‘New Techniques for a Beautiful Moustache’ Japanese postcard, Late Meiji period 1908Here’s an example of 1960s children’s humour found in The Joke Book, illustrated by Bill and Bonnie Rutherford. There’s a lot of flight in children’s literature, with flying being one of the main wish fulfilment fantasies. There’s also a lot of floating, which is related.Poster by Achille Luciano Mauzan, 1923Illustration by Ati Forberg from ‘Attic of the Wind’ by Doris Herold Lund. published by World’s Work, 1966. Flat illustration combined with line drawing.Millicent the Monster by Mary Lystad, Illustrations by Victoria Chess frontispiece illustrationBalloons from a film called Phantom ThreadMolly Brett (1902–1990) was an English illustrator and children’s author. Somehow this balloon looks kind of like a fruit.Woman’s Home Companion Magazine December 1939 Haddon Sundblom Cover art (detail). I’d like to see a man posed like this holding balloons.‘The balloon seller’ by Racey Helps, well-known for the depicting fully anthropomorphised rabbits (in Beatrix Potter tradition).In Animalville 1939. Caption: Tabby and Peter feasted on goodies at the fair.This illustration is by Eileen A. Soper for an for Enid Blyton story.This illustration is by Clara Ernst & Dorothy Grider for Up the Street and Down, a Betts Basic Readers primer by Emmett A. Betts and & Carolyn M. Welch, 1948. These days I think kids would be told by parents, Never buy a balloon from a strange dude who stands around near groups of kiddies. This is from All Around Me by the great Shirley Hughes, who has always depicted the realness of childhood. Note the two kids fighting as the others line up for a balloon.Pierre Probst [1913-2007] ‘Notre-Dame’ 1979, Caroline visite Paris – Tome. The fear of being lifted by a bunch of balloons is very real nightmare fuel exacerbated by an international corpus of children’s literature. This is how fairgrounds become inverted horror settings, folks.The Great Sea Horse 1909 by Isabel Anderson. I actually don’t know what these are. Are they giant redback sacs? I live in Australia. I find these in the garage every year.DE WENSBALLONNEN (1971) (The Wish Balloons) by Adrie Hospes. A relatively dark set of illustrations, in contrast to the brightness of many illustrated books featuring bright balloons.‘Still Life’ by Alfred Eberling (1872-1951). Eberling was a Polish artist who moved to St Petersburg. The colours and transparency are magnificent, as is the goldfish bowl vase which looks like another balloon.Mikhail Bychkov – Three Fat Men. The balloons look very skinny.Molly Brett (1902–1990) was an English illustrator and children’s author. Balloons and the fair go together.I haven’t found the illustrator but it’s from 1933.Thé Tjong-Khing is a children’s book illustrator based in the Netherlands. He was born in Purworedjo, Java. The placement of that red balloon gives the eyes a focal point in a busy illustration.One at a time, a girl discovers ten clues hidden in her large modern house, which will lead her, after a thrilling treasure hunt, to her secret garden. Another example of a red balloon utilised as focal point.RADIO CRAFT MAGAZINE DECEMBER 1931 VINTAGE ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY NEWS
BUBBLES
Before balloons became a popular feature of childhood, bubbles seemed to play a similar function to balloons in children’s illustration and imagination.
First of all, if you’re unfamiliar with Virgil Finlay, master of bubbles, here’s how he snuck bubble shapes into most of his work (or sometimes made a feature of them:
Woman’s World Magazine August 1919Erasmic, Beauty Soap 1912 illustrated by Jean d’Ylen (1886-1938)Woman’s World Magazine September 1933HAROLD GAZE (1884 – 1963). Harold Gaze was a New Zealand illustrator. Ida Rentoul Outhwaite Sherbourne.Francis Tipton Hunter, 1896-1957, Bubble Fairies, 1921The Song of the Elfin-A Book of Verses and Pictures by Florence Harrison, 1912In Animalville, 1939, ‘I can blow more bubbles than anybody,’ boasts Junior Jumbo.Erte, Harpers Bazar cover art, 1918.COUNTRY GENTLEMAN Magazine July 1935. Children blowing bubbles outside and also playing with other popular toys of the 1930s.PERLETTE, goutte d’eau (1960) Gerda, strange little bubble creatures somewhat reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki. (Yes, I’m thinking of Ponyo.)しゃぼんだま 1985Illustration for the cover of The Sphere by Rafael de Penagos (1926). That cat looks evil.Detail from a 1957 Dial Soap advertisement, illustrated by Winnie Fitch. I guess the rinse cycle on that washing machine doesn’t work.Erte, Les Bulles, Cover art for Harper’s Bazar Magazine, November, 1918John Everett Millais – Bubbles. Helen Allingham – BubblesCarlton Alfred Smith – Blowing Bubbles 1897John Dawson Watson – Bubbles – Cottage Scene with Children at Play 1856
CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)
On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn’t yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam’s wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.
Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project:
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