What Enid Blyton book are you reading right NOW!

[John Pickup]

I entirely agree with Rob. Abbey is awful, Buchanan is brilliant. Some of Abbey's drawing make the children look like old men and women. He is the only artist of a major Blyton series whose illustrations I cannot stand.

[Courtenay]

If you look in the Cave under Mystery of the Burnt Cottage, there's an illustration of "The Redoubtable Mr Goon", which was "sent to Enid Blyton by Joseph Abbey":



Abbey does seem to show some real artistic ability there; I know I and others here have speculated that Enid commissioned him to do the illustrations on the strength of that one painting, and then as he was presumably under contract to do seven books, she couldn't get rid of him even after he proved to have far less talent than expected... That's just a guess (maybe Tony knows more?), but it would explain how Enid ended up with such an unusually bad illustrator for the first half of one of her major series.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree the above illustration is exceptional - and Abbey obviously thought so too, as he used it again and again, as we've said before!











Not to mention this brilliant perspective, which makes it look as if the table has two legs shorter than the other!

[Courtenay]

Plus his never-to-be-forgotten lessons in how NOT to do perspective, either when drawing a cat-and-dog chase...



... or the view inside a bus:

[Rob Houghton]

Every one of those people on the bus seems to exist in their own space - they don't seem to be interacting - they are all odd sizes and none of them seem to be acknowledging the other people in any way - almost like he traced various faces from other books and just stuck them all together!

Also, in the text Daisy sits down next to Goon - but in the picture she is clearly sitting by the window, not by the aisle - so must have clambered over Goon's lap! The boy in the cap at the front also appears to be kneeling in the aisle rather than sitting on a seat...and the windows are very high up - no one sitting down would be able to see where they were! there are so many bad things about this illustration...but it would take a whole new thread!

[Courtenay]

Every one of those people on the bus seems to exist in their own space - they don't seem to be interacting - they are all odd sizes and none of them seem to be acknowledging the other people in any way - almost like he traced various faces from other books and just stuck them all together!

I think you might have hit on something there, Rob.

Also, in the text Daisy sits down next to Goon - but in the picture she is clearly sitting by the window, not by the aisle - so must have clambered over Goon's lap!

The mind boggles.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I think the illustrators of any book are just told briefly either by the publisher or the author what they want, and the rest is left up to the illustrator to draw their own way really.

Lot's of illustrations don't match what is actually inside the book.

I recently had an email from the publisher who is publishing my book, and they asked about the cover, and even said that the cover doesn't actually have to be what the book is about!!!! I find that odd myself, but stated exactly what I wanted, as I think the cover should say what the book is a about!

[Rob Houghton]

I think the illustrators of any book are just told briefly either by the publisher or the author what they want, and the rest is left up to the illustrator to draw their own way really.

This may be true, but I don't think it is when we are talking about Enid Blyton books. I agree some illustrations don't match the text exactly, but many illustrators do seem to have read the text quite thoroughly. I can't think of many instances where the illustration doesn't match the text - even with J. Abbey!

[pete9012S]

I made some comparisons here:

Find Outers Illustrators Comparisons

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... =12&t=7567" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Fiona1986]

I'd never even noticed the windows before, Rob. I have always been too busy working out what those curved fences/barriers are between the passengers (I assume they are supposed to be empty seats) and how anyone got up to the back seeing as the barrier/seats take up all the aisle space in their strange staggered way.

[Katharine]

I'm currently reading The Rockingdown Mystery. One of my favourites as a child, but I'm surprised at how much I'd forgotten about it. I can't even remember quite how it ends!

[Rob Houghton]

Its one of those books where I love the first 80% better than the last 20%! I love the build-up and the details about Barney and the old house etc - really atmospheric, but not so keen on the mystery. Still a good one though!

[Katharine]

Yes, I think you are right Rob. I'm about 4 chapters from the end, and have picked a few holes in the plot itself, but think it scores 10/10 for the build up.

[Courtenay]

Its one of those books where I love the first 80% better than the last 20%! I love the build-up and the details about Barney and the old house etc - really atmospheric, but not so keen on the mystery. Still a good one though!

Yes, me too — it's a fantastic build-up, but quite a big let-down when (SPOILER ALERT) the house itself turns out not to have anything to do with the mystery, and indeed Barney is largely the only one involved in discovering the mystery with very little input from the other children. I know from what everyone else says that the next three books in the series (though perhaps not the last two) are much more engaging all the way through, but still haven't got around to them. They are somewhere in my ever-increasing backlog of books-I-really-must-read...

[IceMaiden]

My goodness some (ok most!) of those drawings are terrible! Yes Rob that first one of Fatty is the one that has really stuck out and now you mention it, I can see what you mean about Buster being too big and Bets looking like a china doll! Daisy looks far too old as well.

That colour drawing of Goon is very good, hard to believe it's by the same artist. It's a pity Enid didn't ask to see some other drawings as well as that one though, and looking at those later illustrations what a shame one of those two artists didn't do the whole series, they are so much better and more like the quality illustrations you expect to find in an original EB book. Those Abbey ones are like the sort you find in modern reprints.

As for the inside the bus illustration, is there a particular reason that it's got two framed pictures to look at instead of windows to look out of?