Famous Five Art Nostalgia – Publishing Overview
Introductory post
When I started this series of posts a few months ago, I only had the vaguest idea about the various editions of the Famous Five books that existed over the years in France. The most well-known editions are those from the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection from publisher Hachette – ask anyone on the street (born in the last millennium) and it is probably what they have in mind. But through my searches on the second-hand market – both physical and online – I discovered several additional publications, and even the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection itself saw several variations over the years, giving us a plethora of cover art and inside illustrations to enjoy. Read on to get an overview of the publishing history of the Famous Five books in France (and French-speaking Switzerland)!
The French publisher, Hachette, was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as a bookshop and publishing company, first specialising in schoolbooks. In the 1850s, Louis Hachette opened several bookshops in railway stations and started to diversify his offer with serialised novels, travel books and magazines. In 1853, he signed a partnership with the Countess of Ségur (still famous to this day in the world of children’s literature) and subsequently founded the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection (lit. “pink library”) three years later, focused on books aimed to children aged 6-12. 150 years later, Hachette is now the first publishing company in France, and the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection still exists, although it has known many changes over the years.
The first Famous Five book was first published in France in 1955, under the simple title “Le Club des Cinq.” The French publisher did not follow the original English publishing order, and instead chose to publish in priority the books which, I assume, were deemed to garner most traction at the time. The first six books published in France have their original editions in a collection named “Ségur-Fleuriot” (thus named as an homage to two female writers whom Louis Hachette had been working with). These books were pocket-sized, with a hard cover, black-and-white illustrations, and a full-colour dust jacket.
“Ségur-Fleuriot” collection – From left to right:
#02 Five Go Adventuring Again / Le Club des Cinq (1955, ill. Simone Baudouin);
#03 Five Run Away Together / Le Club des Cinq contre-attaque (1955, ill. S. Baudouin);
#04 Five Go to Smuggler’s Top / Le Club des Cinq en vacances (1956, ill. S. Baudouin);
#06 Five Go On Kirrin Island Again / Le Club des Cinq joue et gagne (1956, ill. S. Baudouin);
#07 Five Go Off to Camp / Le Club des Cinq va camper (1957, ill. Paul Durand);
#08 Five Get into Trouble / Le Club des Cinq en péril (1957, ill. S. Baudouin).
(Note: The numbers starting with # correspond to the original English publishing order.)
From what I can gather – even if I find it odd because it doesn’t sound commercially sound – the next books benefitted from a double first edition: one in a collection called “Nouvelle Collection Ségur” with a soft cover, and the other in the above-mentioned “Bibliothèque Rose” with a hard cover. As far as I know, both these editions featured the same inside illustrations, although I have never seen a copy of a “Nouvelle Collection Ségur” book, so I cannot be absolutely sure of this. The red-coloured artwork featuring on the “Nouvelle Collection Ségur” covers were re-used (in black) on the inside title pages of the “Bibliothèque Rose” editions.
“Nouvelle Collection Ségur” – From left to right (in addition to the first six books which joined this collection at some point):
#10 Five on a Hike Together / Le Club des Cinq en randonnée (1958, ill. S. Baudouin);
#12 Five Go Down to the Sea / Le Club des Cinq au bord de la mer (1959, ill. Aldo de Amicis);
#09 Five Fall into Adventure / Le Club des Cinq et les gitans (1960, ill. Jeanne Hives);
#11 Five Have a Wonderful Time / Le Club des Cinq en roulotte (1960, ill. J. Hives);
#13 Five Go to Mystery Moor / La locomotive du Club des Cinq (1961, ill. J. Hives);
#14 Five Have Plenty of Fun / Enlèvement au Club des Cinq (1961, ill. J. Hives);
#16 Five Go to Billycock Hill / Le Club des Cinq et les papillons (1962, ill. J. Hives);
#01 Five on a Treasure Island / Le Club des Cinq et le trésor de l’île (1962, ill. J. Hives);
#18 Five on Finniston Farm / Le Club des Cinq et le coffre aux merveilles (1962, ill. J. Hives);
#19 Five Go To Demon’s Rocks / La boussole du Club des Cinq (1963, ill. J. Hives);
#17 Five Get into a Fix / Le Club des Cinq aux sports d’hiver (1964, ill. J. Hives);
#05 Five Go Off in a Caravan / Le Club des Cinq et les saltimbanques (1965, ill. J. Hives) [not featured];
#20 Five Have a Mystery to Solve / Le Club des Cinq et le vieux puits (1966, ill. J. Hives) [not featured];
#21 Five Are Together Again / Le Club des Cinq en embuscade (1967, ill. J. Hives).
If you count carefully, the 6 books from the “Ségur-Fleuriot” edition added to the 14 books from “Nouvelle Collection Ségur” make for a total of 20… out of 21 from the original English series! Where is the last book?? Well, the missing book (namely #15 Five on a Secret Trail / Le Club des Cinq se distingue) benefitted from a higher-end edition called “Idéal-Bibliothèque,” featuring a larger-size format, hard cover, better-quality paper, a dust jacket, and more numerous illustrations. A second book joined this upgraded edition a year later.
“Idéal-Bibliothèque” collection:
#15 Five on a Secret Trail / Le Club des Cinq se distingue (1961, ill. J. Hives);
#08 Five Get into Trouble / Le Club des Cinq en péril (1962, ill. J. Hives).
The “Bibliothèque Rose” editions, featuring hard covers, 4 to 6 full-page colour art, and several black and white illustrations, are the most well-known to this day.
“Bibliothèque Rose” original editions from 1958 to 1967, featuring artwork from the four original illustrators
(Note: Covers sorted according to the original English publication order, as it is very difficult to pinpoint the exact French publishing order due to the many re-editions.)
The series became wildly popular and benefitted from several re-editions, some of them with new cover art produced by the then-current illustrator, Jeanne Hives.
Some “Bibliothèque Rose” re-editions from 1965-1969, featuring new cover art by Jeanne Hives
The 1970s saw a renewal of the “Bibliothèque Rose” collection with the arrival of illustrator Jean Sidobre who, over the next 15 years, produced numerous covers for all 21 books and, in time, produced the full set of inside illustrations. In these newer editions though, the number of full-page colour illustrations was reduced to four due to economic constraints.
Various cover art by Jean Sidobre from 1971 to 1985
(Note: The third cover for '#03 Five Run Away Together / Le Club des Cinq contre-attaque' is not from Sidobre but from another illustrator, called Annie-Claude Martin.)
Back in the early 1970s, thanks to the series’ popularity, some of the books were published in a larger size format featuring several more colour illustrations and some black and white ones. These editions were respectively called “Galaxie” and “Vermeille” and were both illustrated by Jean Sidobre. Some of the art is the same as in “Bibliothèque Rose” above, and some is new. You will notice that the two books from the “Galaxie” edition are also part of the “Vermeille” edition; my guess is that they started these upgraded editions as “Galaxie”, but for some reason decided that “Vermeille” was better, and so they fitted the first two books into the developing new collection – as far as I can figure out, the contents of these two books are the same under “Galaxie” and “Vermeille”, the only difference being the cover art.
“Galaxie” collection:
#02 Five Go Adventuring Again / Le Club des Cinq (1971, ill. J. Sidobre);
#21 Five Are Together Again / Le Club des Cinq en embuscade (1972, ill. J. Sidobre).
“Vermeille” collection:
#18 Five on Finniston Farm / Le Club des Cinq et le coffre aux merveilles (1973, ill. J. Sidobre);
#21 Five Are Together Again / Le Club des Cinq en embuscade (1974, ill. J. Sidobre);
#02 Five Go Adventuring Again / Le Club des Cinq (1974, ill. J. Sidobre);
#01 Five on a Treasure Island / Le Club des Cinq et le trésor de l’île (1975, ill. J. Sidobre);
#17 Five Get into a Fix / Le Club des Cinq aux sports d’hiver (1975, ill. J. Sidobre);
#09 Five Fall into Adventure / Le Club des Cinq et les gitans (1975, ill. J. Sidobre);
#04 Five Go to Smuggler’s Top / Le Club des Cinq en vacances (1975, ill. J. Sidobre).
The 1980s saw a drop in “Bibliothèque Rose” sales as kids were moving from books to TV and video games. To boost sales, the publisher made several changes to the look and format of the books, and the original text was sometimes abridged.
In 1988, as sales continued to fall, and to save money, Hachette changed its “Bibliothèque Rose” hardbacks to a softcover pocket format. The inside colour illustrations disappeared and the black and white ones decreased in number (re-using former art from Sidobre). On the upside, these editions saw a series of new cover art from a different illustrator, Yves Beaujard, whose art style on these covers is very similar to Sidobre’s, which leads me to think that this was a requirement from the publisher who wanted a certain consistency between Beaujard’s cover art and Sidobre’s inside illustrations.
From 1988 to 1992, the whole series benefitted from new cover art by Yves Beaujard (with the exception of ‘Le Club des Cinq au bord de la mer’ and ‘Le Club des Cinq et les papillons’, which re-used former art from Jean Sidobre)
(Note: As far as I know, ‘#03 Five Run Away Together / Le Club des Cinq contre-attaque’ was never included in this edition.)
In the 1990s, a series of new cover art was produced by Paul Gillon, with the same general layout as the previous edition. The inside black and white illustrations are either former art by Sidobre or new art by Anne Bozellec.
Cover art by Paul Gillon from 1991-98
In 2000, Hachette celebrated the new millennium with a new style for its “Bibliothèque Rose” collection, featuring a hybrid format between hardback and softback adorned with a glossy aesthetic. The inside illustrations are the same as the previous editions, by Sidobre or Bozellec.
Cover art by Philippe Munch and Jame’s Prunier from 1999-2004
(Note: As far as I know, ‘#10 Five Go on a Hike Together / Le Club des Cinq en randonnée’, ‘#11 Five Have a Wonderful Time / Le Club des Cinq en roulotte’, ‘#12 Five Go Down to the Sea / Le Club des Cinq au bord de la mer’, ‘#17 Five Get into a Fix / Le Club des Cinq aux sports d’hiver’ and ‘#21 Five Are Together Again / Le Club des Cinq en embuscade’ were never included in this edition.)
In the mid-2000s, the morality police made their way through the books, resulting in watered-down translations and some title changes. Frédéric Rébéna did a series of new cover art. The inside illustrations all but disappeared, only featuring as small vignettes at the opening of each chapter.
Cover art by Frédéric Rébéna from 2005-11
In the 2020s, the series changed from “Bibliothèque Rose” to “Bibliothèque Verte” collection with new cover art by Auren.
Similar to “Bibliothèque Rose,” “Bibliothèque Verte” (lit. “green library”) was another historically popular collection from publisher Hachette, initially aimed toward a teenage male readership, while “Bibliothèque Rose” was leaning toward a younger and female audience. Nowadays, the line between what is deemed appropriate reading material for boys or girls has thankfully blurred and both collections are now thematically oriented, “Bibliothèque Rose” focusing on humour/emotion and “Bibliothèque Verte” on action/adventure. Hence the marketing decision that caused the Famous Five series to lose its historical pink palette.
Cover art by Auren from 2019-21
And that’s a wrap for the main French editions! But there’s still a few more to go through.
First is France Loisirs, a book sales club to which you can register and you will receive a certain number of books each month. I do not know if the whole series was ever fully published by France Loisirs; the visuals that you will find below are all that I could find. The books are hardbacks with a dust jacket and without any inside illustrations. From what I could gather, they were published from 1975 to the early 1980s. The illustrator is called J.P. Morvan and, if you look closely, often took inspiration from earlier “Bibliothèque Rose” illustrations by Jean Sidobre.
“France Loisirs” edition from 1975-82 with cover art by J.P. Morvan
In the 1990s, France Loisirs published another batch, re-using cover art by Paul Gillon from the contemporary “Bibliothèque Rose” edition. I’m a bit fuzzy on the exact dates, but these were published from the early to mid-1990s to around 2000. I do not know anything about the books themselves, but I can assume that they contain only plain text without any inside illustrations.
“France Loisirs” edition from the 1990s featuring art by Paul Gillon
Last on our exploration of “Famous Five” French publishing is actually not French at all! But I’m including it in this post because it uses the same French translations as Hachette.
This particular edition is from a publisher named “Edito Service SA, Genève”, which you may have guessed is from Switzerland. I don’t have a lot of information about its history and only learned about its existence because some of these books made it through the border into France, and from there onto the online second-hand market. The books each contain 5 illustrations by Umberto Nonna (3 black and white and 2 full-colour), and they come both in softback and hardback formats. They were published in 1981-82.
“Edito Service” edition from 1981-82 (softbacks)
“Edito Service” edition from 1981-82 (some of the hardbacks)
(Note: Despite what the above pictures suggest, all the hardback covers have the same dark green background.)
Thank you for your attention, and see you soon!
~~~~~~
We’ve now truly come to the end of this deep-dive into Famous Five French publishing.