Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

[Clare]

My 1968 Knight edition (reprinted 1978) describes Maggie thus: "She was wearing trousers and had a jacket draped around her shoulders. She was also wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette."

Yes, that's what my Hodder edition says (1997).

[MJE]

     For me, definitely Eileen Soper - no contest, as they're not even within light-years of each other.
     I grew up on the red hard-cover Famous Fives, so of course that must have influenced me. But even if I try to be objective and compare Maxey with Soper, I cannot imagine how anyone could possibly find Maxey preferable: the outlines of anything (including human forms) just looked lumpy and awkward compared to Soper's completely natural lines, and there is no subtlety in the way backgrounds, scenery, etc. are depicted. With Soper, you get a real sense of what the landscape is like, what the light is like - her night-time scenes are wonderful and magical, and had a great influence on my childhood imagination.
     When I first saw the paperback editions with Maxey's illustrations some time in the 1970s, I was appalled, and dismayed that modern kids would get to know the Famous Five only with those illustrations to guide their imagination, and wondered how it would cripple the way they visualized the Famous Five.
     To me, the Famous Five and Eileen Soper are utterly inseparable. If Soper's illustrations can't be included in editions, I think it would be better to have no illustrations at all than Betty Maxey's.
     It may be that one reason against using Soper's illustrations is the way the children are dressed, which might seem archaic to some. Yet the way the boys dressed was pretty similar to how I dressed at school in the 1960s, and when I was reading the books in the 1960s, I never found anything odd or out of place about the dress of the characters. (Admittedly I say that as a person who has always been totally non-clothes-conscious.)

Regards, Michael (back for the first time in months).

[Rob Houghton]

As a child I felt that the Adventure, Find-Outers, Barney and Secret series had a special atmosphere but that the Famous Five and Secret Seven series lacked something. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but I'm wondering now whether it might have been the fact that the Famous Five and Secret Seven books I read had been updated.

I hadnt thought about that aspect before. As I've said in previous threads, I thought the Seven and Five were actually set in the 1970's and 1980's (the time I was reading them) but now you mention it, I remember having a different feeling about the Find-Outer and Barney books, and I particularly loved the old fashioned look of the illustrations in 'The Rilloby fair Mystery' (the first Barney book I read, and a first edition hard-back). I wonder if, like you, Anita, this was because I was noticing (albeit subconciously) that the Fives and Sevens were updated, as you suggest, whereas the others seemed more historical and 'quaint' in their setting...

I particularly loved the 'old world' feeling in Rilloby fair, helped no end by the original illustrations.

[deedee81]

Eileen is the definitive illustrator.Betty is technically great but attempts to bring characters in to the current period usually only date the books..Hoodies and trackie bottoms anyone ??

[Miss Pepper]

I much prefer Eileen Soper over Betty Maxey,she just seems to capture the Five perfectly.

[Enikyoga]

I discuss the contrasts between Eileen Soper and Betty Maxey in an article, sub-titled, "The Famous Five: A Tale of Two Illustrators," in my book, The Famous Five: A Personal Anecdotage, whereby I describe Eileen Soper's hand-sketched illustrations vis-a-vis Betty Maxey's computerized illustrations. In my opinion, I liken Eileen Soper's illustrations as being the real personification of The Famous Five to Sean Connery as still being the ultimate personification of James Bond. In the article I also further entertain the debate between Eileen Soper and Betty Maxey's illustrations by including some viewpoints from a couple of forumites on this web.
Stephen I.

[Lucky Star]

Were the Maxey illustrations computerised? I don't think so; they were produced in the early 70s and computers were not in wide use at that time. They look very much to me as though they are hand drawn as indeed they must have been.

As I have said before Eileen Soper's illustrations are certainly the definitive ones for the Famous Five. They capture the atmosphere of the books beautifully. And I love the way she subtly ages them as the series goes on without making them look adult.

[Tony Summerfield]

Were the Maxey illustrations computerised? I don't think so;

Of course they weren't, the suggestion is just plain daft - but I guess we are used to it by now!!

[Moonraker]

I wonder what inspired Eileen Soper?

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

I think what is being suggested here is that giving Blyton books populist covers has degraded the stories in the minds of adult buyers...



http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-boo ... NTCMP=SRCH" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Viv

[Lucky Star]

Quite a good article. I think the author is suggesting though that the new covers are being designed to appeal to both children and adults so as to maximise the appeal and perhaps change the minds of those adults who feel Blyton is not good enough fo rtheir children. At least thats what I got from it. She also seems to be saying that worry about the future of reading has prompted the reappraisal of Blyton as parents realise that their little darlings will only read if they have stories they love, rather than stories their parents may want them to love.

[Enikyoga]

Were the Maxey illustrations computerised? I don't think so; they were produced in the early 70s and computers were not in wide use at that time. They look very much to me as though they are hand drawn as indeed they must have been.

Probably they were not drawn by modern-type computers for I recall during those days, they were draft machines that could sketch illustrations to a fault in that for instance, Julian's sketch would be the same in all the books. I guess Betty Maxey used such a type of proto-computer machine. I do not think that Betty Maxey sketched the illustrations in the manner that Eileen Soper had done so, otherwise there would have been a couple of inconsistencies if she had done so, as Eileen Soper's illustrations suggest.
Stephen I.

[Tony Summerfield]

I'm not sure that I agree with some of the things she says. One or two of those covers couldn't possibly be described as 'stunning'!


Although she doesn't say it she seems to imply that Quentin Blake is a huge fan of the series, but I was at the launch where Quentin Blake admitted that he had never read a single Enid Blyton book, I think he was far more interested in promoting his Illustrators' charity than he was in promoting the Famous Five.

I think most people are heavily influenced by the covers of the books they read as children and I have talked to a number of people who prefer the Betty Maxey covers to the Eileen Soper covers simply because those were the editions they first read.

[Zar Quon]

I recall during those days, they were draft machines that could sketch illustrations to a fault in that for instance, Julian's sketch would be the same in all the books. I guess Betty Maxey used such a type of proto-computer machine.

Yeah, I bet all book illustrators in the '70s used expensive CAD machinery.....

[Enikyoga]

Zar, a million thanks for backing up my observation.
Stephen I.