Are these the best ever images of Frankenstein's Creature?

There have been hundreds of editions of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (to give it its full title). The first to feature an illustration of the Creature was, I believe, the third edition, which had this as a frontispiece:

Since then, The Creature has taken many forms, especially on screen. Here's the fabulously named Charles Stanton Ogle as the Monster in the first film adaptation, from 1910:

Boris Karloff's flat head and bolted neck is still the visual image that comes to mind for most people (sorry Robert DeNiro), though for my money, you have to go back to the page to find the best representations of the Creature. Bernie Wrightson's version deserves an honourable mention, but best of all is Barry Moser's. His beautifully horrible illustrations for the Pennyroyal Press edition are breathtaking, in my humble opinion. Prepare to take out a mortgage if you want a copy of the original fine press version, though there is a somewhat more affordable paperback edition (a copy of which came, and swiftly went, from the Little Shop). The paperback does not contain these colour illustrations of the Creature, however... They really are the stuff of nightmares.

Withnail and I News Round-Up: Here Hare Beer, Screening at Crow Crag and the Amazing Wall O' Withnail

Readers of the Withnail Books Facebook Page may have seen mention of some or all of the following, but for blog followers and casual googlers, here's a selection of Withnail-related items of note from the last couple of months or so.

The breaking news is that Picnic Cinema have announced the dates for the 2014 screenings of a certain film in the courtyard of Uncle Monty's cottage itself, Crow Crag (aka Sleddale Hall, near Shap, not far from Penrith). There are three nights this year: July 3, 4 and 5. The details are here, though you'll have to subscribe to be informed when the tickets actually go on sale... and when they do, with only 300 in total, they will probably disappear within 24 hours. This amazing event is now in its third year, and its popularity looks like it will continue to grow exponentially. If you have no bloody idea what I'm on about, you can have a read of this, and watch a video of last year's event here.

No doubt more than 'a few ales' will be consumed at Crow Crag this summer, and the top choice has to be Eden Brewery's new Withn'Ales. Yes, Withnail and I-inspired beer has arrived:

As you can see from the ABVs, these are serious beers for serious drinkers! That 9.1% is not a typo. And having tried them, I can confirm that they are indeed a far superior drink to meths. For me, Here Hare Beer wins on taste, and name. RLF, in case you were wondering, stands for Ronson Lighter Fluid (or Really Lovely Framboise). The Eden Brewery's website is currently under construction, but you can follow them on Facebook. The Withn'Ales are available locally (try the Moo Bar in Penrith) and via mail order, I believe.

Last, but certainly not least, feast your eyes on the Wall O' Withnail:

A US-based Withnail fan has taken it upon themselves to collect examples of the vintage items seen in the background in the film. For example, a Wood & Sons coffee pot seen in Withnail's kitchen...

... or the Black and White Whisky Dogs seen in the Crow:

For more (much more) click on over to the Wall O' Withnail blog. This truly wonderful endeavour has rightly already been tweeted about by Richard E. Grant, and even received the seal of approval from Bruce Robinson himself: in a move which practically defines the term 'a class act', he sent the blogger a signed Withnail poster, on which he also wrote 'You are quite possibly insane.' (You can see it here.)

I am simultaneously jealous that I didn't have the same idea earlier, and relieved that I didn't have the same idea earlier, as if I had, I would be the one currently searching for obscure items on eBay. Though I have discovered that the Jesse Tait 'Spanish Garden' design crockery, as seen amongst the 'matter' in Withnail's kitchen, is the same design I grew up eating off every day.

Wall O' is still searching for many items, so please help if you can. A possible avenue of enquiry would be to hunt down and pick the brains/memories of the original film's production designer Michael Pickwoad, Art Director Henry Harris or even the prop buyer Leith Boler. One of these people might remember which prop houses, if any, were used to supply set decoration. You never know, they could be worth a visit. For example, when the makers of  the 'creation of Doctor Who' docudrama An Adventure in Time and Space were busy recreating the original Tardis control room set, they went to a London prop house with some reference photos from the first episode. They were especially keen to find as close a match as possible to the brass columns which appeared either side of the doors. "What, those ones over there?" said the bloke at the prop house, pointing to the very same columns they had hired out to the BBC back in 1963. So they hired them again...

So, who knows what 'original' Withnail items are sitting around in prop stores as I type...

Alas, I don't have any examples of, let alone actual original vintage Withnail props, though the Little Shop does feature a mini shrine to the film, pictured at the top of this post. The sacred object is the 'With Nail', a lovely old nail found lying on the floor during a pilgrimage to Crow Crag/Sleddale Hall, back in the days when it was in a sad, semi-derelict state (it's now a privately owned house, of course). Here it is in close-up. Chin chin!

Low Frequency Kenneth: Searching For The Art of K. Romney Towndrow

Last week, I'd never heard of Kenneth Morris. I looked him up when a rather sad looking copy of his 1926 book The Secret Mountain and Other Tales came across my desk at Withnail Books. Now I know that he is considered, by Ursula K. LeGuin at least, to be one of three master prose stylists of fantasy in the 20th century, along with E. R. Edison and Tolkien. Clute and Grant in their Encyclopedia of Fantasy point out that "Morris's influence has been small, but he is central to the genre." There's more about Morris here. 

It wasn't Morris's masterful prose that caught my eye though. (Indeed, I've lost my chance to read it, as the book sold minutes after I photographed it...) It was the work of another Kenneth, K. Romney Towndrow, who supplied the 8 colour 'decorations'. They're undoubtedly the reason the book sold so quickly, as a birthday present for someone no less, even though the spine has what can only be described a 'mouse damage'. They're simple, symbolic and beautifully printed on slightly textured paper, and I'm glad I had a chance to make a photographic record of them (from a quick look, not all of them have appeared together online before). So here they are:

Alas, my quick photos don't really do them justice. In the flesh they really are rather special. They must have been even more arresting in 1926. The Secret Mountain is not a common book, and copies in jackets (and without mouse damage) can cost into three figures.

So, what else has Towndrow done? A swift search turns up very little. He wrote the text for a catalogue of the work of Alfred Stevens, and supplied the designs for these four book jackets, all absolute crackers:

... and with that, the google trail runs cold. Surely Kenneth must have other credits. Anybody out there know of any?

When Richard Todd and Diane Cilento were stars: Lovely old ads for forgotten British films of the 50s

The pile pictured above has been tucked away in Withnail Books for months, and this week I finally got around to looking through it properly. They're copies of the 'Registered Film List', a trade publication of the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association (an organisation which still exists). Issues were produced for cinema managers in the UK every four months or so, giving the titles, and lengths in feet, of every film registered to be shown. They're not particularly scintillating reading:

The copies in the pile are an unbroken run from 1941 into the mid 50s, and would appear to be rather rare. I can find only one stray example of the Registered Film List for sale online currently, here. These copies are not exactly in mint condition, and each has been hole-punched for filing. I'd like to think these were actually the house copies of a local cinema once upon a time.

The wartime issues are text only, and include fairly bare bones lists of upcoming films for managers to consider booking, but the later issues go full colour, and include lots of enticing ads. A few of these films are well known classics today, but many of them are all but forgotten. Cracking ads though. Here's a generous selection of them... some familiar, most less so.