Nestled amongst my bookshelf of treasured childhood Enid Blyton books, sits a controversial early edition of The Three Golliwogs, which was originally published in 1944. My edition is from 1968, and is the last to use the original text.
The Three Golliwogs follows the trio of identical characters, in a series of short stories after they move into a picturesque cottage.
Each tale makes comedy from the other villagers failure to differentiate their new neighbours from one another and the mishaps that result from this inability.
The controversy surrounding the book centers on the imagery of the Golliwog, which was originally invisaged by Florence Kate Upton in the 19th century as a minstrel-style doll) and the explicit language used in the early text. The most glaring element of the early version is the name of the third golliwog, which used a deeply offensive racial slur.
By the late 1970s, public libraries and publishers recognised the harm of the dated racial stereotyping in the book. Thereafter, reprints changed the characters' names from Golly, Wollie and Ni**er to the less offensive Wiggie, Waggie, and Wollie. In 1988, the book's title was changed to the The Three Gollies:
In time, the text was completely overhauled and the book is currently titled The Three Pixies, which finally stripped the story entirely of its racial overtures. The book is now titled after on of its stories:
Numerous artists have illustrated The Three Golliwogs books, and its various reincarnations over the years. My favourites illustrator though, perhaps obviously, are the ones that featured in the books I read as a child, is Rene Choke. I present just a few of them below:
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Today, the original editions of The Three Golliwogs are strictly viewed as being highly problematic and no longer acceptable reading material for children.