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Two Little Scamps and a Puppy
Angela Brazil
This is the second of three small books of stories for young children that Blampied illustrated in a series of 12. They were reissued in several different editions between 1920 and the 1930s. The style of the first edition of these books was laid out in a letter written by Edwin Jack on 11th June 1918:
We require some illustrations for a small children’s story. Below we give you particulars of what is wanted.
1. Cover design in colours 8¼ by 5¾".
2. Frontispiece in colour 6½ by 4⅞".
We should wish to see sketches of both of the above before finished drawings are made.
3. 16 drawings in line, about half page drawings. The size of our type page would be 6½ by 4⅞". These drawings need not be all of one size or shape. There might be, should you prefer it, two full pages and 12 half pages or a larger number of quite small drawings in place of the half pages. In short, you are left free to illustrate the book in an attractive manner within approximately these limits. The illustrations should be of quite simple type in a fairly bold line so that they will print well on a roughish paper.
We can afford to pay a fee of £15 for these drawings. Will you kindly let us know whether you could accept the commission on these terms?
The fee of £15 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £675 in 2019.
The illustrations for this story were commissioned by Edwin Jack in a letter dated 18th September 1918:
Herewith we are sending you MS of Two Little Scamps and a Puppy. This story is for the same series as Terry and Starshine for which you did the illustrations. We should be glad if you would do the illustrations for this book also. In the first instance kindly send us rough sketches for the cover and frontispiece in colour. We are sending you a copy of our letter commissioning Terry and Starshine so that you have these instructions before you. The same instructions will be applicable to Two Little Scamps and a Puppy.
Blampied submitted a rough sketch, which is shown above, but assumed that it was also written by Amy Whipple. The rough sketches were approved and Blampied submitted final drawings which, Edwin Jack said were delightful
. The rest of the drawings were acknowledged on 20th November 1918.
Angela Brazil (1868-1947) was popular writer of stories set in girl's boarding schools.
The whole story and all the illustrations except for the cover were reproduced in The Chummy Book (8th Year, 1920).
Blampied also illustrated Terry and Starshine by Amy Whipple and John's Visit to the Farm by Evelyn Sharp in the same series.
Blampied's rough sketch for the cover
Illustration between pages 32 and 33 (click to enlarge)
First edition
Bibliography code: NEL-19.3i
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Series:
Year: [1919]
Format: 8vo
Pages: 63
Binding: printed boards backed with green cloth; book stapled
Size: 214 x 161 mm
Cover: signed Blampied, lower right
Dust jacket: may have had one, not seen
Internal illustrations: Full page colour plate bound in between pages 32 and 33 (see above) plus full page frontispiece in line, decorated title page, four full page line drawings and 10 illustrations on half a page
Source of illustration: Original
Price: 1 shilling 3 pence (advert in newspaper in November 1919)
Printing history: none stated
Printed by: Printed in Great Britain at the Press of the Publisher
Notes: The illustration on the front cover is used only in the first edition.
Cover of first edition (click to enlarge)
Second edition
Bibliography code: NEL-19.3ii
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Series:
Year: [1921]
Format: 8vo
Pages: 61 pp, 2 pp ads
Binding: cream cloth decorated in green and orange with a scene of two children reading a book, title and author in black; title vertically in black on spine; decoration of two trees, flowers, lake and mountains on rear cover (not by Blampied)
Size: 164 x 115 mm
Dust jacket: may have had one, not seen
Source of illustration: Original
Price: not known
Cover of second edition (click to enlarge)
Internal illustrations: Full page colour frontispiece, decorated title page, four full page line drawings and 1o illustrations on half a page
Printing history: none stated
Printed by: Printed in Great Britain at the Press of the Publisher
Notes: The decorations on the cover are not by Blampied. This title and the other two containing illustrations by Blampied have not been seen with a dust jacket in this edition.
Third edition
Bibliography code: NEL-19.3iii
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Series:
Year: [1923]
Format: 8vo
Pages: 61
Binding: blue cloth decorated in balck with a boy and a girl reading a book in a bower; title vertically in black on the spine (not by Blampied)
Size: 163 x 115 mm
Dust jacket: signed Blampied, upper margin, centre
Internal illustrations: Full page colour frontispiece (the same as the illustration on the jacket), decorated title page, four full page line drawings and 10 illustrations on half a page
Source of illustration: original
Price: not known
Printing history: none stated
Printed by: Printed in Great Britain at the Press of the Publisher
Notes: The cover design is not by Blampied. I have a copy with an inscription dated 1929, so it was sold in this format for several years.
Dust jacket of third edition (click to enlarge)
Cover of third edition (click to enlarge)
Fourth edition
Bibliography code: NEL-19.3iv
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Series: Happy Hours
Year: [1932?]
Format: 8vo
Pages: 63
Binding: printed boards (see left)
Size: 190 x 132 mm
Cover: not by Blampied
Dust jacket: may have had one, not seen
Internal illustrations: Full page colour or monochrome frontispiece, decorated title page, four full page line drawings and 10 illustrations on half a page
Source of illustration: Original
Price: 9 pence (at back of volume)
Printing history: none stated
Printed by: Printed in Great Britain at the Press of the Publisher
Notes: The cover design is not by Blampied. I have a copy with an inscription dated 1932.
Cover of fourth edition (click to enlarge)
Variant cover of fourth edition (click to enlarge)