Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Nardini Illustrations in 1960 Snow White Book

My Book of Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs was first issued in 1960 by UK publisher Odhams Press Limited and in the US by Maxton. Contains 27 pages and stands 32cm tall.



Although it's not a Disney title, the illustrations by artist Nardini bare a familiar likeness to what we see in the motion picture. The book starts with Snow White's mother and her wish for a child, but it quickly falls in line with the film after that.



The Evil Queen consults her mirror.



Snow White flees into the dark forest.



She finds the cottage of the Seven Dwarfs, and they march home across the iconic Disney-esque log bridge.



At the cottage and the palace.



The evil potion.



And poison apple.



Illustrations of the hag and princess.



Sleeping death and the dwarfs in pursuit.



Fatal fall.



Love's first kiss.



And happily ever after.

Images courtesy of the Muir Hewitt Collection.

7 comments:

  1. This is fascinating; it's not Disney, but as you say, it is clearly very influenced by the artwork from the Disney film. In some cases it is ridiculous (the dwarfs marching home across the log)!

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    1. Probably not something a book publisher could get away with today.

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    2. This story is an old German fable from Grimm, written in the 1800's. So, I think the story was more influential to Disney than the other way around. As to the artwork, you would have to compare the date of the first illustrated published book to the published date of Disney's movie (1938?) and then you would know who influenced whom.

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  2. Very very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. You're welcome nunval1. It's a pretty cool edition.

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  3. This book My Book of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs published in 1960 by Odhams Books is one of my treasured childhood books and several of the illustrations are indeed in many ways very derivative of the Walt Disney movie particularly the dwarfs crossing the log, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the bed, the Wicked Queen with the goblet,and the Witch dipping the apple into the Cauldron etcetera! I’m delighted to still have my original copy!

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  4. I have this book it's an memento on my shelve

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