The Chalet School Revisited

by Sheila Ray

  Dymocks in Australia published the first six books in the series in the early 1950s using two further artists, one unnamed and the other Alan P. Rigby. The two titles so far discovered in Portuguese (The School at the Chalet and Jo of the Chalet School) were produced with the Mackay and Brook illustrations already used by Chambers. In 1967 Collins started to issue the series under the Armada imprint: unfortunately they have not credited any of the artists who have done the covers and some of these are still unnamed — it is not even clear how many there have been. Two of them, however, are Gerry Haylock, who drew some of the covers in the 1970s, and Gwyn Jones, who has done all the covers since the early 1980s.

  Nina K. Brisley illustrated the early dust wrappers of the Chambers editions of the first 19 books, as well as those for nos. 21-5 and 27. It is probable that she also did the first dust wrapper for The Chalet School in the Oberland (no. 26) since she certainly did the frontispiece, but there is no signature. It is probably partly because she was the main artist for the Chalet School series over a period of 21 years that Nina K. Brisley is acknowledged as the “true” Chalet School illustrator; however, the charm of her paintings must also have something to do with this. The illustrations have a delightful period feel and they are also extremely accurate in what they portray.

  Why Chambers should have used other artists is still a mystery, since Nina K. Brisley did not die until 1978. Nina Kennard Brisley was the sister of Joyce Lankester Brisley (of Milly-Molly-Mandy fame). They had another sister, Ethel, who specialised in miniatures and portraits. It was Ethel who introduced her sisters to Lord Northcliffe, who in turn introduced them to the editor of Home Chat. For years they produced illustrations and occasional verses for the paper, while building up their contacts with other papers and magazines.

  Ethel moved into fashion illustration, but she did also produce one book of her own and one with Nina, as well as having a few drawings in annuals. For her book illustrations she used the pen name of Tony Brisley. Nina herself went on to illustrate not only a number of Elinor Brent-Dyer’s non Chalet titles, as well as the Chalets, but also several of Elsie J. Oxenham’s books among others.

  The first title to be illustrated by an artist other than Nina K. Brisley was The Chalet School in Exile. Brisley did indeed do the original dust wrapper (depicting a Nazi standing in a threatening attitude over Joey and the Robin) but, possibly because there were complaints about this choice of subject, a second dustwrapper was commissioned. This shows the girls in hiding from the Nazis (to my mind no less frightening a subject) on the front and Cornelia Flower running towards the burning plane (in Guernsey) on the spine. The first edition of the book is to be found with both wrappers, although the early one is far more rare. It is probable that when the second dust wrapper was printed, the copies of the first one were stripped off the books and destroyed. To the best of my knowledge, the book was not reprinted until 1950 and it was then reprinted a further three times, the second dust wrapper being used in all printings.

  In the late 1940s John Mackay, an Edinburgh artist who did a lot of work for Chambers, was asked to illustrate new wrappers for The School at the Chalet, The Exploits of the Chalet Girls, The Chalet School and the Lintons and The New House at the Chalet School. He had already done The Little Missus, one of Elinor Brent-Dyer’s non-Chalet titles which was published in 1942, and he was to go on to draw the covers for the four Geography Readers in 1951. Mr Mackay cannot now remember why he was asked to illustrate the Chalet titles since they were not his normal type of book, but he thinks that it was because the “usual Chalet School artist” was “no longer available”.

  Why the books should have been reillustrated at all is a mystery, although the war may have had something to do with it. There were no Chalet School reprints (so far as I have been able to trace) between 1942-7, with the exception of Jo to the Rescue which was reprinted in 1946 (the first edition having been printed in 1945). The last printings of the four titles reillustrated by Mackay were in 1941 and it is possible that the original plates were lost either by the publishers or by the printers during the war years. However, this is not a very likely theory since, for example, both Princess and Head Girl were also reprinted in 1941, and when they were reprinted after the war in 1949 it was with the original Nina K. Brisley illustrations. Chambers no longer have any records and it seems likely that we shall never know why these titles were reillustrated.

  Between 1947 and 1949 Chambers published the three Chalet Books for Girls and Three Go to the Chalet School, illustrated, as I have mentioned above, by an artist whose signature is not legible. It seems odd that Chambers should not have asked John Mackay to do these as well, or alternatively that they should not have asked this artist to do the Mackay reprints mentioned above. The three Chalet Books for Girls not only had full colour covers (or a dust wrapper in the case of the third book), but also full colour frontispieces and several black and white line drawings: it is thus a great pity that the artist did not apparently read the stories, since the girls are depicted in incorrect stripy blazers and navy blue tunics.

  It is interesting to note that in 1970 at least two books were produced by Murrays’ (My Treasure Hour Bumper Annual and My Treasure Hour Playtime Annual) which contain large chunks of The Chalet Book for Girls and the Third Chalet Book for Girls, in which the black-and-white illustrations from the 1940s are redrawn in the style of 1970! To date, I have not found a third volume, but it would seem only logical that The Second Chalet Book for Girls was treated in a similar style.

  Chambers had a number of other Chalet titles reillustrated, although it is difficult to understand why they did some and not others and why the new illustrations were commissioned at different times. After Mackay, the next artist to reillustrate the books was W. Spence, who did Princess and Rivals in 1955, Eustacia in 1956 and Head Girl in 1960, as well as doing the dust wrapper for Joey Goes to the Oberland in 1954. So far, I know nothing about W. Spence, except that he or she illustrated a number of other children’s titles during this era, including Elinor Brent-Dyer’s Chudleigh Hold. Most Chalet fans would agree that the W. Spence illustrations probably fall into the middle of the best-to-worst scale of accuracy and charm.

  D. Brook, who illustrated most of the later Chalet School titles, also reillustrated some of the earlier titles: The Chalet School in the Oberland in 1958, Jo of the Chalet School, The Chalet School and Jo and Jo Returns to the Chalet School in 1960, and The Chalet School and the Lintons in 1964. This last title was the only hardback to have three different illustrators in the UK, although four of the early titles were reillustrated by artists in Australia.

  Why The Chalet School in the Oberland (and also Shocks for the Chalet School which was probably drawn by D. Brook) should have been reillustrated so soon after the first editions were printed is a puzzle. The original illustrations in both cases (Shocks by Nina K. Brisley and Oberland probably so) are charming and could not possibly have dated within four years. It is possible that there was an objection to the smoking on the spine of Oberland, but this alone would surely not have justified having the whole wrapper reillustrated.

  In the early 1950s Dymocks in Australia published the first six titles under their own imprint. They used the original Nina K. Brisley illustrations for Princess and Rivals, but had the other four titles reillustrated. The new illustrations for Jo of the Chalet School and Head Girl depict the same subjects as those by Brisley and have a charm all of their own; unfortunately the artist is not credited. Alan P. Rigby, about whom I know nothing, was commissioned to do the dustwrappers for The School at the Chalet and Eustacia. These have to be two of the most inaccurate illustrations in the whole series, and for this reason alone are well worth collecting!

  The 1950s saw Chambers experiment with a number of different artists, who have not signed their work and whose identities remain a mystery. In 1951 Chambers published an original paperback, The Chalet School and Rosalie, which had a cover by an unknown artist. Several people have suggested
that the style is similar to that of Nina K. Brisley, but there is no signature to prove this and to my eye it isn’t close enough. Other unknown artists drew the dust wrappers for Changes for the Chalet School in 1953 (although the spine uses the Mackay illustration from Exploits), the 1955 edition of Tom Tackles the Chalet School, the 1955 reprint of Three Go to the Chalet School, and the 1958 reprint of Shocks for the Chalet School, although it’s possible that Tom and Shocks were drawn by D. Brook since they are very much in the same style.

  To the best of my knowledge, there was no second dustwrapper for The New Chalet School (although the spine illustration was changed). If anyone should find one (the original portrays Joey with Maria Balbini sitting on a bed), then I should be delighted to hear about it. It is possible that Chambers planned to have the dust wrapper reillustrated and then did not do so — this seems to have been the case with Joey Goes to the Oberland, for in the Chalet Club News Letter of November 1963 it was announced that this title would be reissued with a new dust jacket, and to the best of my knowledge this never happened.

  The publication of the Chambers edition of The Chalet School and Barbara saw a new departure, not only in that the school was now set in Switzerland, but also in that all the dust wrappers were illustrated by D. Brook and that none of these was reillustrated. There are some dust wrappers which are not actually signed by the artist, but since they are very much in the same style and in all cases except one (A Future Chalet School Girl) the books have frontispieces signed “D. Brook”, it seems probable that D. Brook did all the illustrations for the later titles.

  I am at the moment still trying to gather information on D. Brook. It has been suggested that her name was Daphne Brook and it has also been suggested that she is a relation of George Brook who illustrated some of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven series, since the illustrations look so alike. I personally cannot see any likeness and Hodder & Stoughton, who publish the Secret Seven books and who do keep records, have no address for George Brook.

  There was one further artist used by Chambers during Elinor Brent Dyer’s lifetime, and this was Balmer who drew the dust wrapper and presumably the woodcut used on the spine and title page for The Chalet School Cook Book. The Cook Book is a fascinating book in its own right, being a collection of recipes linked with conversations between Joey Bettany, Simone Lecoutier, Frieda Mensch and Marie von Eschenau, set in Tyrol after the four have left school and before Marie’s wedding, although it wasn’t published until 1953. To today’s reader, used to a more healthy way of eating, the recipes make interesting reading, with large amounts of lard etc being used, and the book is eagerly sought after by cookbook collectors as well as Elinor Brent-Dyer’s fans. The dust wrapper is rare and really only worth paying for if you are a completist, since it competes with those by Alan P. Rigby for being the most inaccurate in the series. I still have no leads on who Balmer might be.

  In 1988 Chambers reprinted the first four Chalet titles as “facsimiles”, using the original Nina K. Brisley dust wrappers, but dropping the original inside plates and commissioning some new illustrations in the style of woodcuts by Janet MacKay. For most collectors these completely spoilt the books, and they were not a success commercially. They can still be found fairly easily in remainder bookshops.

  Most of the Chambers books had some inside illustrations. The first twelve books each had four black-and-white plates by Nina K. Brisley — a frontispiece and three others. In the early titles, these were kept for the second printing and sometimes the third, although the order of the plates was sometimes changed. Reprints in the second half of the 1930s usually kept just one of the plates as a frontispiece. The New Chalet School had only a frontispiece and once the war started the black-and-white plates were dropped. Most of these early titles did not have new frontispieces when they were reillustrated. From The Chalet School in Exile onwards, black-and-white line drawings or ink drawings (sometimes reproduced in a colour such as dark green and sometimes reproduced in black and white) were used.

  The exception was The Chalet School Reunion (the fiftieth book in the series) which was illustrated with four three-colour illustrations as well as a colour frontispiece. The dust wrapper for this, too, was different in that it wrapped right round the book, rather than having one picture on the front and a different one on the spine with a plain (or textual) back. The Brisley plates for the early books are delightful and they really do add to the enjoyment of reading the books. They are incredibly accurate in their portrayal of the various scenes shown — unlike most of today’s artists Nina K. Brisley certainly read what she illustrated. The black-and-white line and the ink drawings inevitably do not reveal as much as the plates, but they still add to the books’ appeal. To the best of my knowledge, the only book which had a new frontispiece when the dust wrapper was reillustrated was The Chalet School and Jo.

  The spines of the books are usually what one sees first in a bookcase, and most of the spines of the dust wrappers of the Chalet School series are extremely attractive. Nina K. Brisley’s spines are particularly charming — perhaps because many of the early ones were designed to be at least an inch-and-a-half thick and so she could portray an actual scene from a book. The illustrations on the spines for the middle books vary in that some, for instance, show simply a head and shoulders portrait of Joey or girls skiing, and others show an identifiable scene from part of the book — e.g. Elma Conroy sitting by a window smoking and reading Stuart Raynor’s letter in the original Chalet School in the Oberland.

  Titles from The Chalet School and Barbara onwards all had more detailed spines, although it isn’t always easy to identify the scenes; however one can probably assume that they feature the heroine of the particular book. In 1951-2 Chambers issued reprints of most titles with a blue spine. Why, it is hard to conjecture, although possibly to give the books a “series” look. The idea was obviously not a success, since by the mid-1950s all titles once again had illustrations on their spines. (It is amazing how many of those blue spines feature on sales lists!) However, it is possible that Chambers had either lost or destroyed the films for some of the spine illustrations.

  The 1956 reprint of Jo of the Chalet School had the original spine illustration from The New Chalet School, and the reprint of the same year for The New Chalet School had the original spine illustration from Princess, which by that stage had a new dust wrapper. For some extraordinary reason, when Dymocks issued their editions of nos. 2-4 in 1952, they also used blue spines. Their edition of The School at the Chalet had a magenta spine (even worse!), whereas Eustacia had a wrap round illustration.

  One point of interest is that all the artists who portrayed the adult Joey did so in a way that is instantly recognisable. Four examples by different artists are the spine of Jo Returns to the Chalet School (Nina K. Brisley), the illustration opposite p.16 in The Second Chalet Book for Girls (unknown), the spine of Joey Goes to the Oberland (W. Spence) and the final plate in The Chalet School Reunion (D. Brook). In each case one can say instantly “that is Joey”. Her dark hair with its whorls of plaits over each ear and her slim figure, clearly seen even in a head-and-shoulders portrait, are unmistakable.

  There are four different styles of paperback illustration. The first, used from 1967-70, is easily identifiable since above the lettering on the front covers there are two lines in an upside down V, made to look like the eves of a chalet roof. The second, used from 1970 to about 1984, can be recognised by the somewhat gothic type of lettering. The third style is the pointillist artwork used from 1984 onwards, and what I term the fourth style is actually the same artwork but with the box for the titles, used from about 1989.

  As I said at the beginning of this chapter, HarperCollins do not credit their artists, and neither do they hold any records, having moved twice over the last decade. It was, of course, easy to get in touch with the current artist, Gwyn Jones, who has been responsible for the third and fourth styles, but tracking down the artists of the previous two styles has been more problematic
al. Fortunately, I know well Marion Lloyd, who was Editor of Armada from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, and she gave me Gerry Haylock’s name.

  When I wrote to him, however, giving him details of the second style covers, he replied saying that he had certainly done some of them, but he was fairly sure that others — and especially Exile (showing the girls crawling out of the cave) — were the work of another artist. I have yet to find out any information on this second artist — and indeed it is possible that there may have been more than one other.

  The artist who did the covers between 1967 and 1970 has also proved a problem to identify. Marian and various others have suggested that Betty Maxey may have drawn the covers, but so far I have been unable to trace her. More recently, an FOCS member, Richard Macfarlane, has suggested that Sheila Rose was the artist. I am hopeful that he may be right and think I can probably find her.

  The accuracy of the paperback illustrations often leaves much to be desired. Most artists these days do not read the books they illustrate, but simply work from an editor˛s brief of often only a few lines. This may explain the inaccuracies of the incorrect uniform colours (the uniform from The Chalet School and Barbara onwards changed from the original brown and flame to a bright gentian blue with touches of scarlet) and there were even scenes illustrated which had been cut from the paperbacks. The early paperback illustrations now have a certain nostalgic charm of their own — and for someone of my age (I was born in 1955) the sight of Eustacia in baby doll pyjamas brings back definite memories! The first and second styled books not only had front cover illustrations, but also had smaller illustrations on the back cover.