Eldon Dedini Illustrates French

It was news to me that cartoonist Eldon Dedini illustrated a textbook of introductory French in 1970. David from Manhattan knows a surprising amount of its history. He writes:

In 2014 eBay offered a group of six letters, part of a presumably larger correspondence from the legendary Eldon Dedini to Michael Kim, a young man he was mentoring in the 1980s. Kim went on to become a storyboard artist, writer, and director of "The Ren and Stimpy Show" and "Family Guy," the letters demonstrating Dedini's generosity with his advice for an aspiring artist. One letter, from 1984, talks about illustrating books for publishers, and to make a point about reading the fine print before signing anything, Dedini included a file copy of an old contract from Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

The book, written by a friend, Yvette de Petra, in 1968 a professor at Crown College in Santa Cruz, had the provisional title First Year College French with Dedini to provide illustrations.

When it was published in 1970, it had become a 413+ page hardbound textbook, La Clef: Introduction Au Français Elementaire, replete with photographs, prints, an appendix of full-color maps, and best of all, 22 full-page b&w drawings, plus the cover, and numerous smaller drawings, all by Dedini.

The original owner of my copy was Prof. Mary M. Rowan, who made notes, creased page corners, and is credited online as a pioneer in "the study of French convent writing."

A selection of illustrations show Dedini taking different approaches to his task, all in his recognizable style, which for the purposes of a textbook he simplified, and perhaps in a playful nod to his work in Playboy, nearly all the men and women are young, attractive and happy. 

The book also includes literary excerpts from many French luminaries, though Dedini contributed to just two: Colette, with a small drawing of her fictional stand-in, Claudine, and Anatole France, with a sketch of a schoolboy running through autumn leaves. The artist may not have been comfortable with this part of the project, or de Petra decided on another approach; the balance of the excerpts use only author photos. Dedini's contributions end on page 265, with "Faisons un rêve," which shows a young woman dreaming of a New York City visit on her own and returning via Air France safe & sound to her boyfriend. If Dedini had a dream, it may have been to finish his work and take a vacation far from college textbooks.

La Clef was published more than 54 years ago. It's out of print, and other than listings for the book, there's no information on Yvette de Petra to be found on-line. Fortunately, the correspondence between Yvette and Eldon still exists, as does the original artwork, all courtesy of the vast Dedini archives at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, an important part of the Ohio State University library system in Columbus.

Note:  Merci beaucoup to David from Manhattan. This is his sixty-fifth contribution to Attempted Bloggery. Furthermore, he finally figured out how to sneak mentions of "The Ren and Stimpy Show" and "Family Guy" into my otherwise serious blog. 

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