I think it is definitely kinder to Maxey but there is no getting away from the fact that Eileen Soper's illustration is just waaayy more colourful, dramatic and exciting than Maxey's. And Stuart Tresilian is just the God of illustrations as far as I am concerned.
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero
Courtenay wrote:
The comparison makes it painfully obvious. Two of them have incredible artistic talent; one doesn't.
I like Betty Maxey's art almost as much as Pete. but I have to say that line-up does her no favours at all. Maybe this comparison is somewhat kinder:
Although I sometimes joke about Maxey's illustrations, I have always been quite a fan of hers - I can appreciate her work just as I appreciate Soper's. Have to say that I agreed with the comments about Pete's selection of drawings...the internal illustrations often did let Maxey down, in my opinion...but the three covers, on the other hand, are all as good as each other in their different ways. I grew up with the Betty Maxey paperback covers and I have a definite soft spot for them.
'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.'
Lucky Star wrote:I think it is definitely kinder to Maxey but there is no getting away from the fact that Eileen Soper's illustration is just waaayy more colourful, dramatic and exciting than Maxey's. And Stuart Tresilian is just the God of illustrations as far as I am concerned.
Amen!
Society Member
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)
I would like to add Gilbert Dunlop to the list of great Blyton illustrators such as Soper and Tresilian.
But even a cover by Maxey would be better than the cover for this new edition.
I don't mind the new cover design in and of itself - it is very Arthur Ransome-esque, as someone suggested. But it's nothing in comparison to the original Tresilian covers, or indeed most of Enid's original illustrators. And I think it's a complete cheek to give the new edition a "classic" looking cover when the material inside has been significantly altered from what Enid wrote!
I was thinking earlier: instead of expurgating everything in these texts that may now be considered politically incorrect, why don't they simply reprint the original text with a little disclaimer on the publication info page - something like: "This book was originally published in the 1940s/'50s and may reflect attitudes towards race and gender that were commonplace in that era but would no longer be considered acceptable in modern society." That's probably not the best wording, but you get the idea.
Society Member
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)
In the "About the author" section at the end of this edition of The Island of Adventure there are two quotes from Enid Blyton. They were taken from correspondence between her and the publisher Macmillan. They speak for themselves.
"Let's get a tip-top artist, one who can really make the characters live"
"Mr Tresilian has made the book twice as good with his interpretation of the characters, especially the parrot."
Amen to that!
One of the illustrations has been dropped. In the chapter Night Adventure where Philip and Jack surprise Jo-Jo (now Joe) as he is exiting his boat after returning from a night excursion and he falls into the water there is an illustration of Jo-Jo (Joe) brandishing a rope at the two boys. This has been replaced by a full page illustration of the children in a rowing boat at the Island. It is a lovely illustration but sadly out of place in this chapter!
Still I've read it through and the alterations did'nt spoil it for me. It is a very nice copy but next time I read it I'll read the origional.
Courtenay wrote: And I think it's a complete cheek to give the new edition a "classic" looking cover when the material inside has been significantly altered from what Enid wrote!
Completely agree - how something that has been changed can be promoted as 'classic' is beyond me. Even though we might expect the 'everyday' paperback edition to be updated, surely the novety of this 'classic' version would have been to include the orginal text.
I also guessed that the one illustration to be taken out would be the magnificent and terrifying illustration showing Jo-Jo brandishing the rope.
'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.'
Robert Houghton wrote:
I also guessed that the one illustration to be taken out would be the magnificent and terrifying illustration showing Jo-Jo brandishing the rope.
I should have thought they'd have to remove every one of the illustrations that include Jo-Jo, since they all clearly portray him as a black man, and we can't have THAT. (And they would make it all too obvious, to the attentive reader, that the book has been bowdlerised.)
Society Member
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)
