The Enid Blyton Society

Some dogs are skinny but healthy especially the greyhound breed.

A good point sixret. The Whippet is a very streamlined dog too:




Whippet Stud dog - Buckinghamshire

I really love those cover illustrations - very 'comic book' in their style - nostalgic - and rather like the illustrations in my favourite Famous Five annuals, except for the depiction of Timmy!

I wondered if this illustrator was true to the text in any way...

"This is Timothy," she said. "Don't you think he is simply perfect?"
As a dog, Timothy was far from perfect. He was the wrong shape, his head was too big, his ears were too pricked, his tail was too long and it was quite impossible to say what kind of a dog he was supposed to be. But he was such a mad, friendly, clumsy, laughable creature that every one of the children adored him at once.

It seems strange to say 'his ears were too pricked'...is that a bad thing?! I would have thought it was good!

Wow! The French cover depicts Timmy to a tee!

except for his ears.

Now there's something just about every illustrator of Timmy — from Soper onwards, I'm sorry to say — has missed. It's one of the few features of his appearance that Enid is really specific about (and as we know, she based him on a real dog she had known): "his ears were too pricked".

In other words, whatever breeds were in Timmy's indeterminable ancestry, he obviously had ears like, well, most of these... And yet every illustrator I can think of has always drawn him with floppy ears!!

The floppy ears in the illustration might have been the result of running?

Maybe not. Just checked the first cover. His ears are still floppy even when he is not running.

Floppy and too long, I would say!

Courtenay wrote:Now there's something just about every illustrator of Timmy — from Soper onwards, I'm sorry to say — has missed...

"My world is over - my heart is broken - 'the doyen' is not perfect..Boo Hoo!"

Soper worshippers please help!!!

Seriously,perhaps Enid herself should be allowed to comment on the matter!

The best answer has always been from the author herself!

Agreed!