Wishing you all a Merry Christmas - Puffin Post Volume 1 No. 4

This cover has always been one of my favorites. It has been said to me that Jill McDonalds work has something of the stained glass window about it - and I think this is particularly true of this picture. If I can find some time away from the kids over Christmas, I will post some little bonus pictures to raise a smile.

To all of you who have contacted me this year I would like to offer my thanks for your words of support - It makes it all worthwhile.

A particular thanks must go to Ruth for sharing her collection - it's been a real treat!

Merry Puffin Christmas!

Father Christmas 2 - the back view

Here is the promised back cover. It's a lovely composition by itself - and that is how I think it should be seen.

For those who still don't believe me, here is a 'spread' of the whole cover - you can see the broken perspective on the floor tiles.

Christmas is coming!!! Vol. 7 No. 4

Ho ho hum! Here is the first of the Christmasy (!?) covers/pictures for this season. I know that this Raymond Briggs cover is one of the big favorites. Many puffineers remember this as having a wrap-around cover - but I'm afraid it didn't! The perspective just doesn't line up - It's still very nice though!! I will post the back cover and a mini spread to prove the point.

I hope to post a regular selection over the twelve days of christmas (Children allowing!).

Puffin Post no.1 back cover

Here it is! The final installment of the first copy of Puffin Post. The answers to the picture quiz will put some of you out of your misery - it wasn't easy! Some of the titles have been out of print for some time!

The cheery band of puffins are singing what was to become the first verse of the the Puffin Song, which has further verses and a score that was shared with early puffineers. If I can get round to it, I'll post that as well. (It's a bit cheesy, but very much of its time) If someone out there is musically minded, they might like to try and record it - or not.

Coming up in the final Tuesdays before Christmas, I will post some seasonal covers and/or illustrations to cheer us up in these hard times!

Once again, a big thank you to Ruth for sharing her archive with us - it's been a joy to breathe new life into these little gems!

Image from the collection of Ruth - Founder member 1487 - Restored S. Hassan Dec 2008

...and now I do requests!

A little while ago, I had a lovely email from an old puffineer who was kind enough to tell me a little of her affection for the club and also asked if I had a copy of Puffin Post with her in it. The clues were a bit cryptic, but I vaguely remembered the picture and went in search.

Anyway, here it is Candida! I hope it was worth the wait!

This is a picture of Candida with Bernard Cribbins at the 9th Puffin Show in 1976. The Robot was made by Candida and her sister (although her sister was too big to fit in it!).

It's fitting that I should put up a picture of Bernard, as he is just approaching his 80th birthday! Many Happy Returns on the day!

Puffin Post no.1 pages 13 and 14

Not a lot to add to this! Apart from opportunity to see the pre-TV animation artwork of Paddington. It's easy to forget that Paddington and the other famous furry animated figures, the Wombles, both had a a very different look before they made it onto the small screen.

If you can find a copy of the original versions of these classic books, you are going to be surprised.

I had to order a copy of the first Wombles book when I attended Primary school (from the Red House Book shop as I recall) - I expected the familiar faces from my teatime viewing! What a shock!! A load of teddy bears!!

Since posting this, I received a comment that I felt I had to share - "The book '22 Letters' obviously had a big budget! A trip to the Mediterranean! What were they paying him?" I'm afraid I have no idea - but at that time (though it may be hard to believe for younger readers) Lebanon was the playground of the rich and famous. As a young child I knew Beirut during the early '70's, and even though we were under constant threat of attack from all factions, it was still a very glamorous place to be, with an amazing sense of its ancient history present in every day life.
I like to think that a budget was found to allow the illustrations to be researched in this way - it couldn't happen today!

Image from the collection of Ruth - Founder member 1487 - Restored S. Hassan Dec 2008