(no subject)

[geebengrrl.livejournal.com]

I was wondering what people thought of the cover art on the books (and the illustrations in some of them)? I always think of Nicola and Lawrie as looking like the Marjory Gill illustrations - all big eyes and long thin legs - I think because the first of the books I read was the Puffin edition of End Of Term. I also liked the Toulouse-Lautrec-ish illustrations on some of the later dustjackets (like these ones for The Thuggery Affair and Ready Made Family) - though I could never conceive of Nicola having the mullet hairstyle the illustrator has given her on the RMF jacket.

The ones I definitely don't like are the Faber ones from the 70's, with the floating heads and strange objects in the background - they look like an ill-conceived attempt to tap into the fantasy-fic market. The re-issued Faber version of Autumn Term is pretty, but doesn't look very Marlow to me. The American edition has the same cover that I remember ont he hardback in my school library.

Also, my copy of The Marlows and the Traitor has illustrations inside which make the four younger Marlows look very very much younger than I prefer to imagine them. Does anyone know if any of the other books were illustrated?

Anyway, over to you - do the Marlows in your head look like the Marlows on the dustjackets? Do you prefer one illustrator over another? Do you think cover-art is important? Has anyone managed to collect a full set with matching jackets?