The Saturday Book

'The Saturday Book was an annual miscellany, published from 1941 to 1975, reaching 34 volumes. It was edited initially by Leonard Russell and from 1952 by John Hadfield. A final compilation, The Best of the Saturday Book, was published in 1981. The publisher throughout was Hutchinson's.

The Saturday Book provided literary and artistic commentary about life in Britain during the Second World War and the ensuing decades. It covered a range of arts, including ballet and music. Many writers contributed poems as well as essays.

The very first volume totalled 444 pages, but, with paper in short supply, the length of the second was slashed to 274 pages. From the third to the 24th volumes the number fluctuated between 288 and 304 pages, but the remaining ten ran to no more than 256 pages each, with the last one dropping to 240 pages.

In 2002 Nekta Publications published What’s Where in The Saturday Books: A Comprehensive Guide and Index by Peter Rowland, 154 pages long, which provides an index and guide to the whole series.'

- Wikipedia

Thanks to Merfyn O. Jones for the pictures

Young Elizabethan

When Searle's first wife, Kaye Webb, took over as editor of (Collins) Young Elizabethan magazine she enlisted her husband to provide artwork.  Searle designed covers and Nigel Molesworth debuted in the magazine.

This must be the finest designed magazine for children ever published.  Does anybody remember it or have any copies? It's incredibly hard to find these days.

Thanks to Merfyn O. Jones for the scans

Searle would later rework this snoozing reindeer for a Marcus Neiman Christmas catalogue cover.

'I must be a brave little boy.

 I mustn't be afraid to go

 down.  It's only for a year.

 I must be brave . . . '

 Some of the illustrations, such as that above, were much more naturalistic, demonstrating Searle's incredible range.  Note the scratching into the ink on the wall behind the boy.

 Kaye Webb and Ronald Searle famously collaborated on 'Refugees'- a book recording the plight of Europeans displaced since the war. They featured it in 'Young Elizabethan'. (The drawings also appeared in Punch magazine).

'Thoughts by Nigel M./Ye English (Well, some ready to be stuffed)./Young Elizabethan Magazine.'

Nigel Molesworth: Young Elizabethan, "You wouldn't hav thort a pair of bloomers would make all that difference."
signed, dated and inscribed as title 'Nigel/Molesworth/Young Elizabethan/Ronald Searle 1956.'
pen and black ink.

An original illustration for Molesworth: Whizz for Atomms, page 11. Published by Max Parrish, London, 1956; and Molesworth, page 215, Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics, London, 1999

Molesworth: How to be a young Elizabethan...Come here bend over
signed and dated 'Ronald Searle 1956' (lower right) and inscribed 'Molesworth/How to be a young Elizabethan./...Come here bend over.' (lower left)
pencil and pen and black ink, 10¾ x 13¼in. 

An original illustration for Whizz for Atomms, London 1956, p.15.





An Act of Charitee signed and dated 'Ronald Searle-/1956' (lower left) and inscribed 'Page 17/Nigel/Molesworth/Young Elizabethan? An Act of Charitee' (upper left), further inscribed 'Inspiration'/'The Gift'/'Doubt'/'Exploration'/'Despair'
pencil and pen and ink, 15½ x 10¾in.

An original illustration for Whizz for Atomms, Max Parrish, London, 1956, p.17.

 London based animator Uli Meyer is hard at work on a proof of concept test for his animated Molesworth film. Uli has scrutinized the Searle line and relates the benefit of his study:


"In order to create the backgrounds for Molesworth I have been studying Ronald Searle's drawings up close. The first image you can see here is a close up detail of an engine block (full image in the second picture). Ronald Searle drew many of his illustrations with a fountain pen and when you look at the originals up close, you will find that he did very little underdrawing. He used a pencil only sometimes, to very lightly block in a composition and then literally 'wrote' down the drawing as he saw it in his mind's eye. This must have happened very quickly. Many of the lines are not opaque because the ink flow of his pen wouldn't catch up with the speed he was throwing down the lines. He would then scribble over some of the lines again and again to darken them. Some people have described Ronald's drawing style as nervous and hesitant but it is quite the opposite. His drawings are so assured and confident, there is no sign of struggle or doubt. He had an incredible memory of what things looked like and rarely used any reference. His output was so prolific, he would create several illustrations of this kind every day. Ronald was left-handed and was lucky that he wasn't forced to write with his right hand when he was a child. When you learn to write you practise precision by crafting the alphabet with your pen and that precision is apparent in Ronald's every drawing. He drew like others would write letters, directly from his mind down to his hand and onto the paper. Marvellous!"