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Since the initial publications, 'William' has been republished many times over several decades of the long press run. Most of the publications have retained the original illustrations of Thomas Henry. However in the more recent publications, different illustrators have redone covers to keep it contemporary with the current generation of children whilst other illustrators have endevoured to keep to the original brief in their own style. Often only the
cover illustration has been changed providing an interesting contrast with modern and traditional styles. I believe some editions have changed the illustration in the test as well, but am not sure about this. The idea of course is to update him and make him more "relevant" to the modern generation.
Since the initial publications, 'William' has been republished many times over several decades of the long press run. There are not very many series that have achieved such a long press-run. This is of course a tribute to the author and illustrator.
Most of the publications have retained the original illustrations of Thomas Henry--actually Henry Thomas Fisher. Crompton's text is wonderful, but a great deal of the charmp of the William books comes from the Henry drawings.
In the more recent publications, different illustrators have redone covers to keep it contemporary with the current generation of children whilst other illustrators have endevoured to keep to the original brief in their own style. Often only the cover illustration has been changed providing an interesting contrast with modern and traditional styles. None of the modern illustrators have capture William like Henry. The cover to William's Bad Resolution' (1972) illustrated by ?? there is a break away from traditional look and William and the Outlaws are portrayed in contemporary casual wear which looks quite American with the red baseball cap,
sneakers and being fashion conscious with the denim jeans and matching colour ankle socks rolled over. HBC notes that while it does look rather American, the baseball cap and sneakers are not quite right, nor are the light blue and yellow socks. Also the wheelbarrow looks very old fashioned for the modern clothes. We are not sure what has been done with the illustratiions inside the book in this edition. Many fans of William, of course, will be ouraged at the updated illustration. Perhaps it appeals more to the modern reader, we are not at all sure about this.
I believe some editions have changed the illustration in the test as well, but am not sure about this.
The idea of course is to update him and make him more "relevant" to the modern generation. Here we wonder. Would a modern British boy be more likely to buy a William boy if William was dressed in the traditional style or the clothing styles of the modern generation. We do not know the answer to this, but do wonder.
A HBC reader writes, "I was looking at your comments on updates to the illustrations of the "Just William" books. I just wish to add the comment that updating the cover illustration to show children in more modern dress is not uncommon. I think the publishers are afraid that modern kids would be less likely to pick up the book in the bookstore if it had "classic" cover art and therefore show no qualms about updating it. The good news is that in my experience updating the illustrations in the text appears to be quite rare -- I have never personally seen it happen although I am sure it must on occasion. On the other hand, publishers are generally a thrifty lot and to pay for a whole new set of illustrations would rarely make sense -- except when a book is about to go out of copyright and new illustrations are a way to keep copyright on the BOOK even if the TEXT falls into
the public domain. However with the extensions of copyright over the last decades,
this has become unnecessary (at least in the US) since nothing published since World War I
(approximately) has gone into the public domain."
Another reader writes, "That is very interesting. I did not notice this in the 1970s, having moved on from William books - but I distictly remember
editions in the 80's with updated covers--the Outlaws in jeans and William in school shorts with his sock down - though the rest of his clothes were casual and he'd lost his famous cap."
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