Random Weirdness from Girls' Annuals
Posted 12 November 2008 in Books by Catriona
As with the last set of random weirdnesses (the plural works for me, and I’m keeping it), this series comes from a girls’ annual: this one is Our Darlings, from John F. Shaw and Co. There’s no publication date, but the inscription reads 22nd January 1933, and these types of books proliferated around Christmas time, so 1932 sounds plausible.
1932 is in keeping with the illustrations, too.
These vary between simplistic but relatively realistic black-and-white line drawings:
More stylised illustrations with a blocky and limited colour palette:
And the occasional, far more elaborate full-page, full-colour illustration:
Some of the stylised colour illustrations work well, especially when they strongly evoke an Art Nouveau aesthetic, rather than the “all children like sickeningly cute illustrations, right?” vibe of the skipping illustration above (and, of course, of thousands of children’s books published in this era).
This one, for example, has a lovely angularity and stunning colour palette:
Also? I covet that lamp shade.
Some of them, though, are just weird:
And can’t you tell, just based on this illustration, that that little girl would be thoroughly annoying?
(She’s singing, by the way. I know it looks as though she’s just sustained a sharp blow to the side of the head, but apparently she’s singing for the entertainment of her mother’s friends. While dressed as a pumpkin. See my point above.)
(At least, I assume she’s dressed as a pumpkin. It could just be a remarkably puffy, bright orange dress, I suppose. But did you look at her hands? Horrifying!)
Of course, some of the black-and-white illustrations are far more terrifying:
This is from a story called “The Fairy Shoe Dance.” But, honestly—I don’t see how that could possibly be a sufficient excuse.
(Those anthropomorphised shoe brushes? With their polishing? I think they’ll be haunting my nightmares tonight.)
Share your thoughts [2]
1
KB wrote at Apr 20, 07:40 am
I stumbled across your blog today while doing some research and have been giggling over your thoughts regarding book, particularly those of Elinor Brent-Dyer.
However my research was for another purpose and with all of the books you have been reading, I wondered if if I could pick your brains. I am trying to find an illustration (preferably colour) of a school-girl sitting on stairs in a hallway or something similar. It would be best if it was from approx. 1930s or 1940s.
Does anything spring to mind?
2
Catriona wrote at Apr 20, 07:59 am
Hmm. Nothing springs immediately to mind, KB. Books from that era tended to have a limited number of illustrations (usually around four black-and-white illustrations and a coloured frontispiece), so they liked to limit themselves to the exciting action scenes: the protest in a school meeting, the winning goal in lacrosse (assuming one scores “goals” in lacrosse), the almost inevitable moment when a plucky schoolgirl pulls some child out of a pond. A more reflective illustration like that would be comparatively uncommon.
(The other problem, of course, is that I’m not a serious or conscientious collector. I buy my books whenever I stumble across them, so they’re often not in the best of condition. Usually, the first thing to fall out is the illustrations, probably because they were on lighter weight, shiny paper, and not always as securely bound into the spine.)
I do have a number of books from that era, though: mostly Angela Brazil. I’ll have a rummage and see if I can find anything.