Dorothy Hall

[Judith Crabb]

A favourite memory is borrowing often 'The Secret of Moon Castle' from the local Institute Library back in the fifties. I loved the story and the wonderful coloured endpapers which I later discovered reproduced the wrap-around dust-jacket. Enid Blyton set high standards in book production so I am doubly grateful to her. Her books lasted innumerable borrowings, were rebound and repaired. I was borrowing Moon Castle in the late fifties, years after it was first published in 1953. Part of the allure of Moon Castle were the Illustrations. Attractive as they are, I now think there is a quaintness about them, almost a staginess, as if the subjects have been arranged in a tableau and then sketched. I wonder whether Dorothy Hall was a young illustrator, a beginner. Though dealing in children's books most of my life I was unaware of other books illustrated by her and was quite surprised to find a moment ago some examples in the Cave of Books, examples which are later and seem rather different. Does anyone have any information about her or know of other books illustrated by her?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't have any concrete information, Judith, but I became interested in Dorothy Hall when I bought a copy of Stories for Monday (1962) at an Enid Blyton Day about fifteen years ago. Like you, I noticed that her style is quite different in that book compared to her style in The Secret of Moon Castle (1953).

The illustrations in Stories for Monday reminded me instantly of the illustrations in a number of uncredited Dean & Son books, namely the Galliano's Circus trilogy, the Cherry Tree/Willow Farm series, the Adventurous Four books and Come to the Circus! - and possibly the Mr. Twiddle tales and Bimbo and Topsy too, as well as some of the short stories ('You Simply Never Know!' and 'The Squeaky Doll' in Storytime Book, 'The Girl Who Was Left Behind' and 'The Two Cross Boys' in Stories for Bedtime, and 'The Quiet Little Boy' and 'The Very Fierce Carpenter' in Stories For You, to list but a few). Several of the Dean & Son front covers are signed "G. Robinson" or "Van der Syde", but often the internal illustrations and the cover have been done by different artists.

There's something about the internal pictures in the above Dean & Son books that brings to mind Dorothy Hall's work for Benjy and the Others (Sunny Stories, 1952) and The Secret of Moon Castle (1953) but, much more so, Stories for Monday (1962). Sadly I don't have the companion volume, Stories for Tuesday.

Stories for Monday is close in date to the earliest of the Dean & Son titles, which were published between 1964 and 1974. An examination of the illustrations in the Dean volumes shows that faces, postures, hair, fabrics, animals and backgrounds look similar to the ones in Stories for Monday, and the drawings share a distinctive charm and vitality. The style is crisper than that of The Secret of Moon Castle and the Sunny Stories serialisation of Benjy and the Others, which both date from the early 1950s, and the faces of the children are now more natural and less sprite-like. I feel that Dorothy Hall may well be the artist of the Dean & Son books mentioned above.

[pete9012S]

That's most interesting Anita. Thank you.

I stumbled across this reference, but I think it may be a different Dorothy Hall?

Dorothy Hall (1931-2013) was a significant local artist. The enchanting detail of her work garnered a dedicated group of supporters and a steady stream of commissions.

https://issuu.com/fcrccommunications/do ... s/12320414

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, Pete. It may not be the same Dorothy Hall as the artist in your link lived in Australia (though the artwork is signed in capital letters in both cases) but that's a beautiful picture.

[Judith Crabb]

Thanks for sharing your speculations, Anita. I'm not very familiar with the contents of the later editions of Enid, though I sold very many of them over the years. I googled 'Dorothy Hall' and came up with same result as Pete. That Dorothy's a regional Australian artist, no connection to the UK illustrator. My problem is that I keep typing 'Dorothy Wall' the Australian illustrator and creator of young Blinky Bill*, the alpha male koala. I had to correct my forum posts twice.
*'Blinky Bill (1933), Blinky Bill Grows Up (1934), Blinky Bill and Nutsy' (1937), Blinky Bill Joins the Army (1940).