Joan of Arc, 1971, Series 561 (later cover)

Joan of Arc was the 28th title in the 561 series, colourfully written by L du Garde Peach and illustrated by John Kenney – one of the last books issued before the ill-health of Kenney put an end to this great collaboration.  I had this book as a child and read it many times.  There were so few important women in the Adventures in History series that any book with a woman actually on the cover was bound to seize my attention.  Of course, rooting for Joan meant booing for the English – but I seem to have reconciled myself to the idea without too much trouble.  In the 1970s the company was sold to the Longman-Pearson group who looked for ways to modernise the appearance of the books.  From the 1970s onwards they started to reprint the earlier history books with different covers – a white cover with a picture in a blue frame.  Inside, the books stayed unchanged.  (Later they went on to produce completely different editions of some of the older titles – different text and illustrations.  However, Joan of Arc was not one of these.

This copy:

Matt boards with the later ‘blue frame’ style.  Inside the covers this is the original 1972 book. Very condition externally but for a superficial scar near the spine, with very good contents.  It has very nice, clean tight pages.  It dates to the 1970s but doesn’t have a price on the back.