John Pickup wrote: My favourite is the second one although I have never been convinced that the funnel of the train would have cleared the roof of the tunnel.
Yes John, the normally Invincible Eileen does seem to vacillate on the height of the tunnel and the funnel in the illustrations of this scene!
Clearance? Mmmmm...
No clearance issues?
Magazine illustration - no clearance issues
And finally: For the discerning Maxey enthusiast, a closer look at her externals for a change!
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane - Society Member
This comparison of Blyton covers through the years gives a good view of the way in which the overall publishing 'high-ups' view of the target marker for Enid's books has changed over 50-odd years. Having been brought up on a mixture of Eileen Soper and Betty Maxey covers (and internals), I have never really got used to the modern enthusiasm for the 'cartoony' covers, which I agree seem to show the characters as distorted caricatures. These latest covers are hardly going to be looked back on as 'classics', I fear! I suspect the fads of what was taught in art schools in the noughties has a lot to do with this - an abrupt shift from a 'naturalistic' and 'portrait-like' way of portraying characters to a more abstract one. A down-playing of acquiring the skills of draughtsmanship as too complicated or off-putting ? Or a sign of the influence of comic and 'manga'-style art as a mainstream concept not just an odd sideline for younger specialist enthusiasts?
Checking the other books illustrated by the most recent Blyton illustrators, I see that these are mainly in the field of writings for younger children, and 'jokey' or fantasy ones at that, usually in the 'David Walliams kids' books ' style of market. Whether this is really 'appropriate' for Enid's adventure books is another matter - surely it would fit just being used for the 'Faraway Tree' style fantasy books better? Or are the publishers trying to lure the fantasy readers to move on to Enid's adventure stories by using the same illustrators - a sign of rather too much caution, compared to the more confident attitude of the early editions' publishers to their readers?
The earlier EB illustrators had done work for younger readers too, but more in the field of nature books where realistic illustrations were normal.It would be interesting to know if there are any good 'naturalistic' younger illustrators still out there, or if they are being ignored by the publishers for major contracts as 'not cool and modern' ?
John Pickup wrote:My copy is the original one although I don't have a first edition. My favourite is the second one although I have never been convinced that the funnel of the train would have cleared the roof of the tunnel. The last two covers are awful in my opinion but it's not my age bracket the publishers are aiming for.
No - the publishers are obviously aiming for the dumbed-down immaturity of your average kid these days!!
Interesting observation about the train and the tunnel in the second cover pic. I'd never noticed before, but yes, it certainly looks as if the funnel would not clear the tunnel roof! I wonder if there was a technical reason for this...? It rather looks as if Eileen misjudged the top half of the illustration and didn't leave much room for the title and the Enid Blyton signature (in the first edition covers Enid's name was always at the bottom) - and it almost looks as if the tunnel may have been lowered slightly in order to accommodate Enid's name on the lighter part of the drawing so it avoided the dark tunnel background.
Last edited by Rob Houghton on 15 Jan 2020, 13:53, edited 1 time in total.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
I agree those from the 1990's were good covers. When I first started collecting Famous Five books as an adult (I only read two as a child!) those were the hardback books I bought, as they were fairly cheap and easy to find.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
Its a pity the artist is uncredited. I've seen many examples of the same artist in various magazines and books.
The first time I came across them was in my 'Story teller Magazines - which I collected in the early 1980's - a great collection of traditional and modern tales, all wonderfully illustrated by different artists, each magazine accompanied by a tape with famous people reading the stories. I still have them all - so I checked to see who I think the illustrator was. As far as I can tell it was Francis Phillips, who also illustrated the 'Teddy Bear' annuals and comics in the 1970's.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
Thanks for providing the information about Francis Phillips, Rob. It's a shame that such an atmospheric illustration wasn't credited to the artist in the book. After studying all of the illustrated covers Pete has posted, the one by Phillips (if Rob is correct) is now my favourite.
After doing a bit more research, it seems he was sometimes known as William Francis Phillips.
I'm only going by the style of his illustrations, so I may be wrong, given that the Famous Five covers weren't credited, but I feel about 80% sure that's who the illustrator is!
Phillips drew the main illustration on this cover -
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
Interesting from Pete's 15 January copy of the Go Off To Camp 1948 first edition cover - which I haven't read before - that Enid's publishers were 'interacting' with the readers , no doubt as per Enid's wishes, on the extension of the Five series and the reasons for this ie reader enthusiasm. (Note it's 'the Fives' not 'the Famous Fives'; the usual FF name hadn't been invented/ borrowed from the Billy Bunter series by Charles Hamilton yet.) That means that Enid had decided to abandon her 'only do a series of six books for each group of characters' rule before she finished the Malory Towers series of six - but reverted to it when deciding to halt MT at six books. Also, the person who suggested the name 'Famous Five' ( a man who had read a lot of Billy Bunter as a boy?) probably joined the publishers after this date, as the extension to the series was not broadcast to the readers as a 'Famous Five' venture.
Did Imogen leaving school mean that Enid had run out of ideas/ sources of info from life at Benenden/ motives to continue MT after 1949/50? And is there any clue to why she never completed a series of six for Naughtiest Girl - lack of equivalent sales to MT and St Clare's? Similarly for only doing 'one book plus sequel' on Mistletoe Farm and the Adventurous Four, and three on Cherry Tree/ Willow Tree Farm?
Adrian Chesterman's website has all his digital illustrations from the Famous Five books and they are extremely detailed when seen in the larger format.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.
Thanks for the link, Fiona. They are certainly very detailed in the larger format! I quite like Adrian's artwork - much, much better than the more recent efforts! The one thing that put me off - which is silly really - is that they were used on the covers of the modernised abridged Famous Five books that were meant to completely replace the originals. Thankfully they quickly faded from sight - but its a pity they didn't reuse the cover pics (as far as I know).
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'
.
.
