1mr.philistine
Link to BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260217-why-critics-scorned-beryl-cooks-sau...
FS has published Mr. Norris Changes Trains (1990), The Loved One (1993) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1998) - all illustrated by Beryl Cook; with the former two also released in special bindings.
All titles reviewed by wcarter here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/266300
I wonder if FS have planned a release for 10 September, 2026.
FS has published Mr. Norris Changes Trains (1990), The Loved One (1993) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1998) - all illustrated by Beryl Cook; with the former two also released in special bindings.
All titles reviewed by wcarter here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/266300
I wonder if FS have planned a release for 10 September, 2026.
2RavenSeeker
>1 mr.philistine: I've got all three of these. Beryl Cook hasn't until recently been highly regarded by the art world but has always been very popular with normal folk. These are great books and are surprisingly cheap in the secondary market. I doubt that FS will do another title with her illustrations but if they were to, I think 'The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold' by Evelyn Waugh would be a good choice. It's one of the few Waugh novels they've not done before
3PartTimeBookAddict
>1 mr.philistine: Great article. Thanks for sharing it.
4N11284
>1 mr.philistine: Have all three of these. I love the illustrations and general look and feel of them.
5mr.philistine
>4 N11284: Same here and all available cheap for second hand. I find all three titles fit the loose definition of a series as far as the (unusual?) size, frontispiece and title page go; not to mention the illustrations of course.
>3 PartTimeBookAddict:
>3 PartTimeBookAddict:
6red_guy
I've always loved Beryl Cook's work, and was sad when she died (2008 BTW, so no more Folio jobs). However, I don't know if any of you are aware of her connection with our own Joe Whitlock Blundell, who was her friend and editor, and must undoubtedly have put the Folio commissions her way.
I have taken the liberty of scanning his memoir and introduction to 'The Bumper Edition' which is a compendium of all Beryl's books up until 2000, and is available from Abe for not much money at all. Sorry about the ropey formatting - I scanned and OCR'ed it with my phone ; a first time for everything ...
BERYL COOK - A Personal Memoir
I first met Beryl in a pub. Not very surprising, you might think, but
what did surprise me was that she and John stayed for no more than
fifteen minutes, drank a rapid half-pint and were gone. In this short
time I learned one important thing about Beryl: she is not plump and
extrovert, the life and soul of the party - the popular image arising from
her paintings. On the contrary, she is quite tall and reserved and does
not particularly enjoy the prospect of meeting new people.
I suppose that during those fifteen minutes Beryl must have decided
that I wasn't too dreadful. Indeed, I was probably just as nervous as she
was, since I was a mere fledgling at the venerable publishing house of
John Murray, and this was my first attempt at commissioning a book.
It was not long before she invited me down to stay for the weekend
in Plymouth, to plan her first book, The Works. Beryl and John lived
in a lovely Edwardian house on the Hoe, a minute or two's walk from
the greensward long famous for the bowls played by Sir Francis Drake
before his defeat of the Armada, but since then equally memorably
immortalised by Beryl in Sabotage`. The house was filled with an
astonishing array of bric-a-brac - art deco lamps and teapots, Bonzo
memorabilia, dozens of cruets, egg-cups and ashtrays, and several gems
of the advertiser's art - plaster toucans offering Guinness for Strength,
a sailor in bas-relief complete with real Player's cigarette and a shapely
figure demonstrating the merits of a brand of male corsetry. Their two
diminutive yet vociferous dogs and two cats were always in evidence
around one's feet.
Planning the book had two phases. First, we went to the pub- starting at the Dolphin on the Barbican, and moving on to a few other select locations - and talked about everything but the book.
We sat at a corner table and chatted away, laughing raucously. Then, suddenly, Beryl fell silent- her attention had been caught by a hairstyle, a pair of shoes, an embrace, and she gazed at it, absorbing every detail. She extracted a little card from her handbag and surreptitiously sketched some aspect of the scene to help her recall it later. So many of her paintings had their genesis in this way – details accumulated from a variety of sources and later assembled into the final composition.
Later we meandered back to the house, Beryl and John arm in arm, for large ham sandwiches and more drinks before bed.
The other part of the planning was therefore conducted with a substantial hangover - on my part, that is. Beryl and John had the enviable ability to indulge to their hearts' content, yet still get up at six the next morning to walk the dogs, fresh as daisies - or so they claimed! I staggered down several hours later and was treated to a delicious cooked breakfast- for Beryl's skill in this enjoyable aspect of the landlady's life had not deserted her. Then we had more tea, while Beryl smoked her first
tiny cigarette of the day. Eventually, the moment could not be postponed
any longer, and we talked about the book. I suggested the idea of printing
short comments explaining who the people were and how the paintings
came about. Beryl was a bit worried about this at first and then came up
with the brainwave: I can tell you about them and you can write the
words.' This I attempted to do, but when she had corrected some of the
captions and rewritten others it was clear that she had a way of her own
with words, and quickly evolved a style which has stood her in good
stead ever since. Her eccentric notions of authorship were demonstrated
on a later occasion when I told her I was planning a book on Alfred
Wallis, the Cornish primitive painter - 'Oh good,` she said, you do the
words and I'll paint the pictures!"
Subsequent books (we have now worked together on twelve) followed
a similar pattern: the arrival, the examining of the new paintings, the
lengthy session in the pub, the hangover, the breakfast, the brief chat about the book, the walk on the Hoe (now the Downs in Clifton) the pub again, and so on.
My most memorable evening of all was at Diamond Lil's, a rather seedy venue in Union Street, where Brian, the celebrated drag artiste, regaled us with a magnificent act in a stunning
costume (*thousands of sequins', whispered Beryl, 'and he sews them al
on himself, you know') including a rendition of -Viva Suspenders' to the
tune of Viva L'España. Brian later became famous to the world at large
as Ruby Venezuela, the star of Madam Jo-Jo's in Soho, and he appears
several times in these pages.
John Murray's was not the most obvious publisher for Beryl's colourful, sometimes camp, subject matter. They were more famous for Byron and Darwin, John Betjeman and Kenneth Clark, but Jock Murray was immensely tickled by Beryl's work, and once he had backed the idea, it
was sure to succeed. In due course Jock, intrigued by this apparently
outgoing but strangely invisible artist, expressed the desire to meet Beryl.
'Only in a pub,' I stipulated; 'she would be far too nervous to come into
the office. So we met at the Goat, Jock grandly ordering drinks in a
manner that suggested his more natural habitat was Boodles or Brooks's,
and they got on famously. This improbable association was a matter of
some pride for both parties.
Pubs feature largely in my recollections of Beryl. We decided to hold
a launch for Beryl's second book, Private View, at the Lamb and Flag
in Covent Garden. Beryl had never attended a private view of her own
work or any similar function, but she agreed to come to this one on
condition that (a) it would be in a pub and (b) she would only stay for
fifteen minutes. So early one evening I turned up at the Regent Palace
Hotel, Beryl and John's preferred London residence at that time, and
we proceeded on an innocent pub crawl, After four or five pubs, we
plunged into the Lamb and Flag, where for fifteen minutes she was the
centre of attention. For Beryl this was truly an ordeal, and was her first
and last appearance at a book launch. 'In future, she said, "you'll have
to go and impersonate me.'
Beryl and John are always together, the most united couple I have ever
known. They have complete respect for each other's judgement and will always defer to each other's opinion – ‘I think that'll be all right, but just ask Beryl,` says John, and vice versa. Beryl has always Said that she can only paint thanks to John's emotional support- 'I suppose that
means I can`t be a famous artist, then,' she chortled. Famous artists are
supposed to be driven to painting by unhappiness, but I'm not like that
at all. I can only paint when I'm happy. Now in their seventies, Beryl and
John famously embody the dictum ‘Youth is not the prerogative of the
young'. They may have given up smoking, drink somewhat less than
they did, and leave the pub rather earlier than before, but they remain
fascinated by the world around them, taking unceasing delight in fashions
hairstyles and human behaviour. There is always something new in their
lives-a new city to visit, or a new pub; a new television series for they
are TV addicts, and now require two video recorders to capture all their
favourites while they are busy out at the pub); a new house to buy, either
for themselves or their family. Nothing is allowed to get stale, so life is
never boring- and this is the key to their happiness.
Over the last twenty years, Beryl has produced eight books of painting
for John Murray and Victor Gollancz, together with three children's
books and three marvellous sets of illustrations for The Folio Society. It
was originally intended that this bumper book should contain a selection
of all her work, a Best of Beryl. But it was so hard to leave anything out
that we decided in the end to include all the paintings from the eight
books, rearranged into themes (chronological organisation would be
quite impossible, since none of them is dated, and Beryl has only a hazy
recollection of when some of them were produced), and with the texts
adapted to reflect the passage of time. Of all the books it has been the
most enjoyable to work on, rekindling memories of many happy evening
together, I'm glad to say that the happy evenings continue, the paintings
continue to appear with astonishing variety, and we can expect plenty
more to come. One of her early admirers wrote to her in gratitude for
brightening my life'`. I couldn't put it better.
Joe Whitlock Blundell
I have taken the liberty of scanning his memoir and introduction to 'The Bumper Edition' which is a compendium of all Beryl's books up until 2000, and is available from Abe for not much money at all. Sorry about the ropey formatting - I scanned and OCR'ed it with my phone ; a first time for everything ...
BERYL COOK - A Personal Memoir
I first met Beryl in a pub. Not very surprising, you might think, but
what did surprise me was that she and John stayed for no more than
fifteen minutes, drank a rapid half-pint and were gone. In this short
time I learned one important thing about Beryl: she is not plump and
extrovert, the life and soul of the party - the popular image arising from
her paintings. On the contrary, she is quite tall and reserved and does
not particularly enjoy the prospect of meeting new people.
I suppose that during those fifteen minutes Beryl must have decided
that I wasn't too dreadful. Indeed, I was probably just as nervous as she
was, since I was a mere fledgling at the venerable publishing house of
John Murray, and this was my first attempt at commissioning a book.
It was not long before she invited me down to stay for the weekend
in Plymouth, to plan her first book, The Works. Beryl and John lived
in a lovely Edwardian house on the Hoe, a minute or two's walk from
the greensward long famous for the bowls played by Sir Francis Drake
before his defeat of the Armada, but since then equally memorably
immortalised by Beryl in Sabotage`. The house was filled with an
astonishing array of bric-a-brac - art deco lamps and teapots, Bonzo
memorabilia, dozens of cruets, egg-cups and ashtrays, and several gems
of the advertiser's art - plaster toucans offering Guinness for Strength,
a sailor in bas-relief complete with real Player's cigarette and a shapely
figure demonstrating the merits of a brand of male corsetry. Their two
diminutive yet vociferous dogs and two cats were always in evidence
around one's feet.
Planning the book had two phases. First, we went to the pub- starting at the Dolphin on the Barbican, and moving on to a few other select locations - and talked about everything but the book.
We sat at a corner table and chatted away, laughing raucously. Then, suddenly, Beryl fell silent- her attention had been caught by a hairstyle, a pair of shoes, an embrace, and she gazed at it, absorbing every detail. She extracted a little card from her handbag and surreptitiously sketched some aspect of the scene to help her recall it later. So many of her paintings had their genesis in this way – details accumulated from a variety of sources and later assembled into the final composition.
Later we meandered back to the house, Beryl and John arm in arm, for large ham sandwiches and more drinks before bed.
The other part of the planning was therefore conducted with a substantial hangover - on my part, that is. Beryl and John had the enviable ability to indulge to their hearts' content, yet still get up at six the next morning to walk the dogs, fresh as daisies - or so they claimed! I staggered down several hours later and was treated to a delicious cooked breakfast- for Beryl's skill in this enjoyable aspect of the landlady's life had not deserted her. Then we had more tea, while Beryl smoked her first
tiny cigarette of the day. Eventually, the moment could not be postponed
any longer, and we talked about the book. I suggested the idea of printing
short comments explaining who the people were and how the paintings
came about. Beryl was a bit worried about this at first and then came up
with the brainwave: I can tell you about them and you can write the
words.' This I attempted to do, but when she had corrected some of the
captions and rewritten others it was clear that she had a way of her own
with words, and quickly evolved a style which has stood her in good
stead ever since. Her eccentric notions of authorship were demonstrated
on a later occasion when I told her I was planning a book on Alfred
Wallis, the Cornish primitive painter - 'Oh good,` she said, you do the
words and I'll paint the pictures!"
Subsequent books (we have now worked together on twelve) followed
a similar pattern: the arrival, the examining of the new paintings, the
lengthy session in the pub, the hangover, the breakfast, the brief chat about the book, the walk on the Hoe (now the Downs in Clifton) the pub again, and so on.
My most memorable evening of all was at Diamond Lil's, a rather seedy venue in Union Street, where Brian, the celebrated drag artiste, regaled us with a magnificent act in a stunning
costume (*thousands of sequins', whispered Beryl, 'and he sews them al
on himself, you know') including a rendition of -Viva Suspenders' to the
tune of Viva L'España. Brian later became famous to the world at large
as Ruby Venezuela, the star of Madam Jo-Jo's in Soho, and he appears
several times in these pages.
John Murray's was not the most obvious publisher for Beryl's colourful, sometimes camp, subject matter. They were more famous for Byron and Darwin, John Betjeman and Kenneth Clark, but Jock Murray was immensely tickled by Beryl's work, and once he had backed the idea, it
was sure to succeed. In due course Jock, intrigued by this apparently
outgoing but strangely invisible artist, expressed the desire to meet Beryl.
'Only in a pub,' I stipulated; 'she would be far too nervous to come into
the office. So we met at the Goat, Jock grandly ordering drinks in a
manner that suggested his more natural habitat was Boodles or Brooks's,
and they got on famously. This improbable association was a matter of
some pride for both parties.
Pubs feature largely in my recollections of Beryl. We decided to hold
a launch for Beryl's second book, Private View, at the Lamb and Flag
in Covent Garden. Beryl had never attended a private view of her own
work or any similar function, but she agreed to come to this one on
condition that (a) it would be in a pub and (b) she would only stay for
fifteen minutes. So early one evening I turned up at the Regent Palace
Hotel, Beryl and John's preferred London residence at that time, and
we proceeded on an innocent pub crawl, After four or five pubs, we
plunged into the Lamb and Flag, where for fifteen minutes she was the
centre of attention. For Beryl this was truly an ordeal, and was her first
and last appearance at a book launch. 'In future, she said, "you'll have
to go and impersonate me.'
Beryl and John are always together, the most united couple I have ever
known. They have complete respect for each other's judgement and will always defer to each other's opinion – ‘I think that'll be all right, but just ask Beryl,` says John, and vice versa. Beryl has always Said that she can only paint thanks to John's emotional support- 'I suppose that
means I can`t be a famous artist, then,' she chortled. Famous artists are
supposed to be driven to painting by unhappiness, but I'm not like that
at all. I can only paint when I'm happy. Now in their seventies, Beryl and
John famously embody the dictum ‘Youth is not the prerogative of the
young'. They may have given up smoking, drink somewhat less than
they did, and leave the pub rather earlier than before, but they remain
fascinated by the world around them, taking unceasing delight in fashions
hairstyles and human behaviour. There is always something new in their
lives-a new city to visit, or a new pub; a new television series for they
are TV addicts, and now require two video recorders to capture all their
favourites while they are busy out at the pub); a new house to buy, either
for themselves or their family. Nothing is allowed to get stale, so life is
never boring- and this is the key to their happiness.
Over the last twenty years, Beryl has produced eight books of painting
for John Murray and Victor Gollancz, together with three children's
books and three marvellous sets of illustrations for The Folio Society. It
was originally intended that this bumper book should contain a selection
of all her work, a Best of Beryl. But it was so hard to leave anything out
that we decided in the end to include all the paintings from the eight
books, rearranged into themes (chronological organisation would be
quite impossible, since none of them is dated, and Beryl has only a hazy
recollection of when some of them were produced), and with the texts
adapted to reflect the passage of time. Of all the books it has been the
most enjoyable to work on, rekindling memories of many happy evening
together, I'm glad to say that the happy evenings continue, the paintings
continue to appear with astonishing variety, and we can expect plenty
more to come. One of her early admirers wrote to her in gratitude for
brightening my life'`. I couldn't put it better.
Joe Whitlock Blundell
7N11284
>4 N11284: I Forgot to mention that I'm a lover of jigsaw puzzles and in recent years my daughters have always bought me one for Christmas. Lat year they surprised me with Date Night, a puzzle by Beryl Cook. I have it framed on the study wall. Lovely
8RavenSeeker
>6 red_guy: Thank-you - an interesting read. I didn't know about the Ruby Venezuela link
9red_guy
>8 RavenSeeker: I saw a fantastic joint exhibition of Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland two years ago at the Studio Voltaire Gallery in Clapham. At first thought it seems an unlikely pairing, but then they both liked hanging around in bars and actually they went together very well. Both artists' work had an incredibly high level of finish - I was very impressed by Beryl's technique, which is far more impressive in the flesh than in print. The Plymouth exhibition is on until May - I might try to see it.
10RavenSeeker
>9 red_guy: An unlikely pairing as you say. I thought for a moment you were going to suggest Tom of Finland as a future FS publication ...
11mr.philistine
For those of us who cannot make it to the exhibition at Plymouth - on till 31 May 2026, this walkabout by FSD Jules Burt does very nicely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFmfGNrvVcw
ETA: Just found this 2-minute interview with Beryl Cook...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu01BJQa8dY&t=37s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFmfGNrvVcw
ETA: Just found this 2-minute interview with Beryl Cook...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu01BJQa8dY&t=37s
