Written and illustrated by Peter Spier
Original 1961 Doubleday
Refreshed Illustrations 2014 Doubleday
According to a January 22, 2015 article in Publishers Weekly, Doubleday has revived five of Peter Spier's classic picture books "with refreshed art... new covers by the artist, and a uniform title typeface."
The books are We the People, The Star Spangled Banner, Noah's Ark,
The Book of Jonah and The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night.
It's the last book that interested me the most. It's an illustrated version of the old folk song. Maybe you've heard Burl Ives sing it. It was a favorite of one of my nieces, so I was so happy to find out that Doubleday asked Peter Spier to "refresh" his illustrations by adding color to the black and white spreads. When the book was published in 1961 full color in a picture book was expensive and so you'd have these half color/half black and white books.
Normally, I'm not too thrilled about "colorization." I enjoy black-and-what for what it is. I echo what Orson Welles supposedly said about his masterpiece Citizen Kane: "Don't let Ted Turner deface my movie with his crayons." (Although, I like the legendary version of this quote: "Keep your damn crayons away from my movie.")
Anyway, I am happy about Peter Spier's colorization of The Fox. No one else took their crayons to his artwork. And he did a wonderful job of bringing living color to his drawings.
Original 1961 Doubleday
Refreshed Illustrations 2014 Doubleday
According to a January 22, 2015 article in Publishers Weekly, Doubleday has revived five of Peter Spier's classic picture books "with refreshed art... new covers by the artist, and a uniform title typeface."
The books are We the People, The Star Spangled Banner, Noah's Ark,
The Book of Jonah and The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night.
It's the last book that interested me the most. It's an illustrated version of the old folk song. Maybe you've heard Burl Ives sing it. It was a favorite of one of my nieces, so I was so happy to find out that Doubleday asked Peter Spier to "refresh" his illustrations by adding color to the black and white spreads. When the book was published in 1961 full color in a picture book was expensive and so you'd have these half color/half black and white books.
Normally, I'm not too thrilled about "colorization." I enjoy black-and-what for what it is. I echo what Orson Welles supposedly said about his masterpiece Citizen Kane: "Don't let Ted Turner deface my movie with his crayons." (Although, I like the legendary version of this quote: "Keep your damn crayons away from my movie.")
Anyway, I am happy about Peter Spier's colorization of The Fox. No one else took their crayons to his artwork. And he did a wonderful job of bringing living color to his drawings.
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Sometimes when an original illustrator plays a part in the reissue of a book he or she will create new artwork of the same images. Tomie DePaola said that his illustrations for the new editions of books like Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs look different from the original because he is a different artist and a different person now. Steven Kellogg made changes to his illustrations for The Mysterious Tadpole because there were "nuances of character, sequence and plot that [he] wish he had explored in the original version."* Spier said, "I do know if I had to do it all again, I'd do the books the very same way. I wouldn't know how to do them any other way!"
In addition to the newly colored pages, the colored illustrations have been refreshed. "After so many decades of reprinting, the art's color had been degraded to the point that, though the story takes place in the middle of the night, it looked as though it was noon! And the black-and-white line drawings were so faded you couldn't make out the detail, which is one of Peter's hallmarks."
It does make me sad to see the way subsequent printings degrade the color and clarity of some illustrations. However, I won't say that Spier's illustrations have been restored until I see a side by side comparison. (I hope I can find an original edition. If I do, I'll post a comparison here.)
In the PW article, associate publishing director of Random House, Frances Gilbert said, "We also found an original edition of the book, and scanned the color art to make sure it was just right when we printed the new edition." I don't know if this means that they just scanned the original book to use in the new edition or they simply scanned it for comparison. I would think that scanning the original artwork would be best. But, I don't know much. I speak of these things simply as an observer.
I look forward to seeing the spruced up Fox and hope that I can see new editions of his other works as well.
In addition to the newly colored pages, the colored illustrations have been refreshed. "After so many decades of reprinting, the art's color had been degraded to the point that, though the story takes place in the middle of the night, it looked as though it was noon! And the black-and-white line drawings were so faded you couldn't make out the detail, which is one of Peter's hallmarks."
It does make me sad to see the way subsequent printings degrade the color and clarity of some illustrations. However, I won't say that Spier's illustrations have been restored until I see a side by side comparison. (I hope I can find an original edition. If I do, I'll post a comparison here.)
In the PW article, associate publishing director of Random House, Frances Gilbert said, "We also found an original edition of the book, and scanned the color art to make sure it was just right when we printed the new edition." I don't know if this means that they just scanned the original book to use in the new edition or they simply scanned it for comparison. I would think that scanning the original artwork would be best. But, I don't know much. I speak of these things simply as an observer.
I look forward to seeing the spruced up Fox and hope that I can see new editions of his other works as well.
In addition to the newly colored pages, the colored illustrations have been refreshed. "After so many decades of reprinting, the art's color had been degraded to the point that, though the story takes place in the middle of the night, it looked as though it was noon! And the black-and-white line drawings were so faded you couldn't make out the detail, which is one of Peter's hallmarks."
It does make me sad to see the way subsequent printings degrade the color and clarity of some illustrations. However, I won't say that Spier's illustrations have been restored until I see a side by side comparison. (I hope I can find an original edition. If I do, I'll post a comparison here.)
In the PW article, associate publishing director of Random House, Frances Gilbert said, "We also found an original edition of the book, and scanned the color art to make sure it was just right when we printed the new edition." I don't know if this means that they just scanned the original book to use in the new edition or they simply scanned it for comparison. I would think that scanning the original artwork would be best. But, I don't know much. I speak of these things simply as an observer.
I look forward to seeing the spruced up Fox and hope that I can see new editions of his other works as well.
It does make me sad to see the way subsequent printings degrade the color and clarity of some illustrations. However, I won't say that Spier's illustrations have been restored until I see a side by side comparison. (I hope I can find an original edition. If I do, I'll post a comparison here.)
In the PW article, associate publishing director of Random House, Frances Gilbert said, "We also found an original edition of the book, and scanned the color art to make sure it was just right when we printed the new edition." I don't know if this means that they just scanned the original book to use in the new edition or they simply scanned it for comparison. I would think that scanning the original artwork would be best. But, I don't know much. I speak of these things simply as an observer.
I look forward to seeing the spruced up Fox and hope that I can see new editions of his other works as well.
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