Roald Dahl – Original Keystone Press Photograph – January 1979 – Children’s Author Portrait

Description

A superb original black-and-white Keystone press photograph of Roald Dahl, dating from circa 1979, at an important point in the development of his extraordinary career as one of the defining children’s authors of the twentieth century.

Measuring 20.3 × 25.4 cm, approximately the classic 10 × 8-inch press format, this is an unusually powerful photographic portrait of Dahl. Dramatically illuminated from the side against a dark background, he is shown in close three-quarter profile, the directional light accentuating his face and giving the portrait an intensity and sculptural quality rarely found in routine newspaper photographs.

Importantly, this exact image can be independently identified within the historic Keystone photographic archive. Getty Images currently catalogues the same portrait as:

“Roald Dahl – circa 1979”

and credits it to Keystone / Stringer, within the Hulton Archive. Getty assigns the image editorial reference 3438695 and currently licenses digital editorial use at US$175 for a small image, US$375 for medium and US$499 for large. These figures are licensing charges for reproduction rights rather than values for an original physical print, but they confirm that the image itself remains an actively managed and recognised archival photograph.

The present example is not a modern Getty reproduction. It is a period working press print, preserved within the photographic archive of the Shields Gazette.

The reverse carries a contemporary manuscript identification:

“ROALD DAHL”

together with a faint newspaper-library stamp and an inverted archive date which appears to read:

29 JAN 1979

There are also remnants of former newspaper mounting material and adhesive, entirely consistent with the photograph’s original use as a working press image.

Roald Dahl and Children’s Literature in the Late 1970s

The dating is particularly interesting in the context of Dahl’s children’s books.

By the late 1970s he was already the author of several modern classics, including:

James and the Giant Peach
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Fantastic Mr Fox
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Danny, the Champion of the World

In 1978, immediately before the apparent January 1979 archive date of this photograph, Dahl published The Enormous Crocodile.

The Roald Dahl Museum identifies The Enormous Crocodile as especially important because it was the first Roald Dahl book illustrated by Quentin Blake.

That collaboration became one of the most celebrated author–illustrator partnerships in modern children’s publishing. Blake subsequently illustrated many of Dahl’s best-known books and his distinctive drawings became inseparable from the visual identity of Dahl’s fictional world.

The present photograph should not be described as promotional material for The Enormous Crocodile, as no surviving caption proves such a connection. Its circa-1979 dating does, however, place it directly within the period immediately following the beginning of the Dahl–Blake partnership.

The following years would see the publication of some of Dahl’s most enduring books for children, including The Twits (1980), George’s Marvellous Medicine (1981), The BFG (1982), The Witches (1983) and, ultimately, Matilda (1988).

Keystone / Getty Archival Identification

The ability to match this exact photograph to the Keystone/Getty archive materially strengthens its attribution.

The Getty archive records:

Subject: Roald Dahl
Date: circa 1979
Credit: Keystone / Stringer
Collection: Hulton Archive
Editorial reference: 3438695
Source: Hulton Archive

The image remains available for commercial editorial licensing through Getty Images. Current published fees range from US$175 to US$499 depending upon reproduction size.

Again, those charges are for permission to reproduce the archival image digitally or in print and should not be confused with the market value of an original vintage photographic print. Their relevance lies in confirming the continuing archival and commercial importance of the underlying photograph.

Provenance

The present print has particularly good provenance:

• original period photographic print;
• independently matched to the Keystone archive;
• contemporary handwritten identification of Roald Dahl;
• apparent 29 January 1979 newspaper archive date;
• Shields Gazette photographic archive provenance;
• surviving newsroom mounting and adhesive evidence.

This combination distinguishes it from the numerous later photographic reproductions of Dahl encountered on the collectors’ market.

Condition

Very good condition overall for an original working press photograph dating from the late 1970s.

The image remains exceptionally strong, sharp and well contrasted, with excellent facial detail and a dramatic tonal range.

There is general age-related toning together with some surface spotting, light rubbing and minor handling wear, particularly within the darker areas of the image.

There is modest edge and corner wear consistent with genuine newspaper use.

The reverse retains the manuscript identification “ROALD DAHL”, faint Shields Gazette Library markings, apparent 29 January 1979 archive date and remnants of former adhesive and mounting material.

These features have deliberately been retained as part of the photograph’s working history and provenance.

Please study both photographs carefully as they form an integral part of the description.

Details

Subject: Roald Dahl
Date: c.1979
Archive date: Apparently 29 January 1979
Agency: Keystone
Getty / Hulton Archive reference: Editorial image 3438695
Photographer: Keystone / Stringer
Literary context: Immediately following the publication of The Enormous Crocodile, the first Roald Dahl book illustrated by Quentin Blake
Provenance: Shields Gazette photographic archive
Size: 20.3 × 25.4 cm
Format: Original black-and-white press photograph
Verso: Manuscript identification, archive markings and original newsroom mounting remnants
Modern reproduction: No

Authenticity

This photograph has been handled, inspected and catalogued in-house at Hornseys.

Its identity and period attribution are supported both by the contemporary newspaper markings on the reverse and, unusually, by the survival of this exact image within the Keystone/Getty Hulton Archive, where it is independently identified as a circa-1979 portrait of Roald Dahl.

This is an original working press photograph and not a modern photographic reproduction.

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