[SKRIVA] The Fanzines of Moomin's Mother
- From: Ahrvid <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "fictionmags@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <fictionmags@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "planetasf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <planetasf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "trufen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <trufen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "rgparaliteraria@xxxxxxxxx" <rgparaliteraria@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2015 19:10:43 +0100
Tove Jansson (1914-2001) of Finland is world-famous for the Moomins. But
reading a new book about her I realise that she in her youth also published
what could very well be called fanzines!
The book is Muminvärlden och verkligheten - Tove Janssons liv i bilder("The
Moomin World and Reality - Tove Jansson's Life in Pictures"; publisher Max
Ström, 2014) a sort of picture biography about her work and life (text by
Petter Karlsson, picture editor Bengt Wanselius, foreword by Jansson's niece
Sophia Jansson). We read, in translation, page 17:
"To her school mates Tove sells the magazines Julkorven /"Christmas Sausage"/
and Kakta
Knopp (the name refers to a cactus, made by herself and pointing to her choice
of profession. She has written and illustrated it herself and also printed it
on a hectograph, boiled the glue and stapled it. The latter title sells in an
impressive 23 copies of its third issue."
The cover of an issue of Julkorven is shown in the book. The colouring of it
suggests that the lines have been manually enhanced with black ink and it has
also been manually coloured. (Hectographs works best with purple ink, and won't
produce many colours.)
The cover of another amateur magazine by Tove Jansson is also shown, but not
mentioned in the text. It is titled Döden ("The Death") and labeled as "No 44".
This cover is all in black and the caption says it came in 1925, when she was
eleven. All these at least three amateur publications should have been produced
in the years around that age. And it is quite impressive to have reached issue
44 for one of the titles!
She was busy, little Tove.
The cover of Julkorven says it sold for 1.5 Finnish marks. I wouldn't dare to
guess the value of a 1925 Finnish mark, though, but it probably gave the young
publisher a welcome addition her allowance money.
It is not unusual that writers of fantastic literature have been into amateur
publishing. HG Wells did a school publication and HP Lovcecraft was heavily
involved in amateur publishing. Tove Jansson becomes another example of the
urge to express yourself at young age, before you become more serious with your
writing.
Another observation is that the title "The Death" sounds a bit dark and
gloomy. The young writer/artist had some serious thoughts about life, a
melancholy that later may be found in the Moomin tales.
And speaking of that, in the book we also find a couple of the earliest
Moomins from the 1930's, and they were black with glowing yellow eyes, like
some sort of shadow monster. It was later (the first Moomin book came in 1945)
they turned white and more friendly.
The very first preserved Moomin illustration is BTW belived to be a sketch on
the wall of an outdoor toilette near the town Pellinge. And beside it is a word
we recognise from the Moomin world: snork.
A very interesting book with hundreds of photgraphs and lots of artwork.
--Ahrvid
Ps. Crossposted to different lists.
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