Thursday 30 June 2011

TURKISH DONALD DUCK BOOK (1961)


While Donald Duck books began to be published in the US (and also in the UK) since the late 1930s, titles headlining Disney's most famous duck appeared in Turkey much later. The earliest such Turkish title appears to be Ördek Kardeş Istanbulda [Brother Duck in Istanbul], first published in 1947. A very rare Turkish edition Donald Duck book is Vak-Vak Kardeş Masal Diyarında [Quack-Quack Brother in the Land of Fairytales], a 16 pages-long booklet translated by Turhan Tümay and published by Necmeddin Salman's Kitap Yayma Odası in 1959 as no. 30 of 'Küçüklere Kitaplar' [Books to the Minors] series; I have never seen a copy of this title, all the info I have on it is from the index of the Turkish National Library in Ankara.
The next in line was Vakvak Amca [Quackquack Uncle], currently the oldest Turkish Donald Duck illustrated story book in my collection. This 16 pages-long booklet was published by Edip Alşar in 1961 as no. 3 of 'Eğlendirici Çocuk Kitapları' [Entertaining Children's Book] series, and distributed by Gazeteci Kitap ve Yayınevi. Edip Alşar is an author of a soccer history book and also of school books for children. Gazeteci Kitap ve Yayınevi was a short-lived franchise active in 1960-62. It was apparently a miniscule enterprise as only a post box number is given as its adress.
Vakvak Amca features a very ugly Donald Duck illustraton on its first pageand two more illustrations in the central pages:The plot concerns Donald deciding to make a feast all for himself, with eventually smoke rising from the kitchen while the food is being cooked. It turns out to be a false fire alarm however as a bird is revealed to have blocked the chimney.
The backcover showcases the covers of the books from the series, all of which are Disneyic:

Saturday 18 June 2011

THE FOX HUNT (1938)




Between 1934-42, dozens of Disney cartoon shorts were promoted in the US magazine Good Housekeeping in the form of one page illustrated text story adaptations by Disney artists Tom Wood and Hank Porter. Some of these would later be re-used in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories. And yet, several other Disney cartoons which did not make into Good Housekeeping were also adapted into illustrated text story format and published in Mickey Mouse Magazine, the predecessor of WDC&S. One of these is The Fox Hunt (1938) whose adaptation was published in the central pages of MMM vol. 3 no. 12 (dated Sept. 1938). The last illustration in this story was the basis for the cover of that issue:


Years later, another illustration from 'The Fox Hunt', the upper one in the second page, would be the basis of the cover illustration of the no. 371 (dated Sept. 23rd, 1944) of Britain's Mickey Mouse comics magazine: