Five Go Adventuring Again

[floragord]

If it's any comfort, these newer ones are even worse:

Yikes

[Carlotta King]

Blimey!!!

The two lads in the middle one look more likely to have been caught graffiti-ing on the train!!

[Poppy]

Thanks for posting those, Courtenay. Betty Maxey's front covers seem works of art now... I think especially the second example is the worst - I have read Five Go off to Camp recently and funnily enough, I don't remember such a scene of Julian and Dick practically screaming for mercy...
The first example is also hideous - the faces of the children especially (also the weak point in the previous one, too). I do like the set-up however, with the shadows outside the tent wall. Potentially OK if the artist could draw people. And the third - well, they're all awful, those 2010 Hodder editions.

Anita, though I prefer Eileen Soper's portrayals of George and Timmy, I'll agree that this is a heart warming scene. The colours are very effective, the train in the back ground is cleverly painted the expressions are very strong. A beautiful scene.

[pete9012S]

Donald Davidson rote:

What we have to remember is that all art and the work of artists is subjunctive.One man's meat is another man's poisson. For all intensive purposes many may regard Eileen as the better artist,but many ways of thinking,especially about art and literature fall by the waste side when critiqued by future mutations.

It's important that we don't make poor Betty an escape goat for all that is wrong with the modern post 1960's approach to modern life.

Surely,any artist coming after Eileen will only ever be in the runner-ups division,but looking at the later artists surely proves the taste police cannot let them off Scott free either!

I await with baited breath what surprises yet future cover art has in store for us,I'm sure you do too!

But without further adieu,we must because of free will and all that sort of stuff give these new artistic types free reign to express themselves as they themselves see fit and do produce wi s hit.

Personally.we may feel they wreck havoc with the original mastery depictions,but sadly,as much as we may like it is far too late now for these things to be nipped in the butt.

Whether the modern artistry is better or worse is a mute point. I'm personally not on tender hooks waiting for the 1960's and 1970's flares to be restored..

So lets take nothing for granite,for after all beauty is surely in the eye of the bee holder...

How many Dogberryism's did you count???




After looking at some of these covers,come back Betty,all is forgiven I say!!

[Daisy]

In answer to your question Pete - too many. But at least I have learned a new word - I had never heard of 'dogberries' before but of course recognised all the malapropisms in that piece. Enough to make me wince!

[Moonraker]

Anita, though I prefer Eileen Soper's portrayals of George and Timmy, I'll agree that this is a heart warming scene. The colours are very effective, the train in the back ground is cleverly painted the expressions are very strong. A beautiful scene.

Sorry - one man's meat is another man's poison, and all that, but I can't agree at all. It looks nothing like George - she had curly hair after all, and the train looked like a model on a shelf!To complete the picture, it's covered with an orange wash. Dire, in my opinion.

[Poppy]

I can see what you mean, Nigel, but amongst Maxey's other covers, it definitely comes across one of her best. Compare it to the Five Get Into Trouble one or Five Go to Billycock Hill - none of them portrays any emotion, whatsoever, however at a glance you can see the bond between George and Timmy in this cover. I think it is especially Timmy who comes across strongest in this picture - faithful, friendly and loyal. George is not so skillfully drawn, in my opinion, but still you can see her emotion, etc. In my opinion, a good picture is not always just the skill, but the emotion and feeling which makes the art, definitely not included in any of the following FF covers:



The clothes, expressions, colours, scenes - could be so much better. Nothing fits in with the text within the book, or the era when the books were written. A key aspect could be a different choice in scene. There are so many memorable scenes in those books, however, Betty Maxey seems to have chosen some of the most obscure settings, etc. You want a nice major scene pasted on the front cover, not one you'd hardly recognize.

[Carlotta King]

I agree - the covers you've posted show nothing of what the story is about - Billycock Hill should have a view of a distinctive hill with perhaps an aeroplane flying past, and Get Into Trouble should have a backdrop of the huge old brooding house.

I actually really like the picture of Anne with her bicycle, but not as a FF cover. As a general picture I think it's very well-drawn and nice to look at, Anne looks lovely and the bike basket is great, but it's not right for a FF cover - it looks like it would be far more suited to a book featuring a young woman set in the 1960s, because that's what Anne looks like there - a young woman in her late teens/early twenties with 60s-style hair.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Compare it to the Five Get Into Trouble one or Five Go to Billycock Hill - none of them portrays any emotion, whatsoever...

I must say I do feel emotion emanating from the characters on those covers. There is fear and apprehension in Anne's face on the cover of Trouble, and a feeling of alarm and danger with the other children being dwarfed by the enormous iron gates, seemingly unable to get out.

On the cover of Billycock Hill the children and animals are stepping from an idyllic rural landscape into the dark mouth of a cave, and the children look suitably wary and nervous.

I think both pictures are nicely painted - though they certainly look extremely 1960s because of the fashions worn by the characters.

Incidentally, the Knight paperback of Five Go to Billycock Hill cost 17 1/2 pence in 1971 when decimal money was introduced, but by 1978 the same paperback cost 50p - nearly three times as much in just seven years!

[Maggie Knows]

.

Anne's looking a bit Bardot-esque there. Or maybe Jane Fonda from Barbarella ? (head, not clothes)

[Courtenay]

Anne's looking a bit Bardot-esque there. Or maybe Jane Fonda from Barbarella ? (head, not clothes)

Ooer, yeah, she does a bit...

[Poppy]

Interesting comments. I suppose a hint of expression is visible within the picture (Five Get Into Trouble - the faces on Five on Finniston Farm still look quite blank and almost lifeless) however I still thoroughly dislike this cover because of the wild clash of colours and unmatched details to the text. Personally, I think this was Maxey at her worst (concerning the covers).

[Francis]

After perusing second hand bookshops I was amazed how many hardback Famous Fives copies of
'Five go adventuring again' there were. It seems to be the book that sold the best in the 1950s.
'Five on a Treasure Island' is much less common. I might start doing a count to make a popularity
list.

[Courtenay]

I find both those Maxey covers awful, quite frankly. Apart from the reasons everyone else has mentioned, has anyone else noticed that the two renditions of Anne look nothing like each other?? Another case of the artist who brought us The Many Faces of Uncle Quentin!

[Moonraker]

I can see what you mean, Nigel, but amongst Maxey's other covers, it definitely comes across one of her best.

In other words, the best of a bad bunch!