Great British Illustrators: Stuart Tresilian and Enid Blyton's "Adventure Series"

 

Most British children who grew up enjoying reading at any time from the 1930s until as late as the 1980s will probably have gone through an Enid Blyton phase at one time or another. She was an incredibly prolific writer, although she did come under increasing criticism from critics as her fame and success progressed. Some of the criticisms are valid. She was a middle class Englishwoman whose social attitudes were formed during the early decades of the 20^th century, and to modern readers it is possible, for example, to read paternalism, and even mild racism into her books. Myself, I was never hooked on her more famous series, such as The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. However, for my 7^th birthday I was given “The Sea of Adventure”, and I was hooked, and devoured all 8 of the – of Adventure – novels.

The picture is my copy of an illustration from “The Sea of Adventure” by Stuart Tresilian. He’s little remembered now, but worked prolifically for magazines from the 1930s until the 1960s, and served as president of the Society of Graphic Art in the mid 60s. Just looking at his work brings a warm glow, and reminds me how thrilled I was by the adventures of Jack, Philip, Dinah, Lucy Anne and Jack’s parrot Kiki.