Ken Reid's First Fudge The Elf Book (1939)

The owner of a local bookshop gave me this for free (yep, free!) last week - a copy of the very first Fudge the Elf book by the wonderful Ken Reid. This book, titled The Adventures of Fudge, came out in 1939 when Ken was just 20 years old. He would eventually publish seven Fudge books, the last of which came out in 1951. 

Fudge had started life as a strip in the Manchester Evening News on 7th April 1938, running until 1962 when Ken paused the strip after falling ill. He had been due to return, but said that during his illness he was approached by agents from Odhams who offered him £30 a page (12 panels), on the condition of exclusivity. At the same time, DC Thomson paid £15 a page. "Anybody would have changed over," he later said.

This first book cost 2/6 and featured all new material, consisting of a 21 chapter story (128 pages minus the covers) written and illustrated by Ken. This was different to the the later Fudge books, which all featured compilations of strips from the newspaper, edited down and occasionally with new illustrations. In a 1979 interview, Ken said the new illustrations came about as some of the original artwork had been lost:

"I remember I had to redraw certain illustrations for this book, for quite a few of the original frames had been lost. I drew the replacements while still in the army, stationed at Bristol. I had to stop behind at night and work on the book while the rest of the men went out after duties. This is why some readers may detect a difference in style around the middle of the book."

A young Ken Reid
signing copies of
the first Fudge book
for fans.

The 1939 book had a good number of original illustrations throughout including plenty of full-page panels, including this full-colour panel at the front of the book.

There's no doubt Ken was a strong illustrator even by the age of 20, but he wasn't yet the artist he was to later become. Regardless, it's nice to see this early work of such a distinctive and talented artist.

Of course these days we might associate Ken more with his work for DC Thomson and Odhams, even Ken himself considered Jonah to be what he was best known for. But it's clear that Fudge was well loved by many and held a special place in his heart. When he passed away in 1987, his obituary in the Manchester Evening News was headlined "Father of Fudge dies", and the character was even placed on a plaque on his gravestone.

Image from fudge-the-elf.com