Website Additions

What would you like to see? All feedback and suggestions appreciated!
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Rob Houghton »

Moonraker wrote:
The Finniston Farm cover isn't the best to begin with but by obscuring the sword and removing the background they have made it worse.
If they had kept the cover as it was, Timmy wouldn't be on it, as he is well below Julian's left hand. I don't think it has anything to do with removing the sword, just making sure Timmy can fit in to the limited space.

They could quite easily have used the original size cover rather than zooming in, as they have in the annual version.


I'm quite keen on Betty Maxey covers...but prefer this one - ;-)

Image

or this one -

Image

8)
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Re: Website Additions

Post by walter raleigh »

I have to say I'm with those who prefer the "Billycock Hill" cover to the "Finniston Farm" one, although I'm with Pete and Robert - give Betty a chance!

I'm also sure eagle-eyed Courtenay is right when she says that Timmy has been repositioned to cover up the sword, which raises the question of why they chose a cover with a sword on it if they didn't want to show it? :? Still at least they are doing another annual so we should be thankful for that I suppose.
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Rob Houghton »

interestingly I just did a google search and found this version for pre-order on 'wordery' online bookshop - slightly different!

Image

I think it looks marginally better with the blue flash instead of the red, but still not that good. I personally think it would look better without the 'sun ray' effect. This Billycock Hill image does seem to be the one being used on most book sites...but who can tell what will happen between now and August?!
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I'll warm me with your echoes
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Courtenay »

Moonraker wrote:
Daisy wrote:I had the Dorothy Wheeler illustrated books and to me seeing Moonface with a globe for a head was almost grotesque!
Yes, I agree. He was called Moonface, not Moonhead!
Good point, Moonraker! :wink: (Glad I'm not alone in preferring Wheeler's version.)

Incidentally, "Moonface" is also the nickname of veteran Australian TV personality Bert Newton (Google pictures of him and you'll see why), but I can assure you Enid's one - regardless of how he's depicted - is much more appealing!!

If someone has a copy of The Enchanted Wood to hand, could you possibly remind me of how Enid herself actually describes Moonface in words? What are we actually told about the appearance of his face and/or head?
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Fiona1986 »

Moonraker wrote:
The Finniston Farm cover isn't the best to begin with but by obscuring the sword and removing the background they have made it worse.
If they had kept the cover as it was, Timmy wouldn't be on it, as he is well below Julian's left hand. I don't think it has anything to do with removing the sword, just making sure Timmy can fit in to the limited space.
That's what I thought too. He's also quite far to the right, as is the sword. To include all that they'd have to have had the Five appear smaller. Though the way they've re-added a different Timmy is a bit odd. I think something with scenic background would have been better - at least then it would have matched the other two.
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Rob Houghton »

Courtenay wrote: If someone has a copy of The Enchanted Wood to hand, could you possibly remind me of how Enid herself actually describes Moonface in words? What are we actually told about the appearance of his face and/or head?
Enid doesn't really describe him in any great detail - phrases like ' a round moon-like face looked out' and 'said Moon-Face, beaming again just like a full moon'. In 'The Magic Faraway Tree' he's described as having 'a big round face like the moon' and similar phrases in The Folk Of The Faraway Tree - so I guess those who like the Dorothy Wheeler depictions do have a point...however, she is describing his face rather than his head, so I guess the depiction is very much open to interpretation. Of course, the one thing that points to Enid approving of this depiction is that Wheeler illustrated all the books during Enid's life time.

I still enjoy the more fantastical depictions of Rene Cloke, Janet and Anne Graham Johnstone and Georgina Hargreaves, though. :D
'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.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Website Additions

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Robert Houghton wrote:Image

I think it looks marginally better with the blue flash instead of the red, but still not that good. I personally think it would look better without the 'sun ray' effect.
I don't like the 'sun ray' effect or the 'flash' either, though I agree that the latter looks slightly better in blue than in red and I do prefer the Billycock Hill cover to the Finniston Farm one.

If Hodder were to use the first edition cover of Five Go Down to the Sea, they wouldn't have to bother with any space-fillers like 'flashes' or 'rays' because the picture comes quite far up - and there would be room in the sky for Enid Blyton's name and the title of the annual.

The same applies to the first edition cover of Five Get Into Trouble, though maybe the trees at the top right would have to be faded out a little to make the title of the annual stand out.
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Poppy »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:The same applies to the first edition cover of Five Get Into Trouble, though maybe the trees at the top right would have to be faded out a little to make the title of the annual stand out.
Oh yes; I would have liked to have seen the Annual with the first edition front cover of Five Get Into Trouble! I love that front cover because it is so eerie and exciting. Maybe (considering the bright eye-catching covers the 2014/15 annuals have) the Five Get Into Trouble one is a bit dark, however? I think, if it had been up to me, I would have selected a bright, clear front cover, featuring all the children and Timmy, such as Five Run Away Together, or - I really do think the Finniston Farm one is nice.
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Tony Summerfield »

What you have to remember about a cover is that they haven't got any of the original artwork, so they have to work with the books and that means being able to remove all the writing that is already there. You will notice also that when they produced the so-called facsimile Centenary editions that they don't actually have copies of all the original books, so when it came to Five Get Into Trouble, they used the reprint picture from when the first eight covers were redone. This was not all that satisfactory with that book as it meant that the cover of that edition was Dickless!

I think that the first annual was probably done from my first edition as when they did the centenary edition for Five Go to Demon's Rocks neither Hodder or Chorion had a copy of that book so they had to borrow it from me. They even used the wrong cover picture when they released the Centenary edition of the book, despite having borrowed my book!
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Re: Website Additions

Post by pete9012S »

Image

They could use a more modern cover to attract the current fans I suppose?
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Rob Houghton »

Tony Summerfield wrote:What you have to remember about a cover is that they haven't got any of the original artwork, so they have to work with the books and that means being able to remove all the writing that is already there.
I presume that's the reason that Timmy was repositioned in the Finniston Farm cover, so that the 'H&S' logo can be chopped off the bottom. :-( No wonder they make a mess of their covers!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
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Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Website Additions

Post by Moonraker »

It all seems a bit amateurish, to me. Cropping and 'Photoshopping' illustrations is the sort of thing I would do! They have also used an illustration unconnected to a story. I do like the annuals, don't get me wrong, but they do seem to lack attention to detail. Having said that, long may they live!
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Rob Houghton »

I agree - any annual is better than none, but I also think it's a bit amateurish to be cutting and pasting as they do. I'm sure they have ways of removing words and logos without just cutting things randomly. Not sure what you mean by using an illustration unconnected to a story though? At first i thought you meant on the cover, but presumably you mean inside the last annual, when they used the spook train illustration to illustrate Five Get Into Trouble? ;-). I thought that was particularly shoddy.
'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.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Website Additions

Post by Moonraker »

presumably you mean inside the last annual, when they used the spook train illustration to illustrate Five Get Into Trouble? ;-). I thought that was particularly shoddy.
Yes, that's the one.
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Re: Website Additions

Post by Tony Summerfield »

For anybody who might have liked the covers of the twelve Johnston & Bacon Little Books on the back cover of the Journal, I have spent the day scanning and prettifying the full covers of the 12 books for the Cave as most of them had wraparound covers and the backs have not been on display before.

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... k+No.+1%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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