The German Five Find-Outers 1st Editions

[pete9012S]

I'm sure you've glanced at these in the cave before, but I thought it would be good to compare them together to see what we think of the artwork.
Great to have such a variety of covers in the cave - all we have to do is enjoy them!

I really like these covers, but I doubt if some, especially Tally Ho Cottage would get past today's stringent Health & Safety regulations..
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Mystery of the Fire in the Night - Mystery of the Siamese Cat

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Mystery of the Hidden Room - Mystery of the Venomous Feather

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Mystery of the Vanished Necklace - Mystery of the House in the Woods

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Mystery of the Cup of Tea - Mystery of the Invisible Thief

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Mystery of the Vanished Prince - Mystery of the Red Shoe

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Mystery at Holunder Lane - Mystery of the Stolen Picture

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Mystery of the Caravan - Mystery of the Ivy


Mystery of the Blue Boat

An interesting use of colours by the illustrator Erika Klopp Verlag wouldn't you agree?
Yes, I can hear you - I too wondered how these 1950/60's covers compare against the latest artwork available:


2019 Hodder, not illustrated, cover by Timothy Banks
Only you can be the judge of that!

[Eddie Muir]

Very interesting indeed, Pete.

[Lucky Star]

I love those German covers even if a couple of the titles seem strange. Mystery of the Cup of Tea???

The modern one isn't the worst I've seen but Goon appears to be out at sea in a storm rather than on a river and why on earth is he wearing a Manchester United scarf.

[Fiona1986]

Is Cup of Tea Pantomime Cat? I'm more concerned about the Venomous Feather

[Daisy]

Is Cup of Tea Pantomime Cat? I'm more concerned about the Venomous Feather

It must be "Spiteful letters" - another word for Venom is poison, so I guess our 'poison-pen' would fit, but the feather! I can't see the connection there - except for a quill pen! So the 'Poisonous Pen' might be a better translation. There are some strange new titles among them.

[Fiona1986]

Good detective work, Daisy!

[Courtenay]

Is Cup of Tea Pantomime Cat? I'm more concerned about the Venomous Feather

It must be "Spiteful letters" - another word for Venom is poison, so I guess our 'poison-pen' would fit, but the feather! I can't see the connection there - except for a quill pen! So the 'Poisonous Pen' might be a better translation. There are some strange new titles among them.

Well, our word "pen" does come from the Latin for "feather" (penna), because of quill pens, of course, so I expect other languages make the same connection. I know in Cornish, pluven means both "feather" and "pen" (and I'm guessing it's related etymologically to "plume").

Fascinating covers — I really like the bold single-colour effect! Not sure about "The Mystery of the Cup of Tea" as a title for Pantomime Cat, though... I remember finding out that most of the translated editions have "Puss in Boots" rather than "Dick Whittington" as the play, since of course that's a far more international story with a cat in it, but you'd think they could find a similar enough term to "Pantomime Cat" to translate the title!

[Daisy]

Apparently "Feder" can also be translated as "nib" - according to my German friend.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The German covers are simple but striking. That tree-house on Tally-Ho does look dangerous though - as does the night-time tree-climbing on Hidden Room! It's funny that The Mystery of Banshee Towers is called Mystery of the Blue Boat, as the boat in question is red!

The modern cover by Timothy Banks for Strange Bundle is eye-catching as well. It's an intriguing scene and I like the arrangement, the background and the colours.

[Wolfgang]

It's funny that The Mystery of Banshee Towers is called Mystery of the Blue Boat, as the boat in question is red!

In the German editions the boat is blue.

[Daisy]

I wonder why the translators didn't like red!

[Wolfgang]

Apparently "Feder" can also be translated as "nib" - according to my German friend.

The German expression "Schreibfeder" can be translated like this: nib, ink pen or qill (at least according to the Langenscheidt Collins Großwörterbuch Englisch, 2008).

[Wolfgang]

I wonder why the translators didn't like red!

Perhaps they thought that a red boat is much more striking than a blue boat in a blue sea, so the mistake of the copying is easier to understand.

[Anita Bensoussane]

That sounds possible, Wolfgang.

On the other hand, the German publishers had already changed the title of The Mystery of the Strange Bundle to The Mystery of the Red Shoe. Perhaps they simply wanted to avoid having two titles revolving around a red object.

[Wolfgang]

After checking the translations I think there are some minor mistakes.
It's rather "The mystery of the abducted prince" than "Mystery of the Vanished Prince", "The mystery at Elder Lane" than "Mystery at Holunder Lane" and "The mystery of the ivy villa" than "Mystery of the Ivy".

That sounds possible, Wolfgang.

On the other hand, the German publishers had already changed the title of The Mystery of the Strange Bundle to The Mystery of the Red Shoe. Perhaps they simply wanted to avoid having two titles revolving around a red object.

I suppose we'll never know; any explanation is as good as any other.