Tuesday May 18

Children's Illustrated Books

"A picture book tells a story through illustrations, it may or may not have words, a story book tells the story through text and often has illustrations to reinforce or illuminate the story."

Small children can't read letters, but can visualize very well, so pictures can tell them a story without the use of text. Pictures send an instantaneous message and as are often related to everyday subjects are easy to follow. Text is a gradual narrative and takes longer to comprehend. Even if a child can read he/she is most likely to look at the pictures first to build and idea of the story. Even adults flick through the pictures of a book, I know I do. Cover illustration can also recommend the book within, we do this unconsciously, opinions forming often within a few seconds, the same as flicking through TV channels it only takes a second to decide if we would enjoy the show or not, another example is advertising, without images, in most cases, the impact would be minimal. Images are very powerful to us and children. The type of book a child chooses often relates to the pictures, if the child likes cars or animals then this is the book he/she will select. It doesn't even have to be a specific subject; images relating to things familiar to the child will add understanding and interest. There are many picture books designed for very young children that relate to the home, family, pets, shopping and now probably childcare centres. So I guess there isn't much difference between a child's or adults way of thinking when reading for leisure, we chose books we can relate to...whether the book is cover to cover illustrations or has only a cover image.

Friday May 21

Modern children's books vary a great deal from their earlier counterparts, not just in the stories themselves but illustrations and layout. An example from my collection is a school reader. 'The Oxford Reading Books 111,' this particular version was reprinted in 1929 by Oxford University Press, UK. It contains a variety of stories, illustrators and verse, obviously made up from other publications. Because of this there is no fixed layout plan, the verses are decoratively illustrated, colour plates have been executed by a single artist and sprinkled through the book, and the only continuity is the decorative initial added to begin each story. The pen illustrations, although by different artists, are either added at the top or bottom of the page and usually enclosed in a box, there is no integration between text and images. The lack of images in these books can't be compared with the quality of the work. Whereas now days many children's book illustrations are very simple, almost childlike (i.e. The Very Hungry Caterpillar), illustrations in earlier books, particularly from the late 1800's to the 1930's are exquisitely detailed, whether in colour or simple pen and ink.




Images: (top) The Prince and the Horse title page,The Oxford reading books 3, 1929.
(middle) Snowdrops verse with colour plate, The Oxford Reading Books 3,1929.
(above)White Horses pages of illustrated verse, The Oxford Reading Books 1929

A fine example of this decorative and detailed artwork can be found in the 1916 publication of Hans Andersen's Fairytales, illustrated by Irish stained glass artist Harry Clarke. The original English deluxe book (George G Harrap
London) has fourteen coloured plates, with twenty five stories; the American version (Brentono, New York) has twenty four full page black pen and ink drawings. The detail is amazing certainly not what you would find in a modern children's book. I have the 1938 board book version (that took some research!) it has 4 colour plates, exact copies of the original only eight of the stories and no full page ink drawings, just stylized pen drawings at the end of each story i.e. Christmas decorations after The Little Match girl. The cover, strangely, is not illustrated by Clarke.



Images: (top) (left) Cover illustration, Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, Board Book, 1938. J.Coker & Co LTD London.
(top right) Pen and Ink illustration, Harry Clarke Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales 1916, American edition, Brentono New York.
(above) Colour plates: Thumbelina and The Snow Queen, illustrated by Harry Clarke, Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, Board Book 1938, J.Coker & Co LTD London, taken from original publication of the deluxe English Edition 1916 George G.Harrap London.

It's easy to surmise that costs kept the number of illustrations in children's books to a minimum, but the time and detail that went into them tells another story. Today the simplification and minimal colour use is inspired because of expense but the images and story types are so far removed comparing them is futile. Board books were common during the depression and war years as the used cheaper papers and didn't require dust jackets. The Australian classic Dot and the Kangaroo was published as a board book in 1938 (Angus & Robinson, Sydney) the only difference in the layout is the single colour plate; the other plates are black and white. The book, even the original, had no ink drawings like English children's books did at the time. The earlier (1920's edition?) English board book version of Charles Kingsley's The WaterBabies (Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd, London), illustrated by Mabel Lucy Attwell, has all the detail found in a deluxe edition, all 6 colour plates with pen drawings throughout. There is also an interesting difference in the layout of the drawings they are not integrated with the text but there has been thought in how they are placed, not just at the top or bottom of the page, and the text, although tight, is placed to compensate for the illustration. Similar layouts were used in The Complete Adventures ofBlinky Bill, Dorothy Wall (Angus & Robinson, Sydney, 1939) and The Complete Adventures ofSnugglepot and Cuddlepie May Gibbs(Angus & Robinson Sydney 1946). Both these books are examples of author/illustrator but The Water Babies isn't, Charles Kingsley was long dead when Attwell illustrated his book so the wasn't any collaboration, it seems that in many cases the illustrator is capable of decorating the book in a way that relates to the story without the writer's input. When Milne asked E.H.Shepherd to illustrate his Winnie the Pooh books he expected his son's toys to be used and even had Shepherd draw them, but the final Winnie the Pooh we know was his own son's bear not the original. I can see why writing and illustrating your own books could be more successful, but not all illustrators are writers and visa versa so a happy medium has to be reached for a successful result.

Saturday May 22

Children's stories have changed dramatically in recent years. The writers of fairy tales seemed to enjoy frightening children, but to a certain extent children were less sheltered in other ways to the realities of life so were probably less likely to take the stories literally. Snow white was to be taken to the wood and killed, Cinderella's ugly step sisters were encouraged to slice off part of their feet to fit in the glass slipper, the list of horrors goes on. Today children's stories are completely sanitised, nobody dies, lives happily ever after or does anything really adventurous in case the readers try the same thing....I think to a certain extent there should be a happy medium, the powers that be underestimate the intelligence of children and how much they do understand between reality and fantasy, there is always going to be exceptions but the average child knows the difference.

Laying here on my desk is Dorothy Wall's classic Blinky Bill; I have had the book sconce 1971. The cover picture would never be acceptable today...mother Koala looking annoyed while holding a switch, Blinky running off carrying his ging (slingshot). There a two major "unacceptable" items switch and ging, actually there is probably three...mother is probably not supposed to look annoyed...cynical I might be but it is a fantasy illustration...another is The Water Babies they haven't any clothes on! A 1980's version of the book had changed little since my version was published in the 1920's but now it wouldn't be allowed. Even the popular classic Where the Wild Things Are was criticized because the boy was in a bad mood, children get tired and grumpy...it's a fact of life. As we are not supposed to be using this learning journal to vent our spleen

I have an example of a story that surprised me in its graphic detail, unlike the fairy tales it has images that show what is being said in the story, it is these images that add power to the story. I thought I would mention it because it is so different to stories today. The story is in the fore mentioned school reader that my Mother and Uncles all read at school. Farmer Dobbin's Goat is by Alphonse Daudet, it is about a goat who wants to live free in the wood despite knowing her predecessor was eaten by a wolf. When she came across the wolf she knew she was doomed, but wanted to last the night before she was eaten...the pages I have posted here say the rest.



Images: (top) Farmer Dobbin's Goat by Alphonse Daudet text and Illustration. The Oxford Reading Books 3, 1929.
(above) Farmer Dobbin's Goat by Alphonse Daudet. text and pen illustration. The Oxford Reading Books 3, 1929.

I went through our book collection to find different kinds of children's books. Bedtime Picture Book (James & Johnathan, 1963. USA) has text but the pictures tell the story, the illustrations are quite detailed and have extra small illustrations on each page to tell more of the story, i.e. the dog is sitting on the hen's nest, to help a child understand the implications a chicken is also shown with an eggshell. I have chosen our son Travis's first book one woolly wombat by Rod Trinca and Kerry Argent(Omnibus books, 1982), it uses the pictures to show the child how to count, the text is minimal, basically saying what the picture is and what the animals/birds are doing i.e. three warbling magpies waking up the sun. The illustrations are realistic, full colour the text page also has the same number of objects, feathers in the case of the magpies, to count as well. Books like the fore mentioned Hans Andersen Fairy Tales and The Oxford School Reader are both examples of story books where the illustrations are added to highlight and decorate the story but don't necessarily explain the story. In the case of Farmer Dobbins Goat they show quite graphically the sad end to the tale.



Images: (top) Bedtime Story Book cover and pages, illustrated by Molly Brett, James & Jonathon inc USA 1963.
(above)one woolly wombat double page spread, written and illustrated by Rod Trinca and Kerry Argent, Omnibus Books Australia 1982.

Sunday May 23

Childrens Annuals

I have decided to add a piece about children's annuals because for quite some time they were a popular publication and utilized the illustrative works of artists like W. E Johns amongst others. They were a cheap and colourful Christmas gift for many children. Children's Annuals were a popular type of story book that were relatively cheap. They were generally put on the market around the seasonal trade, generally Christmas. The first English Annual is believed to be the Companion Annual of 1824, followed by Prize and then Chatterbox in 1863. Boys and Girls Own began publication in 1878/79 then Young England and Chum in the 1880's. Annuals were a combination of stories and verse from weekly or monthly story magazines. The heyday of the Annual was in the 1930's when the movie Annuals appeared, Film Pictorial,
Picture Show and Boys Cinema, comic Annuals also became popular at this time. Boy's annuals were more popular especially adventure stories including The Modern Boys Book of Adventure Stories, Hobbies, Racing Cars, True Adventure and Motors, Ships and Engines! The annuals included the W.E Johns Biggles stories. Some more well known issues were the Daily Express Rupert, Disney stories and Dan Dare. Popular children's illustrator, Mabel Lucie Attwell (1879-1964) published her Children's Annual from 1922 till 1974 ten years after her death.

Expense was the main reason Children's Annuals died out, also increased competition from other publications like glossy magazines. Because of the added interest in film stars, tv soap operas and pop stars, illustrations were no longer acceptable and movie stills were too expensive to access. Because of the tie-in with the film and music industry publishers lost the free publicity they had before with newspapers and magazines, lack of money and diminishing interest from the younger generation saw the end of the Annuals in the 1980's.

Images: (top) Collins' Children's Annual cover, Collins' clear-type press London and Glasgow. Year of publishing unknown, book enscribed Nancy Price Xmas 1920.
(middle left) The Pillow Ride illustrated by Ruth Cobb, Collins' Children's Annual, Collins' clear-type press.
(middle right) Colour Plate, illustrated by R.James Williams, Collins' Children's Annual, Collins' clear-type press.
(above) Cover Examples of Children's annuals from 1895 to 1963 note the later one has a photo, but many still used illustrations for covers until the 80's.