat, I'd completely forgotten that she illustrated the original hardback edition of 'The Six Bad Boys' - and the illustrations in this are fantastic.

[Lucky Star]

Beautiful illustrations from Mary Gernat. Those classic Armada covers deserve to be much better known. They knock today's efforts into a cocked hat.

[pete9012S]

True John,but at least the modern butchered versions have no internal content that could offend anybody.
Is The Six Bad Boys still in print? Has it been altered?
When was the last untampered version published I wonder?

[Rob Houghton]

According to the Cave, as recently as 2013.



Love this cover! A rare instance of a modern cover that is aesthetically pleasing!

I have a version from the 90's and this is unaltered...not sure about the 2013 version though...but it does have some very favourable views on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Six-Bad-Boys-En ... nid+blyton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Poppy]

I have two books of the same version:



I love the front cover artwork: I think the silhouette-effect is very dramatic and unique. These editions are edited quite heavily, but I'm not sure about the 'Family Adventures'.

[Rob Houghton]

It's a shame they are so heavily edited, but I think these are the books that Gillian edited a number of years ago? I'm not sure she ever edited The Six Bad Boys though - as it wasn't edited in the 1990's version I have.

I really do love all these cover designs - some of the best I've seen in a long while.