Page 87 - Gullivers

Further developments in lithographic printing are evident in the quality
of colour and print in two outstanding editions of Gulliver’s Travels published in the 1960s and illustrated by two German picturebook artists. Erich Kästner, author of the ‘Emil’ books, retells the first two voyages in the edition of Gullivers Reisen illustrated by Horst Lemke. Lemke, born in Berlin in 1922 and a runner up for
the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, also illustrated a number of other books by Kästner. Lemke’s fluid line is spiky and stylised, serving to heighten the humour of the story, especially in the colour scenes. Other scenes are shown as black and white sketches, full of lively detail too, giving emphasis to the dramatic as well as the less serious side of the story. The edition illustrated by Hans Baltzer, also born in Berlin, in 1900, was originally published in German, but subsequently Baltzer’s images were teamed with
an English edition edited by Elaine Moss. Like the Lemke edition, this is a large format publication, no doubt suiting Baltzer, who, we are told in a cover note about the illustrator, has trouble fitting his drawings on to a page. Undoubtedly, Baltzer uses his pages to full effect,
sometimes surrounding the text with his visual interpretations. His line is strong and vigorous, in contrast to his colours, which though bright are delicately applied, giving force to scenes like that of the Brobdingnagian frog encroaching on Gulliver whose viewpoint the observer shares, as he cowers back from the hideous monster. His double-page spreads are especially arresting, whether it
is Gulliver roped and helpless in Lilliput, pulling the Blefuscuian ships to shore,
or observed on a table top by amused Brobdingnagians, but in particular the scene where his box is rescued from the waves, evokes empathy with Gulliver adrift on a wide sea.
The appeal of Gulliver for children was well-established by the 1960s, and not just within English-language publishing as we have seen with the two German editions discussed above. Swift’s narrative has had wide appeal in France also; it has been illustrated by several French artists, and editions for children containing some of Grandville’s artwork have also been published in the past 50 years. Looking
at illustrated versions of Gulliver’s Travels
it is worth noting that while it was written in English, many of the artists
Thomas Morten
IV. Picturing Gulliver
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