9 Responses to Monday #696

1. chrissie777 says:

   August 31, 2026 at 6:23 pm

   The question here is if the German Bocola Adventure series again has only a fraction of the Stuart Tresilian illustrations as was done with the first edition from Erika Klopp Verlag way back in the 1950’s?

   Not until I purchased all 8 original MacMillan copies at Foyle’s/London in 1981 did I find out how many more Stuart Tresilian there are in the British originals.

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   • Pierre Menard says:

     August 31, 2026 at 6:34 pm

     Please see pots below.

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     • Pierre Menard says:

       August 31, 2026 at 6:34 pm

       *post

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2. Pierre Menard says:

   August 31, 2026 at 6:33 pm

   I took the liberty of using an automatic translator of parts of the Bocola site:

   “Since April 2022, Bocola Verlag has been publishing all eight volumes in an exclusive collector’s edition, reprinting the original English editions from London’s Macmillan publishing house, which were first published there between 1944 and 1955. The wonderful illustrations by Stuart Tresilian, found on the dust jacket, cover, and inside the books, are being painstakingly digitally restored by Bocola. This nostalgic edition will contain significantly more illustrations than the earlier German editions. For reasons that remain a mystery today, many illustrations were omitted from the German editions.”

   And further:

   “In the autumn of 2020, the idea arose to reissue one of Enid Blyton’s best-known and most successful novel series. However, it was not to be a modern version steeped in contemporary trends, but rather a nostalgic edition, closely based on the original English editions. A distinctive feature of these books, some of which are seventy years old, is the abundance of beautiful illustrations that enliven the stories. Long and arduous negotiations ensued with the licensor, who was somewhat skeptical of the idea.

   Finally, an agreement was reached stipulating that we would use a slightly modified, “politically correct” version of the text and submit all illustrations for approval before publication.
   At the end of 2021, we began preliminary work on the book production and gradually submitted all the illustrations for the dust jackets and interior pages. The approval process proved to be extremely lengthy and challenging. Some illustrations were rejected because they depicted weapons or scenes of violence. We were able to retain some drawings through careful retouching.
   However, the final volume (The River of Adventures) was treated with particular rigor. The licensor unfortunately insisted that no figures wearing loincloths or turbans could be depicted, even though this is mentioned in the text. As a result, we had to alter numerous drawings or omit some entirely. This is, of course, very regrettable, but there was no way around it, or we would have had to forgo reproducing the illustrations altogether.
   However, we still believe that our nostalgia edition captures the charm of the old books in an appealing way. Numerous very positive comments from readers confirm this. We sincerely thank you for your interest in this exceptional edition.”

   I hope this answers some of the questions regarding these editions.

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3. chrissie777 says:

   August 31, 2026 at 6:49 pm

   Thank you, I stopped reading when I noticed that the text might be altered.

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   • Pierre Menard says:

     August 31, 2026 at 7:59 pm

     Yes, not only text, even some original illustrations have been rejected or altered because of the licensor’s demands (not by the German publisher, from the text I conclude that they did not want to do this but they had no choice).

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     • chrissie777 says:

       September 1, 2026 at 11:39 am

       Probably the Jo Jo illustrations?

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       • Pierre Menard says:

         September 1, 2026 at 12:04 pm

         I did not purchase the German editions myself, so I can not check right now what changes were actually done. I may purchase them in the future or check my wife’s stepdaughter’s copies during our next visit to Germany. I will post my findings here, if any.

         I suppose that the Jo Jo illustrations could have easily been at stake. The German publishers mention ‘River’ as the most affected by the licenser’s demands for modifications (quote): ” The licensor unfortunately insisted that no figures wearing loincloths or turbans could be depicted, even though this is mentioned in the text”.

         The conclusion is that these German new editions are not actually full facsimile editions of the original English first editions, some modifications concerning both texts and illustrations have been made upon request of the current owners of the license. And they are not facsimile editions of the original German editions either because they do contain more illustrations.

         I wonder what changes have been made (if any) to new English editions, I was only interested and the old ones because of the integrity of Tresilian’s illustrations, so I have no information about this.

         There is obviously some debate out there about what do or not regarding making “modern versions” of these books.

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         • chrissie777 says:

           September 1, 2026 at 1:00 pm

           I just wish there would be no longer political correctness, and we could accept the books for what decade they were published. Nobody is altering “Heidi” or “Little Women”. Why EB???

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