The son of a Paris book merchant, Jacques Anatole (1844-1924; pen name, Anatole France) began his life surrounded by the world's greatest storytellers. So it's little wonder he became a formidable storyteller and novelist, as well as a Nobel Prize winner.
A French Classicist through and through, Anatole's works reflect the polished irreverance and "enlightened" indulgences of the time and would, by his death in 1924, encompass every genre.
First published in 1908, Penguin Island, is a strange tale of a fictitious island inhabited by great auks and a mostly blind and deaf Christian monk who ends up baptizing the birds and annoying God, who eventually turns the baptized birds into humans - now with souls, as well as a few remaining avian characteristics.
Got to be honest with you, I only read bits and pieces of this very odd tale, but I've devoured the images over and over and over again.
When I first came across this handsome 1929 edition in a local thrift and opened its worn, black cover for the first time, I gasped. The numerous and fantabulous illustrations by English artist, Frank Pape, were mind-blowingly cool and I was in book-lover's heaven.
In the early part of the 20th century, Frank Pape was best known for his children's book illustrations, but following WWI (in which he served), the market changed and the artist soon began to gain employment and success illustrating books such as Penguin Island, for more mature audiences. Pape would continue illustrating until his badly deteriorating eyesight made the task very difficult by the end of the1950s. In 1968, his last commissioned illustrations of Robinson Crusoe were published by Oxford University.
Several months back, I gave this book to a friend and artist who was so enthralled by it that I had little choice... it needed to be passed on to another great admirer. I hope Pape's incredible imagination offer endless inspiration, just as it to does for me as the backdrop for this blog.
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