The Famous Five Illustrators Compared

Enid used many illustrators in her books. Discuss them here.
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Carlotta King
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Carlotta King »

I always thought she was male too. I had a few of the Voilier books as a child and never knew that she was a 'she' until I read it here last year! :lol:
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by John Pickup »

What's the French for a female Jean?
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Carlotta King »

Is it Jeanne? Just a guess.
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Fiona1986 »

That's interesting about it being a pseudonym. I wonder if she chose it deliberately for its mannish sound, or does it sound more feminine in France?
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Courtenay »

I know an elderly French lady whose given name is Marie-Claude, so I would guess that in French names, Claude can be considered feminine at least when paired with another feminine name. Don't know if that has any bearing on this particular nom de plume, though...
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Wolfgang »

The name "Maria" is a female name in German, yet it may be used for boys as a second name like actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (though it is a pseudonym in this case).
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Moonraker »

I think many French women are manly......
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Deej »

Has to be Eileen Soper.
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by pete9012S »

Lots more here;

http://serge-passions.fr/c5_world_illustrations.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Wolfgang »

yarvelling wrote:As many of the books in different countries used different illustrators; yes, some dreadful (!!), I wonder how folk from those countries view the illustrations... When they owned/read the books were they even aware that these drawings were unique to their editions, and do they view these as the 'definitive' ones; that *this* is how the Five look?! :) How do they view the 'original' Soper illustrations? :)
I grew up with Henneke's illustrations, though I had some books with Soper's drawings (either from flea markets, presents or found in the garbage). Being used to the 70's TV-series and the Henneke's drawings I considered Soper's illustrations out of date and unusual. I know by now that the ones by Soper do probably look more the way Enid Blyton envisioned the Five.
I personally never cared if those illustrations are unique or not, and I'm afraid that many other German Blyton books have unique illustrations, and sometimes rather awful ones as well.
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

It's interesting to see the different styles. The colour illustration by Simone Baudoin is appealing - it looks dreamily idyllic.
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Escanor »

:?
I'm going to go against the current and say that I prefer some of the illustrators over Soper...
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Re: Comparing lots of Famous Five Illustrators

Post by Moonraker »

There's always one! :wink:
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The Famous Five illustrators compared

Post by pete9012S »

Merged with an older topic.

The Famous Five illustrators compared.

Let's establish some facts.

Eileen Soper: Undisputed Famous Five illustrator.
Betty Maxey: Underappreciated, second choice Five illustrator by common consensus (except by myself).

Other Five illustrators: Let's see, comment and discuss:


Image
Above Pic:
Illustrator? Artistic merit? Year published? Threat to Soper's crown? Better than Maxey?
Discuss:
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Re: The Famous Five illustrators compared

Post by Eddie Muir »

In my humble opinion, the only Famous Five illustrator worthy of mention is Eileen Soper. All the rest can be forgotten. :wink:
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