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Terry and Starshine
Amy Whipple
This is the first 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.
Illustration between pages 32 and 33 (click to enlarge)
The first story that Blampied was commissioned to illustrated, in a letter from Edwin Jack dated 17th June 1918, was Terry and Starshine by Amy Whipple (b 1854? - d 18th April 1940). I can't find anything much about her except that she wrote mostly for children, mostly published by the Religious Tract Society, and died unmarried in Plymstock, Devon, aged 86y. She trained in art at South Kensington and was a Certificated Art Mistress who taught drawing in about 1880 in Plymouth.
The whole story and all the illustrations except for the cover were reproduced in The Chummy Book (8th Year, 1920).
Blampied also illustrated Two Little Scamps and a Puppy by Angela Brazil and John's Visit to the Farm by Evelyn Sharp in the same series.
First edition
Bibliography code: NEL-19.2i
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Series:
Year: [1919]
Format: 8vo
Pages: 63
Binding: printed boards backed with green cloth; book stapled
Size: 214 x 159 mm
Cover signed: Blampied, lower left
Internal illustrations: Full page colour plate bound in between pages 32 and 33 (see above) plus full page frontispiece in line, decorated title page, one full page line drawing and 13 illustrations on ⅓ of a page
Source of illustration: Original
Price: 1 shilling 3 pence (advert for other titles in series, November 1919)
Printing history: none stated
Printed by: Printed in Great Britain at the Press of the Publisher
Notes: The title was noted in the newspaper the Southern Reporter on 18th December 1919 as a book for children at Christmas. 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-19.2ii
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Series:
Year: [1921]
Format: 8vo
Pages: 63
Binding: cream (or grey) cloth decorated in blue, green and orange with a scene of five children, title and author in black, and a green bar beneath; title vertically in black on spine; decoration of five more children on rear cover (not by Blampied)
Size: 163 x 114 mm
Dust jacket signed: not seen
Source of illustration: Original
Price: not known
Internal illustrations: Full page colour frontispiece, decorated title page, one full page line drawing and 13 illustrations on ⅓ of 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. A copy issued in grey cloth with the same decorations is shown below. This title and the other two containing illustrations by Blampied have not been seen with a dust jacket in this edition. I have a copy with an inscription dated 1922.
Cover of second edition (click to enlarge)
Variant cover of second edition (click to enlarge)
Third edition
Bibliography code: NEL-19.2iii
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Series:
Year: [1923]
Format: 8vo
Pages: 63
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: 162 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, one full page line drawing and 13 illustrations on ⅓ of 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 1930, so it was sold in this format for at least 7 years.
Dust jacket of third edition (click to enlarge)
Cover of third edition (click to enlarge)
Fourth edition
Bibliography code: NEL-19.2iv
Publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Series: Happy Hours
Year: [193?]
Format: 8vo
Pages: 63
Binding: printed boards (see left)
Size: 190 x 132 mm
Cover signed: not by Blampied
Internal illustrations: Full page colour frontispiece (the same as the illustration on the jacket), decorated title page, one full page line drawing and 13 illustrations on ⅓ of a page
Source of illustration: Original
Price: 9 pence
Printing history: none stated
Printed by: Printed in Great Britain at the Press of the Publisher
Cover of fourth edition (click to enlarge)
Notes: The cover design is not by Blampied. I have a copy with an inscription dated 1937.