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1/16 When writing a ‘definitive guide’ to anything, it’s inevitable that not everything can make it into the final book. When compiling 'The World of Moominvalley', we had to set parameters, despite the published tome running to an impressive 380+ pages...
2/16 We worked with the original canon, beginning with 'Comet in Moominland' and ending with 'Mooninvalley in November'. 'The Moomins and the Great Flood' would get a mention, as would Jansson’s later, more picture-based, Moomin books, but no cartoons, so no Stinky...
3/16 There were a number of Tove Jansson illustrations I’d have loved to have included but which went on the publishing equivalent of a celluloid-film editor’s cutting-room floor. We discussed the early appearance of Tove’s signature ‘Moomin’ on the covers of GLAM magazine...
4/16 She referred to her little character as ‘Snork’ back then. Had we the room, I’d have loved to have includedmore covers. In this one, ‘Moomin/Snork’ takes on the role as a tiny cherub...
5/16 Here, he rests on the knee of... No, surely not? It can't be!
6/16 No, it’s not Snufkin. More likely the man with his back to us was based on Tove’s pipe-smoking, hat-wearing friend, Atos Witanen, left-wing intellectual, journalist & MP. But to say that he looks like a more human prototype Snufkin wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration...
7/16 This stunning (printed copy of a) black & white watercolour of a far more sinister moomin-like character was one of a series of Tove’s watercolours from the 1930s & ‘40s which included him...
8/16 Before you say that the snout is far from moomin-like, remember that Tove illustrated in many different styles. Today, we think of moomins, snorks & hemulens sharing the characteristic of a large, round snout but look at the Hemulen in 'Moominvalley in November'...
9/16 ...or a smattering of young hemulens in 'Tales from Moominvalley'; not dissimilar to the Moomin-creature in the watercolours. Jansson-biographer, Boel Westin, describes these watercolour characters as ‘black Moomintrolls’...
10/16 Two other illustrations I would have liked to have included are both from 'The Great Flood' and both contain Sniff. Sniff and Moomin’s friendship in 'Comet in Moominland' is central and he plays a major role in 'Finn Family Moomintroll'.
11/16 'The Flood' shows the real significance of Sniff in the formulation of the Moomins. Though unnamed – he is simply “the small creature” – he is the first character Moominmamma and Moomintroll encounter in their search for Moominpappa, and he joins them in their quest...
12/16 The first picture shows Sniff and Moomintroll over-eating...
13/16 ...the second, Sniff and Moomintroll snuggled up with Moominmamma (and her handbag, of course). These are both drawn in the early Moomin style (when their snouts were smaller and less rounded) but with such vitality and character.
14/16 The final picture also comes from 'The Flood'. We know that moomins used to live behind porcelain stoves – it’s where the Ancestor still lives in 'Moominland Midwinter'. These are not cooking stoves but for warming the home and are built in a particular cylindrical style...
15/16 This illustration of one such stove is shocking in how small the moomins are compared to it and their sheer number. In the Moomin canon, we only ever encounter: Moominpappa, Moominmamma, Moominroll, the Ancestor and a handful in an old photograph...
16/16 All the other members of their extended family, their friends and neighbours, and those they encounter in their numerous adventures are of a variety of different species, co-existing happily, side-by-side.
ALL pics in this thread (c) Tove Jansson, Moomin Characters
ALL pics in this thread (c) Tove Jansson, Moomin Characters
