Loved this! I have memories of many Margery Gill illustrations running round my brain now. I still have my copies of Antonia Forest's Autumn Term, End of Term and The Cricket Term, all of which have covers by Gill. And I'm very envious of that binman in Fulham!
Thank you very much, Ann! I don't know Antonia Forest so will now look her up. I love her illustrations now as I did then. Her drawings rarely appear for sale , as far as I can see, so he was a very sharp eyed binman!
Thank you for taking the time and care to write this beautifully nostalgic article - the best bedtime reading. Margery Gill and Ruth M Arthur were right there beside me in my early reading. I read everything I could of Ruth M Arthur, now even reading the titles takes me back. You might enjoy The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons. It has a wild beauty and strong central characters I find satisfying each time I re-read it. I look forward to your next post and I’m going to go back over your earlier posts for more riches. Congratulations on 50 Substacks 🖊️
The Woods in Winter is one of my favourite books and so I am certain to enjoy Ruth Arthur! ( I did write about it in an early post, but can't remember which.) I wish they weren't so difficult to get hold of now ( your collection is very valuable)but I keep looking for them, just in case. I so so pleased to find The Whistling Boy. Thank you very much for reading here.
Did you happen to read Ruth Arthur’s Requiem for a Princess as a child? Would love to know your reactions if so! I did (see comment below), and found it overwhelmingly sad, though beautifully (and compellingly) written.
Gosh yes, these are the book covers and illustrations of my Puffin childhood. Thank you for telling the story of Margery Gill. There was such sheer artistry in the children's books illustrations of that era. I credit them with giving me a grounding in the power of illustration, and its different forms, and a love of woodcuts in particular. The dark energy of Charles Keepings' line drawings in Rosemary Sutcliff and Alan Garner, the woodcuts by C F Tunnicliff in Alison Uttley's A Country Child, Geoffrey Whittam's illustrations for Monica Edwards' Punchbowl Farm and Romney Marsh series, and the Ladybird What to Look for in Spring etc books by Tunnicliff again.
I love Tunnicliffe and Alison Uttley 's A Country Child is another of those that I picked up that I knew nothing about. I will look up Geoffrey Whittam, as I don't know him at all, but loved Charles Keeping. Thank you very much for reading it and supporting me here.
Oddly, I didn't read The Dark Is Rising until my son was old enough for it, and we read it together. I loved it and wondered why it hadn't been on my radar much sooner. But I don't think our edition had Margery Gill's illustrations. Her drawings look so familiar, so I must have read books containing her illustrations when I was a child. As so often, it's subliminal and you don't notice the illustrator's name. Thanks for remembering her here, Deborah.
Congratulations on your 50th post! Enjoy your summer break!
Her drawings only appeared in the first novel, as far as I can remember, and she was replaced as the cover artist as her editor did not think she was right for them, which must have been very disappointing. It was pure accident that I happened to see them at the time and they had such an impact. Looking up information on Gill sent me on several rabbit what I will have to return to... Thank you very much!
Congratulations on 50 posts! I've loved them all. Gill's drawings are certainly nostalgic. It made me go searching for the one book that held me in thrall in my childhood 'Marianne Dreams' by Catherine Storr. Those stones terrorised me day and night. The illustrator was Marjorie-Ann Watts and she got things just right!
Thank you, June. I do have a rising sense of panic after the week I have posted, but the deadline does galvanise me into action. I have learned so much in the process and so glad I joined Substack. I think I have a copy of "Marianne Dreams" and will add it to my suitcase!
Thank you, Janey! Yes, I think it better than Pride and Prejudice (though I loved that too) and think they are both perfectly cast. It was perfection...
I must have read dozens of books with Margery's illustrations. Than you so much Deborah. I'm off to scour my shelves now to see if I can find anything with her illustrations. Have a great holiday!
Fantastic piece, very informative. Margery Gill’s work is the reason I kept so many of my childhood children’s books. Somehow they made tales that were so far removed from my own life both more “real” and darker. Excellent work, many thanks for sharing your insights and knowledge!
Thank you very much, Sam. Her illustrations are so precious to me, and now I know the other books in which her work appears, I shall look out for them. I would love to see her original work.
I was a member of the Puffin Club as a child and still have the badge somewhere. The stories and illustrations of those paperbacks fired my imagination and made a lasting impression. Thank you for such a lovely post and many congratulations on the 50th publication!
I so wanted to be a member! My pocket money invariably went on Puffin books ( and Piccolo ones) and I enjoyed going through them again very much. Thank you for reading it and am so glad it struck a chord.
Back to say Persuasion!!! That film adaption is absolute perfection and definitely in my top ten (5?) movies ever. The casting…and really everything…is just so good.
And Fiona Shaw 💘.
Here’s a ridiculous US tidbit for you: I once saw a video copy (clearly a while back) where they had other more “classically attractive” actors on the cover!! (Another pinnacle of American absurdity—I think they’re both gorgeous).
I love Fiona Shaw! How funny that they didn't think them suitable cover stars! They were perfect casting. I have walk along the fateful steps this week where Louisa Musgrive fell! Lyme Regis is such a lovely place and I must return one day.
Thank you much for reading it and getting in touch.
What a joy to stumble upon this piece this morning. I adored her illustrations as a child and wished I could draw that way.
The Dark is Rising of course, but I still have my very tattered (literally held together by a rubber band) Requiem for a Princess. It was so delightful to see it here, and learn more about the artist.
Thank you very much! Aren't her drawings wonderful? I wish I could get hold of a copy of Requiem for a Princess. I look forward her books every time I go into a secondhand bookshop, but have only been lucky once. Her work is now strangely rare.
All your 50 posts have been a joy to read, this one particularly. My sister’s copy of A Little Princess may have been my introduction to Margery Gill illustrations. I read it so often it fell apart, loving the story I’m sure partly because of the wistful portrayal of it via the illustrations.
As an introverted young teenager who read voraciously I searched for books in the library illustrated by her. That’s how I discovered Ruth M Arthur. I still have most her books, bought using Book Tokens as I had to own them once I had read Requiem for a Princess. Both storyline and illustration perfect for my adolescent moodiness and dreams. I even went to the local music shop and bought a piano score of the Ravel piece which I also still have (and yet to master to my satisfaction 50+years later! ).
Looking at your post has reawakened all that adolescence angst. Time to re-visit the books I have illustrated by this remarkable if little known artist. Thank you for such an evocative post.
Dear Frances, what a wonderful message to find this morning, thank you. I found looking back through these books very affecting and like you I retreated into reading as a young teenager. I wish I was able to get copies of Ruth Arthur, she seems to be so difficult and expensive to obtain, and wonder why, but I shall keep searching. Even the library hasn't copies. What is the Ravel piece that comes from the book? Thank you very much for reading my posts, I am so pleased you enjoy them.
After reading your post I too looked for second hand copies of the Ruth M Arthur’s I don’t have. I was amazed at the prices, possibly as the print runs were not big.
The piece Willow learns in Requiem is Ravel’s Pavanne Pour Infante Défunte. Its haunting melody still moves me. Ravel wrote it as a solo piano piece, perhaps that’s why it is challenging .
Just last week I bought several of Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" stories at a secondhand bookshop. The edition of "Over Sea Under Stone" has the Margaret Gill illustrations. The series meant a great deal to me when I was a girl. Shirley Hughes is one of my favourite illustrators. I think perhaps that the style of both Hughes and Gill, being in fashion at the time, carries a nostalgia for me. Looking at the pictures triggers memories of reading at night in bed, when I should have been going to sleep. I so enjoy your posts, and find the stories of women who managed to pursue their creative work, often in spite of challenges, very nourishing in my own creative work. Thank you.
They are quite powerful, aren't they, in bringing back such childhood reading? I was less aware then of Shirley Hughes, but love her work now. There is a connection between their work, but each is quite distinctive. I am so glad you like the posts on women artists , researching them has helped me enormously as though there is a kinship we share. The problems have not changed a great deal. Thank you very much for reading them.
Thank you very much, it was so lovely to receive your message. I am surprised and delighted at the response Margery Gill has received. Her drawings had such an impact on me and turning the pages brought back such memories.
Loved this! I have memories of many Margery Gill illustrations running round my brain now. I still have my copies of Antonia Forest's Autumn Term, End of Term and The Cricket Term, all of which have covers by Gill. And I'm very envious of that binman in Fulham!
Congratulations on 50 illuminating posts.
Thank you very much, Ann! I don't know Antonia Forest so will now look her up. I love her illustrations now as I did then. Her drawings rarely appear for sale , as far as I can see, so he was a very sharp eyed binman!
Thank you for taking the time and care to write this beautifully nostalgic article - the best bedtime reading. Margery Gill and Ruth M Arthur were right there beside me in my early reading. I read everything I could of Ruth M Arthur, now even reading the titles takes me back. You might enjoy The Woods in Winter by Stella Gibbons. It has a wild beauty and strong central characters I find satisfying each time I re-read it. I look forward to your next post and I’m going to go back over your earlier posts for more riches. Congratulations on 50 Substacks 🖊️
The Woods in Winter is one of my favourite books and so I am certain to enjoy Ruth Arthur! ( I did write about it in an early post, but can't remember which.) I wish they weren't so difficult to get hold of now ( your collection is very valuable)but I keep looking for them, just in case. I so so pleased to find The Whistling Boy. Thank you very much for reading here.
Did you happen to read Ruth Arthur’s Requiem for a Princess as a child? Would love to know your reactions if so! I did (see comment below), and found it overwhelmingly sad, though beautifully (and compellingly) written.
Congratulations on your 50th post! No small feat.
I can't quite believe it! Thank you.
Gosh yes, these are the book covers and illustrations of my Puffin childhood. Thank you for telling the story of Margery Gill. There was such sheer artistry in the children's books illustrations of that era. I credit them with giving me a grounding in the power of illustration, and its different forms, and a love of woodcuts in particular. The dark energy of Charles Keepings' line drawings in Rosemary Sutcliff and Alan Garner, the woodcuts by C F Tunnicliff in Alison Uttley's A Country Child, Geoffrey Whittam's illustrations for Monica Edwards' Punchbowl Farm and Romney Marsh series, and the Ladybird What to Look for in Spring etc books by Tunnicliff again.
We have all the same Puffins!
I love Tunnicliffe and Alison Uttley 's A Country Child is another of those that I picked up that I knew nothing about. I will look up Geoffrey Whittam, as I don't know him at all, but loved Charles Keeping. Thank you very much for reading it and supporting me here.
Oddly, I didn't read The Dark Is Rising until my son was old enough for it, and we read it together. I loved it and wondered why it hadn't been on my radar much sooner. But I don't think our edition had Margery Gill's illustrations. Her drawings look so familiar, so I must have read books containing her illustrations when I was a child. As so often, it's subliminal and you don't notice the illustrator's name. Thanks for remembering her here, Deborah.
Congratulations on your 50th post! Enjoy your summer break!
Her drawings only appeared in the first novel, as far as I can remember, and she was replaced as the cover artist as her editor did not think she was right for them, which must have been very disappointing. It was pure accident that I happened to see them at the time and they had such an impact. Looking up information on Gill sent me on several rabbit what I will have to return to... Thank you very much!
Congratulations on 50 posts! I've loved them all. Gill's drawings are certainly nostalgic. It made me go searching for the one book that held me in thrall in my childhood 'Marianne Dreams' by Catherine Storr. Those stones terrorised me day and night. The illustrator was Marjorie-Ann Watts and she got things just right!
Thank you, June. I do have a rising sense of panic after the week I have posted, but the deadline does galvanise me into action. I have learned so much in the process and so glad I joined Substack. I think I have a copy of "Marianne Dreams" and will add it to my suitcase!
Enjoy!
What great covers and evocative memories of the books of my childhood, thank you!
And yes, I love that Persuasion adaptation...The Kiss is perfection😍
Thank you, Janey! Yes, I think it better than Pride and Prejudice (though I loved that too) and think they are both perfectly cast. It was perfection...
Oh, yes, a much better adaptation I thought.
Tbh I’m not a huge fan of Austen’s books, much prefer them visual. Sacrilege, I know 😕
No, not at all!
I must have read dozens of books with Margery's illustrations. Than you so much Deborah. I'm off to scour my shelves now to see if I can find anything with her illustrations. Have a great holiday!
I have been trawling through them all week! There were so many I could have chosen, they really are exquisite. Thank you very much.
Fantastic piece, very informative. Margery Gill’s work is the reason I kept so many of my childhood children’s books. Somehow they made tales that were so far removed from my own life both more “real” and darker. Excellent work, many thanks for sharing your insights and knowledge!
Thank you very much, Sam. Her illustrations are so precious to me, and now I know the other books in which her work appears, I shall look out for them. I would love to see her original work.
I was a member of the Puffin Club as a child and still have the badge somewhere. The stories and illustrations of those paperbacks fired my imagination and made a lasting impression. Thank you for such a lovely post and many congratulations on the 50th publication!
I so wanted to be a member! My pocket money invariably went on Puffin books ( and Piccolo ones) and I enjoyed going through them again very much. Thank you for reading it and am so glad it struck a chord.
Back to say Persuasion!!! That film adaption is absolute perfection and definitely in my top ten (5?) movies ever. The casting…and really everything…is just so good.
And Fiona Shaw 💘.
Here’s a ridiculous US tidbit for you: I once saw a video copy (clearly a while back) where they had other more “classically attractive” actors on the cover!! (Another pinnacle of American absurdity—I think they’re both gorgeous).
I love Fiona Shaw! How funny that they didn't think them suitable cover stars! They were perfect casting. I have walk along the fateful steps this week where Louisa Musgrive fell! Lyme Regis is such a lovely place and I must return one day.
Thank you much for reading it and getting in touch.
My wife and I have the oddball habit of saying “too high Louisa!!” Whenever anything seems risky 😂
That’s marvellous! ( It is quite a drop…)
What a joy to stumble upon this piece this morning. I adored her illustrations as a child and wished I could draw that way.
The Dark is Rising of course, but I still have my very tattered (literally held together by a rubber band) Requiem for a Princess. It was so delightful to see it here, and learn more about the artist.
Thank you very much! Aren't her drawings wonderful? I wish I could get hold of a copy of Requiem for a Princess. I look forward her books every time I go into a secondhand bookshop, but have only been lucky once. Her work is now strangely rare.
That’s my edition of A Little Princess. They must have corrected it pretty quickly because mine is 1961 and has her name right.
Congratulations on 50 posts. I’ve really enjoyed them all. You are definitely a writer!
All your 50 posts have been a joy to read, this one particularly. My sister’s copy of A Little Princess may have been my introduction to Margery Gill illustrations. I read it so often it fell apart, loving the story I’m sure partly because of the wistful portrayal of it via the illustrations.
As an introverted young teenager who read voraciously I searched for books in the library illustrated by her. That’s how I discovered Ruth M Arthur. I still have most her books, bought using Book Tokens as I had to own them once I had read Requiem for a Princess. Both storyline and illustration perfect for my adolescent moodiness and dreams. I even went to the local music shop and bought a piano score of the Ravel piece which I also still have (and yet to master to my satisfaction 50+years later! ).
Looking at your post has reawakened all that adolescence angst. Time to re-visit the books I have illustrated by this remarkable if little known artist. Thank you for such an evocative post.
Dear Frances, what a wonderful message to find this morning, thank you. I found looking back through these books very affecting and like you I retreated into reading as a young teenager. I wish I was able to get copies of Ruth Arthur, she seems to be so difficult and expensive to obtain, and wonder why, but I shall keep searching. Even the library hasn't copies. What is the Ravel piece that comes from the book? Thank you very much for reading my posts, I am so pleased you enjoy them.
After reading your post I too looked for second hand copies of the Ruth M Arthur’s I don’t have. I was amazed at the prices, possibly as the print runs were not big.
The piece Willow learns in Requiem is Ravel’s Pavanne Pour Infante Défunte. Its haunting melody still moves me. Ravel wrote it as a solo piano piece, perhaps that’s why it is challenging .
They are eye-watering, aren't they? I shall keep looking. It is a beautiful piece and makes me more determined to find it!
Just last week I bought several of Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" stories at a secondhand bookshop. The edition of "Over Sea Under Stone" has the Margaret Gill illustrations. The series meant a great deal to me when I was a girl. Shirley Hughes is one of my favourite illustrators. I think perhaps that the style of both Hughes and Gill, being in fashion at the time, carries a nostalgia for me. Looking at the pictures triggers memories of reading at night in bed, when I should have been going to sleep. I so enjoy your posts, and find the stories of women who managed to pursue their creative work, often in spite of challenges, very nourishing in my own creative work. Thank you.
They are quite powerful, aren't they, in bringing back such childhood reading? I was less aware then of Shirley Hughes, but love her work now. There is a connection between their work, but each is quite distinctive. I am so glad you like the posts on women artists , researching them has helped me enormously as though there is a kinship we share. The problems have not changed a great deal. Thank you very much for reading them.
What a wonderful post about an artist I love. Beautifully written too. And congratulations on that Substack milestone 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you very much, it was so lovely to receive your message. I am surprised and delighted at the response Margery Gill has received. Her drawings had such an impact on me and turning the pages brought back such memories.
The drawings are very good indeed - and so evocative - but you put them all together so that I could see that afresh.