Books &Errol Le Cain &Illustration 27 Sep 2007 07:48 am
Le Cain’s Mr. Mistoffelees
– Continuing my neverending homage to Errol Le Cain, I present here his illustrations for the first half of the book, Mr. Mistoffelees with Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer. We’ll save the Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer part for another time.
This story is part of the Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot.
That was, of course, the source material on which Webber and Nunn based their show CATS. These images are so attractive and stylish, I was quite curious to know whether Andrew Lloyd Webber had seen the books. Especially when he was about to put CATS onto the screen as an animated film.
(You can see some of the preliminary art from that aborted film on Hans Bacher‘s older, yet brilliant site. More here.)
Here are the illustrations by Le Cain:
________ (Click any image you’d like to enlarge.)
_____________Mr. Mistoffelees
___________You ought to know Mr. Mistoffelees !
___________The Original Conjuring Cat -
___________(There can be no doubt about that).
___________Please listen to me and don’t scoff All his
___________Inventions are off his own bat.
on 27 Sep 2007 at 1:31 pm 1.Taber said …
Those are some very appealing illustrations! The colors are beautiful and the style is just too much fun.
on 27 Sep 2007 at 9:24 pm 2.Mac said …
Le Cain’s illustrations are so wonderful and unique. Thank you for introducing me to them. Although I’m sure they are hard not to stumble upon.
on 28 Sep 2007 at 2:04 am 3.Eddie Fitzgerald said …
Wow! Nice illustrations! Artists who don’t collect kids books don’t know what they’re missing!
BTW, thanks for the encouraging letter when I was bummed out on my blog. It really helped!
on 28 Sep 2007 at 5:21 pm 4.Susi said …
These are amongst the most beautiful illustrations I have ever seen (it may have to do with the fact that I just love cats
– the ones with the pirate-cats you posted a while ago were amazing too…).
I didn’t know Le Cain at all before you introduced him to me, I really don’t know how to thank you for that, discovering a new artist to love and to be inspired from is a joyful, unique and magnificent emotion!
on 10 Dec 2007 at 6:28 pm 5.sarah said …
my absolute favorite book is molly whuppie, illustrated beautifully by errol le cain. can you tell me anything more about him?
sarah
smackofjellyfish.com
on 22 Oct 2009 at 9:29 am 6.Emily said …
I think these pics are excellent! I am at school doing a project on famout cats invented by T.S. Elliot and I hope no one else in my class steals these pics!
Thnx.xx