News
The 2 main Scout movements in France support the release of the new book "Scouts
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Véronique and Christophe
Documentary research
The search for new drawings was no small feat. We searched private collections, explored dusty archives, and met with key individuals who contributed to the creation of this new edition. Each discovery was a moment of joy and excitement, giving us the feeling of embarking on an adventure in the footsteps of Pierre Joubert and his work.
In the end, nearly 3,000 new drawings will complement this new edition of “Scout,” and we were completely overwhelmed by the number and flow of information we had to manage. Honestly, we were not prepared for this, and it took weeks of work and days of playing Nomads in different archive locations to scan the missing drawings.
It was an exciting adventure.
Véronique and Christophe
The printer
We are pleased to announce that we have selected the French printer who will be responsible for producing our book. After examining several options, we have chosen a printer specializing in the production of art books. This decision was made due to their exceptional reputation for high-quality printing, as well as their experience in producing exceptional books.
We are confident that the selected printer has all the necessary skills to achieve a very high-quality print that will showcase Pierre’s works. We were particularly impressed by their attention to detail and the quality of their work.
The luxury edition will be crafted in the very workshop of this printer. We are convinced that the final result will meet our expectations and that readers will be delighted to discover Pierre Joubert’s works in such a beautiful book.
We would like to thank our printer for their professionalism, collaboration, and commitment to quality. We look forward to seeing the fruits of our collaboration.
We hope this short article is useful to you. If you have any questions or need more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Véronique and Christophe
Cleanup of drawings
The process of creating a book about the works of Pierre Joubert involves many steps, and one of the most important is image cleaning. After a long documentary search to find missing drawings, we now need to work to make them conform to the originals once again.
In about 90% of cases, Pierre Joubert’s drawings were made on white or slightly pearly paper. However, over time, these drawings have been damaged by various alterations, including discoloration, stains, and yellowing. To restore the original appearance of these drawings, we must erase the whites and remove the backgrounds that distort the drawing. We are thus working on the restoration of the original work, with patience and meticulousness.
But our work doesn’t stop there. The printing techniques used in the 1930s and beyond were very different from those used today. Pierre’s drawings often have small black dots, defective color markers, and blocked blacks. To restore the original appearance of these drawings, we must clean and restore each drawing meticulously. We are determined that each drawing be treated with the same care and attention to detail as the others.
This lengthy work is essential to preserve Pierre Joubert’s work and make it accessible to readers of the book. We present several examples of our work. You can see below a drawing before and after restoration.
Véronique and Christophe
Mockup in white
The creation of a quality book requires many steps, and one of the most important is the creation of the white dummy. In the context of our project to produce a new edition of the Scout book, this step is essential to allow us to test the paper and finishing, as well as the technical resistance of the book and how it will be packaged for delivery to buyers in the best conditions.
We have thus received the first white dummy of our project. This dummy is the result of meticulous and rigorous work by our printing partner, who ensured compliance with the technical and qualitative specifications we had established.
This white dummy allows us to visualize the book in its final form, with its cover, pages, and finishing. It also allows us to test the quality of the paper, as well as the durability of the book under handling and usage conditions.
It meets all our expectations. We are confident that this high-quality book will meet the expectations of our readers and that its production will be a success.
Véronique and Christophe
Modification of the number of Tome
The new edition of the Scout book is taking shape, but it is facing an unexpected problem: the number of new drawings. Indeed, Pierre Joubert was incredibly prolific, and we have exceeded the number of 3,000 new drawings for this new edition, while we had planned for only a thousand. This has put us in a difficult situation as we have created a blank mock-up to test the paper and finishing quality, as well as the technical resistance of the book and how it will be packaged for delivery to buyers. It is clear that these 3,000 new drawings will not fit on the originally planned 1,500 pages.
It is not feasible to leave some drawings out, as this edition aims to be as exhaustive as possible. At the same time, it is not feasible to jeopardize the technical stability of the book. After exploring different options, we have finally decided to create this new Scout opus in three volumes of 700 pages each.
We are aware that this represents a significant change from our initial plan, but we are convinced that it is the best solution to honor Pierre Joubert’s colossal work. This new edition will thus be a true Scoutism bible, bringing together a very large part of Pierre’s works on Scoutism in a monumental and high-quality book.
Véronique et Christophe
Wonderful original drawings by Pierre discovered by chance
We had the incredible luck to come across seven original drawings by Pierre Joubert, thanks to a fortunate chance encounter. These drawings were used to illustrate the Scouts de France calendar of 1952 and are in a remarkably well-preserved condition. The captions are signed by Pierre’s own hand.
When Pierre Joubert, who worked as an illustrator for the Scouts de France for many years, left his position, a large part of his original drawings were lost, destroyed or simply forgotten. That is why we are particularly happy to see some of his drawings reappear as if by magic.
We immediately had these drawings digitized by a professional photogravure technician in order to preserve them in their current state. These discoveries are truly exceptional and we are delighted to be able to share them with you. They will of course be highlighted in our new book.
Véronique and Christophe
Blanket embossing
The new version of our book will consist of three volumes, as announced in the previous article.
To remain consistent with the first version, the dust jackets of volumes 2 and 3 will feature two new embossed drawings on the paper. The original embossing from the first version, depicting the head of Baden Powell drawn by Pierre Joubert, will be retained.
The two new drawings selected for volumes 2 and 3 will be portraits of Scouts. Volume 2 will feature the portrait of a Scout raider with the drawing of raider wings, while volume 3 will have the portrait of a more contemporary Scout.
Embossing is a true work of art and is done by hand by artisans before being placed on type presses to emboss the paper. This will give the dust jackets of volumes 2 and 3 a unique appearance.
We will be happy to share with you the expertise of embossing techniques in a future news article.
Véronique and Christophe
Sketches and drawings
We have made a rare discovery: numerous pencil sketches by Pierre, not yet finalized. These sketches allow us to better understand how Pierre developed his drawings. Some of them are simply in pencil, while others, a little more elaborate, are in color. This exclusive content will be included in our new book “Scout ».
Véronique and Christophe
Our participation in the National Day of the Scouts of Europe
The National Committee of the Scouts of Europe has invited our team to participate in their national day, which will take place from May 6th to 8th at Mont St Michel. We will have the opportunity to present the progress of our new edition of the book “Scouts” during this highly anticipated event.
We have prepared a presentation with prints of the mock-ups, kakemonos, and a collection of eight postcards illustrated with the drawings of Pierre Joubert. We are delighted to be able to share our passion for the history and culture of Scouting with this community.
We would like to warmly thank the National Committee of the Scouts of Europe for their kindness and invitation to this event.
Véronique et Christophe
The Flag: A Little Scout Treasure Illustrated by Pierre Joubert.
In 1938, the national team of Scouts de France decided to release a small 4-page booklet for CPs, in addition to the Scout magazine which was published every two months. The booklet was called “Le Fanion” and was, of course, illustrated by Pierre Joubert.
We discovered the existence of this little Scout treasure during our research. It was very difficult to find copies of this booklet, but fortunately, the Scouts de France kept a copy of every issue in their archives.
The drawings made by Pierre Joubert for Le Fanion were all original and not featured in the Scout magazine, providing a large number of unpublished drawings that readers will discover in our reissue.
One interesting thing to note is that, from 1938 to 1956, the header of the booklet was redrawn five times in different styles, offering a historical and artistic curiosity to discover.
We are very happy to offer readers the opportunity to discover this rare gem in the history of French Scouting.
Véronique et Christophe
Gribouille
For the first time, in this new version of “Scouts,” you will find the complete adventures of Gribouille.
For those who may not be familiar, Gribouilles is a humorous comic book character created by Pierre Joubert. Pierre came up with the idea for this character in the 1950s, while working as an illustrator for the magazine “La Semaine de Suzette.” He first drew Gribouille in black and white, but later added color to give more life to the character.
The character quickly gained popularity among readers of the magazine. The stories were very simple, but the character was so endearing that it was impossible not to smile while reading about his adventures.
Gribouille has become a true icon of French humorous comic books. Readers of all ages have loved this little character who embodies innocence, creativity, and the joy of living. Of course, there are also Gribouille adventures in Scouting.
Pierre’s talent for humor and the creation of this endearing character has inspired many other cartoonists around the world.
Véronique and Christophe
