[1]

Robin Jacques' cover illustrations for C.S. Forester Penguin editions

Jetse Reijenga

My early fascination for the works of C.S. Forester, especially for the Hornblower series, was induced by my father in around 1960, at a time when I did not yet read English novels (I started doing so only in the mid 60’s while at secondary school). What I do remember, is that this fascination was also fed by the mysteriously historical looking cover illustrations of several of the Penguin editions in my father’s library.

One has to consider that my generation (I was born in 1951) grew up with comic strips and in all naivety I assumed that a cover illustration of a novel was by definition a correct pictorial representation of the storyline of the book. I was soon to discover, that this was exception rather than rule. Especially so with some American publishers at that time, where arbitrary content was hidden behind (sometimes soft-pornographic) cover illustrations in order to attract the widest audience possible of impulse buyers. Penguin, on the paperback market since 1935 [24, 25] has taken a more serious, at times even innovative approach to cover design and illustration. The covers for C.S. Forester's the Happy Return throughout the years [26] perfectly reflect some of the trends en vogue since WWII.

1952 1959 1965 1971 1980

Obviously, only the first two, with horizontal or vertical orange stripes, are still recognizable from a cable lenth distance as typically Penguin (quite convenient when browsing flee markets or 2nd hand book shops). Let's focuss on the period, represented by the 1959 edition. The purpose of the present essay is to highlight the superb quality and significance of the cover illustrations made by Robin Jacques for a number of Penguin editions of Forester’s books between 1956 and 1971.

Who was Robin Jacques?

Robin Jacques was born 27 March 1920 in London. Orphaned as a child, he taught himself to be an artist and began working in an advertising agency in his teens. Although he had no formal art training, he enjoyed drawing and used anatomy books, objects in the Victoria-Albert Museum, and his surroundings for his instruction. [2]

Jacques was a prolific illustrator, and his beautiful line art graced the pages of over one-hundred novels and children's books from the 1940's through the 1980's. Jacques served as art editor for Strand magazine and was art director for the Central Office of Information. He began teaching at the Harrow College of Art in 1973 and at the Canterbury Art College and Wimbledon Art College in 1975. Robin Jacques died 18 March 1995. [2]

For over forty years Robin Jacques contributed many drawings for the Radio Times. In 2002, a special exhibition “A golden age of British illustration, Artists of Radio Times”, dedicated to the memory of Robin Jacques was held in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. [23]

His expressive characters and breath-taking stippling are the pinnacle of illustration. Few artists have been able to equal his grace, restraint and near-perfection of line and detail. In addition to his magazine illustrations, he was active as a book illustrator in many different genres, such as The Penguin Book of Limericks [3]. In the late 1940’s he illustrated the US editions of science fiction novels by John Keir Cross, e.g. the man in the Moonlight [4]. But this same author in 1947 also wrote Blackadder [5], a tale of the days of Nelson and Trafalgar, which Jacques illustrated. In saying that this may have aroused Jacques’ interest in the Napoleonic period, I admit to educated guesswork.

Dragons and Witches

He illustrated A Guide to African History, a 1962 resissue of Rudyard Kiplings Kim [6] and numerous editions of James Joyces The Dubliners [7]. Most of his illustrations however were for children’s books. A typical example is Gulliver's Travels [8] in which Robin Jacques proves a true master of imagination, and sometimes original perspective (see figure). Jacques was therefore the logical choice as illustrator for a series of children’s books by Ruth Manning-Sanders, on subjects such as Dragons, Witches, Kings & Queens, Cats & Creatures [9]. Next to his magazine illustrations, fantasy and children’s books constitute the large majority of Robin Jacques’ work.  

 

Robin Jacques: "Illustration is something other than superlative drawing or a display of technical know-how. Unlike painting and sculpture, an illustration has a direct function... Illustration can never be a private exercise in graphic experiment unrelated to a specific purpose. Where it becomes this, it may be in itself enormously interesting but it will, by definition, no longer be illustration." [9]  

 

 

Hornblower covers

Interestingly, except for the Keir Cross science fiction, the cover illustrations for C.S. Foresters’ novels seem the only major excursion by Jacques outside the fantasy and children’s book area. In my view this can only mean, that the authentic historic atmosphere of the novels must have appealed to the artist. Most of the Hornblower Penguin editions in the 1950’s and 1960’s but also a number of others bear cover illustration by Jacques; there were especially drawn for those editions. I particularly appreciate them because of their timeless, high artistic quality, and also because it is clear that Jacques has not only read but in most cases also studied the novel concerned, before beginning on the illustration.  
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower[10] for example, bears a cover illustration of a skinny and insecure youngster, standing on a yardarm in obviously fair weather, but equally for the 1st time and without the security of a safety rope. I could probably indicate the very page and paragraph in that same book, where Robin Jacques was struck by this image of our hero-to-be.
By contrast, the illustration for Flying Colours [11] shows a much more self-assured Hornblower, every inch an officer of His Majesty’s Royal Navy. With fierce determination, he is on the verge of smashing the thick, fat head of a French pilot into pulp with a belaying pin. The only weak point in the drawing is that the belaying pin looks more like the end of a broom sick (as someone pointed out on a Hornblower discussion web).
The illustration for Happy Return [12] depicts the second battle against the Natividad, the agony of battle in sharp contrast with the title. Only an illustrator having read the book, and fully understanding the discrepancy, would have made this choice. The illustration does not show heroism by commissioned officers, it rather depicts the misery experienced by the lower deck: one cannot even ascertain whether the human head in front is still attached to a body. The reverse side of glory......
The cover illustration for Lord Hornblower [13] is again different. It depicts our hero in full dress, ribbon and star in front of a couple of mutineers, who took a vessel in the channel blockade fleet in revolt against their captain. Hornblower was chosen to solve the problem in a diplomatic way, and he does so with a combination of clever tactics, bold action and in his heart more than traces of understanding for the mutineers as victims of unjust treatment by a tyrannical captain. In the end Hornblower doesn’t hesitate to shoot the escaping rebel leader in cold blood, no doubt the man with the broad moustache on the front cover.
The cover for the Commodore, ([14], Penguin 1116, 1962) shows the command ship for his Baltic fleet. Ship of the line ([15], Penguin 1114, 1956), bears a typical Jacques composition of a boarding party. 

Other Forester novels  

Several other Forester books issued in the 1950's and 60's (not specifically situated in the Napoleonic wars), also bear Robin Jacques' cover illustrations. 

Cover illustration of The Ship, Penguin edition of 1960 (left) and 1976 (right)

I have always regarded the Ship [16, negative of book cover] and the General a complementary set of war documents: the Ship described as a well organized, living organism of destruction, the General as a mechanical killing robot. At the same time, Forester also succeeds in describing the Ship in technical, mechanical detail, and the general as a human being. Over the years, Jacques made two versions of the General: the left one appears on the cover of a classic orange-striped Penguin ([17] 1956), the right one on a later edition ([18] 1968, 1975). Penguin editions after 1975 have a color oil painting of a rather more corpulent general by another artist.

Forester books situated in the peninsular war also bear Robin Jacques' illustrations, such as Death to the French [19]. Here, Rifleman Dodd forms a tribute to British infantry during the peninsular war. His backpack and uniform bear no traces of battle however, so he rather resembles a leader of boy scouts during a weekend outing. But it does look genuinely 1810 and so does the Gun (title picture of this essay). 
The covers of world war I novels such as African Queen [20, negative of book cover] and Brown on Resolution [21] were also illustrated by Jacques. With respect to the latter, the silhouette of the ship seems to suggest a very low position of our hero, whereas I seem to remember that the story indicates a much higher vantage-point.
The cover illustration for the Early Paradise [22] is in fact a scene of nature, with a human element added to it. The subject is in fact the forest, not the person. The same can be said of African Queen: the vessel is secondary to the African forest.

Conclusions 

Robin Jacques' style is unique. It does justice to the time period of the text concerned, whether it is the age of Columbus or that of Napoleon, World War I or II, or any kind of timeless fairytale. Jacques does not need grey scales, let alone color: he is a master at authentic line drawing. Some of his drawings are slightly pointilistic in character, for example the Ship. 

About composition: the illustrations are never portrait poses, they are frozen scenes of action. One of the aspects I regard as typically Robin Jacques, is the way many human heads are often drawn, like the viewer is sitting on the hero's shoulder, together watching the scene of action, as a preparation for involving him in the story line.

It has been stated time and again, that the power of Forester’s novels is their ability to attract new audiences every generation, during most of the previous century, and that they will likely do so in the present and the next. But the degree of authenticity of the novels, in my view has also been augmented by the cover art discussed above. This is a personal account, so I wonder: does a good novel need the image of temporary heroes like Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogard or Ioan Gruffudd as a selling asset? Personally I prefer the craftsmanship of Robin Jacques.  

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Colin Blogg for the generous gift of Penguins editions of A Ship of the Line and the Earthly Paradise, to David Stead for a copy of the Guardian Weekend and to John Turfboer for the covers of the General and Brown on Resolution.  

References

  1. C.S. Forester, the Gun, Penguin 229, Edition 1956  

  2. http://www.glassgrapes.com/jacques.html

  3. E.O. Parrot (ed), the Penguin book of Limericks, 1987

  4. John Keir Cross, The Man in Moonlight; Westhouse 1947

  5. John Keir Cross, Blackadder, a Tale of the Days of Nelson and Trafalgar, 1947

  6. Rudyard Kippling, Kim, Limited Editions Club, New York 1962

  7. James Joyce, the Dubliners, Cape, London 1954  

  8. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's travels, drawings by Robin Jacques, London, Oxford University Press, 1955

  9. Ruth Manning-Sanders, A Book of Dragons. Illus. Robin Jacques. New York: Dutton, 1964

  10. C.S. Forester, mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Penguin 1115, Edition 1959

  11. C.S. Forester, Flying Colours, Penguin Edition 1113, Edition 1961  

  12. C.S. Forester, the Happy Return, Penguin 835, Edition 1956  

  13. C.S. Forester, Lord Hornblower, Penguin 1536, Edition 1964  

  14. C.S. Forester, the Commodore, Penguin 1116, Edition 1962

  15. C.S. Forester, a Ship of the Line, Penguin 1114, Edition 1956

  16. C.S. Forester, the Ship, Penguin ISBN 0.14.00.0698.2, Edition 1976

  17. C.S. Forester, the General, Penguin Edition 1956

  18. C.S. Forester, the General, Penguin Edition 1968

  19. C.S. Forester, Death to the French, Penguin 1119, Edition 1956

  20. C.S. Forester, African Queen, Penguin ISBN 0.14.00.1112.9, Edition 1971

  21. C.S. Forester, Brown on Resolution, Penguin Edition

  22. C.S. Forester, the Earthly Paradise, Penguin 1816, Edition 1962

  23. A golden age of British illustration, Artists of Radio Times, Exhibition, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK, 12th June - 7th September 2002. The exhibition was dedicated to the memory of Robin Jacques (1920-1995) who contributed some of the finest drawings to the magazine for over forty years.

  24. Books with Looks, The Guardian Weekend April 30, 2005, 34-39

  25. Phil Baines, Penguin by Design - a Cover Story 1935-2005, Allen Lane.  

  26. John Turfboer: http://www.hetzeegatuit.nl

Bibliography (other than the above and I do not claim completeness)

  • Cross, John Keir, The Angry Planet. Coward-McCann:1953. 1st U.S. edition. Illus. by Robin Jacques.

  • Cross, John Keir, The Red Journey Back. Coward-McCann:1954. 1st U.S. edition. Illus. by Robin Jacques. 252 pgs. Published in Great Britain as SOS From Mars.

  • Joan Aiken is the author of the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series of young adult books, in England they were illustrated by Pat Marriott, in the U.S. by Robin Jacques, Susan Obrant, and others.

  • Robin Jacques' book, Illustrators at Work (1963)

  • The Gypsy Fiddle: and Other Tales Told by the Gypsies, John Hampden, illustrated by Robin Jacques, World Publishing Company: New York, 1969

  • Banks, Lynne Reid, The Indian in the cupboard / Lynne Reid Banks, illustrated by Robin Jacques. - London : Collins,

  • Forty-two stories [by] Hans Andersen; translated from the Danish by M. R. James; illustrated by Robin Jacques.  Andersen, Hans Christian, 1805-1875.  London, Faber, 1968. 246 p. illus. 21 cm.

  • Jan Wahl Typed, The Prince Who Was a Fish. With original hand-colored illustrations by Robin Jacques, 1969

  • The Winnowing Dream, illustrated by Robin Jacques, Faber, 1954 (this is poetry for adults…?)

  • Van Stockum, Hilda. MOGO’S FLUTE. Vik, 1966. drawings by Robin Jacques.

  • Ghost Story Cover Art 6: Robin Jacques (1920-1995)

  • From 1957 to 1961, the Doubleday Book Clubs, under the Nelson Doubleday imprint, published a multi-volume work entitled Best in Children's Books.

  • Capital Ship by Charles Edward Carryl, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • Fisherman and his Wife by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • Heidi Goes to the Pasture by Johanna Spyri, illustrated by Robin Jacques and Ninon

  • Jason and the Golden Fleece by Charles Kingsley, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • King of the Golden River by John Ruskin, retold by Sara Cone, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • Little Two Eyes by Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • Magic Fishbone by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • Post Captain: Sir Peter Bombazoo by Charles Edward Carryl, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • Some Adventures of a Brownie by Dinah Maria Mulock, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • Wishes by Sara Cone Bryant, illustrated by Robin Jacques

  • Wonderful Story of Moses by Mary MacNab, illustrated by Robin Jacques