NOTE: based on recent information I have come across this page will have to be rewritten and enlarged.
On the face of it, Flying Fishes appears to be a lighthearted wordless story suggesting flying fishes were a result of romance between a fish and a bird.
The full 8 panels can be seen at the bottom of this page, but in black and white.
Published by at least three different publishers:
- Chatto & Windus 1938; colour images
- The Courier Magazine 1938 reprinted the story
- Das Blatt der Hausfrau 1939 reprinted the story in black and white images
Chatto & Windus
Title: How the Flying Fishes Came Into Being – A Story in 8 Pictures
Author: H. A. Rey
Illustrator: Hans Augusto Reyersbach later known as H. A. Rey
Date of publication: 1938
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Place of publication: London
Printer: W. S. Cowell, Ltd: Ipswich
Copyright: Chatto & Windus
Dimensions: 22.7 x 17.7 cm
Dust jacket: No
Binding: black? string; three hole punched
Boards: paper covered
Language: English titles, etc
Paginated: unpaginated
Printed: verso and recto
Edition: Trade only
Printed: Rey did watercolours for this and they were reproduced in colour using half-tone
Description: published in 8 panels; This story purports to explain how flying fishes were the result of a romance between a bird and a fish – Warning – this may not be scientifically accurate.
Image credit: Lost Dodo
Image credit: Lost Dodo
Courier Magazine Ltd.
Courier was a quarterly magazine and based on the adverts, appears to have catered to an upper middle-class and above demographic. It attempts to strike a “smart” tone with a number of satirical articles along with coverage of the arts, fashion, and current events. The issues (at least in the late 1930s) have a significant emphasis on the actions of Germany.
Title: How the Flying Fishes Came Into Being
Author: H. A. Rey
Illustrator: H. A. Rey
Date of publication: 1938, Summer edition, pp 125 – 128
Publisher: Courier Magazine Ltd.
Place of publication: London
Copyright: Artist?
Language: English titles, etc
Description: printed in colour. The title in the index is slightly different, The Birth of a Flying Fish. Also unlike the C&W original publication there are only six pictures. The full eight images can be seen in the German publication at the bottom of this page.
that would have gone between these two pages
but the story still reads well. The night scene, bottom right, gives privacy
to the two lovers but the moon can be seen looking down and smiling.
relationship between the two. They give a bit
more continuity to the story but are not essential.
Das Blatt der Hausfrau (The Housewife’s Paper)
This was a German weekly magazine with entertainment, stories, and household management advice. At least in the late 1930s it only occasionally had cartoons. H. A. Rey is the only artist who appeared in multiple (3) editions during this time.
Title: Woher Stammen die Fliegenden Fische? (Where do Flying Fish come From?)
Author: H. A. Rey
Illustrator: H. A. Rey
Date of publication: 1939 weekly magazine 53, no. 15: p. 446; April1st 1939
Publisher: Deutscher Verlag
Place of publication: Berlin
Copyright: Artist?
Language: German titles, etc
Description: below is a detail from p. 446 showing all 8 panels of the story.
