The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

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Moonraker
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Moonraker »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:It's funny, but when I'm caught up in a story I don't even notice the chapter titles. ... Sometimes I barely notice the illustrations either ... Anything that would interrupt the reading of the story is automatically ignored by my brain!
Oh no. I have always loved the illustrations and even as a small child I used to study them intensely. I only read original editions, so re-reading now takes me back to my childhood when I see these illustrations again. The same with chapter titles - if they are there I read them. I wouldn't want to read these books without the original illustrations, I only wish editors had placed them after the event rather than a few pages before. I think the FF books were the worst in doing this.

I could live without chapter titles, but if they are there, I have to read them.
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Darrell71 »

db105 wrote:I hate it when a chapter ends with the main characters kept prisoners in a room and then the title of the next chapter is "Escape through the secret passage". Come on, editors! :D
My point exactly!

Nigel, I love the illustrations in the few old editions that I have, a pity that the modern editions don't include them. :(
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Rob Houghton »

Darrell71 wrote:
db105 wrote:I hate it when a chapter ends with the main characters kept prisoners in a room and then the title of the next chapter is "Escape through the secret passage". Come on, editors! :D
My point exactly!
I'ts not the editor's fault really though, unless we expect them to delete any chapter headings they think will give the plot away!
'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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db105
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by db105 »

Well, it's part of the editor's fault to notice things like that. Unless the editor did notice and the writer insisted on keeping the chapter headings like they were, for some reason...
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Darrell71 »

Part of the editor's job, you mean? :wink:
I don't think the editor should do that without the author's consent though.
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by db105 »

Darrell71 wrote:Part of the editor's job, you mean? :wink:
Yes, I meant the editor's job. :) And yes, ideally the editor should only change things with the author's consent.
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Moonraker wrote:I have always loved the illustrations and even as a small child I used to study them intensely. I only read original editions, so re-reading now takes me back to my childhood when I see these illustrations again... I wouldn't want to read these books without the original illustrations, I only wish editors had placed them after the event rather than a few pages before. I think the FF books were the worst in doing this.
Oh, I much prefer the books to have illustrations too. It's just that I don't always stop to study them or even really notice them if I'm completely absorbed in the story, so it's very rare for a plot element to be spoilt for me by the placing of a picture. Some will catch my eye as I'm reading, however, and I always pick up on the general mood and style of the illustrations. After finishing the book, I go back and look at them all properly.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Rob Houghton »

In a way, it depends, regarding illustrations. I often study the illustrations nowadays when I'm reading, and I loved the illustrations in books like Teddy Bear annual, or Rupert etc, because they were so clear and detailed and interesting. Looking at the illustrations in the original edition EB books, I can easily see why a child would delight in them and take every detail in - but when I was a child, most illustrations (even by the great Stuart Tresilian) were very, very poor reproductions in paperbacks, reprinted hundreds of times so that the ink was blurry and splodgy and it was often difficult to tell exactly what the illustration was depicting in some cases!
'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: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by sixret »

My main interest is in the texts written by EB. I usually immerse myself into the story so I often overlook the illustrations although I will look at them after I have finished reading.
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Courtenay »

In my case, by the time I first read Island (only a few years ago) I'd already picked up enough information from discussions on these forums to guess at once that the disembodied voice talking to Philip must be Kiki — even if I hadn't been reading an early edition with the picture of her at the start of the chapter! :wink:
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Lucky Star »

Moonraker wrote: I wouldn't want to read these books without the original illustrations, I only wish editors had placed them after the event rather than a few pages before.
Same here. The original illustrations and the text go together like hand and glove for me. It makes me sad that some generations grew up reading Blyton but not seeing the classic images by Tresilian and Soper. It must have put a whole different complexion on their Blyton reading. It's just that as others have said I wish the editors had placed the pictures a bit more carefully. With the author's consent of course but I can't imagine that Enid actually wanted a spoiler illustration on the very first page of her brand new series; a series over which she would take extra care and attention as it was already clearly her efforts at writing for an older, more mature child.
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Rob Houghton »

I'm happy I have the original editions with all the original illustrations these days. When I was a child reading paperback versions, I always assumed the Stuart Tresilian and Gilbert Dunlop illustrations were complete, until I saw that the hardback originals had many more of them! :shock:
'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: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Lucky Star »

Rob Houghton wrote: When I was a child reading paperback versions, I always assumed the Stuart Tresilian and Gilbert Dunlop illustrations were complete, until I saw that the hardback originals had many more of them! :shock:
Me too. I have most of my early faves in hardback form now and use the Cave for other illustrations of books that I don't have in hardback.
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by John Pickup »

I'm like Nigel. I always had to study the illustrations as I got to them. I started reading Enid's books in hardback, borrowed from the library, and Tresillian's drawings were so good you just had to stop and enjoy them.
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Re: The Island of Adventure - some thoughts

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Luckily, the illustration of Kiki at the beginning of The Island of Adventure didn't spoil things for me because the first book I read from that series was The Valley of Adventure. By the time I got to Island I recognised Kiki's sayings at once, picture or no picture!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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