Leopard
![Raznye Zveri [Different Beasts]](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/n83t80i6/production/4842f601d9ba1427cd6013f75b3d855946b271f9-1795x2381.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&q=75&w=1795)
Evgenii Charushin , Raznye Zveri [Different Beasts], 1931
Evgenii Charushin (1901-1965) was an illustrator and author, known for his children’s books on nature and animals. He said, “More than anything else, I love to depict young animals, touching in their helplessness and interesting, because within them one can already see signs of the full-grown beast.” This book shows a series of animals found in Russia. It was published in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) at a time when children’s books became a mass media phenomenon. Over a ten-year period, almost 10,000 titles were published in several editions of up to 200,000. Many of these books took experimental approaches to storytelling, design and layout.
Animals of India, 1942
The Puffin Picture Books series was established by designer and editor Noel Carrington (1895-1989). In 1933, artist Pearl Binder (1904-1990) sent Carrington a package of Soviet children’s books. “They were produced by the million on very cheap paper, but the drawings were vigorous and the colour delightful” he later remembered. These books inspired Carrington to edit a series of affordable books that would encourage “the child’s awakening interest in its surroundings... I felt that colour was essential, and that artists could... be more successful in books of this nature than the camera”. Many artists and illustrators worked on the series, adapting their ways of working to lithographic printing and the Puffin Picture Book format. Most of the 120 books in the series were printed on one large sheet of paper: one side in colour and one in black-and-white. Each sheet was cut, folded and stapled to create a softcover book.
Untitled illustration for Jackanory (Just So Stories: The Beginning of the Armadillo), 1973
Janina Ede (1937-2018) created covers and illustrations for over 100 books in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Many of her illustrations feature animals, which she drew from life. In the 1970s, Ede was commissioned to create large colourful illustrations for the BBC children’s television series, Jackanory. Each episode was dedicated to a story read by an actor, while specially commissioned illustrations were shown on screen during each programme. Some of these illustrations were for programmes featuring stories by author Rudyard Kipling. His ‘Just So’ stories were short tales that imagined how various animals attained their distinguishing features. Kipling set the stories in parts of India, West Asia and Africa. His descriptions of places and people included racist and exoticised stereotypes. Ede’s illustrations draw extensively on Kipling’s descriptions, and therefore reflect the racism in his work, as well as the prevailing stereotypical views that existed in 1970s Britain. Her own personal views are not documented. This storyboard illustration was produced by Janina Ede for Jackanory episode #1451, 'Just So Stories - The Beginning of the Armadillos'. It aired on 2 January 1973.
