The BFG was published by Jonathan Cape in London in 1982, with illustrations by Quentin Blake, and is perhaps the most purely joyful of Dahl’s children’s books — less savage than Charlie, less angry than Matilda, more concerned with wonder and friendship than with punishment and justice. It is the story of Sophie, an orphan girl, and the Big Friendly Giant — the only giant in Giant Country who refuses to eat “human beans” — and their conspiracy to rid the world of the nine man-eating giants who prey on sleeping children.
The Novel
Sophie is snatched from her orphanage window during the “witching hour” (3 AM) by an enormous hand. She expects to be eaten; instead she is carried to Giant Country and deposited in the cave of the BFG — a twenty-four-foot-tall giant who is, by giant standards, a runt. He catches dreams in glass jars, mixes them with his trumpet, and blows them into children’s bedrooms. He eats only the disgusting “snozzcumber” because he refuses to eat humans.
Sophie discovers that the other nine giants — the Fleshlumpeater, the Bloodbottler, the Bonecruncher, and their fellows, each over fifty feet tall — eat children nightly, raiding different countries. She persuades the BFG to help her stop them. Together they approach the Queen of England, demonstrate the truth of their story through a mixed dream, and the Queen dispatches the Army and the RAF to Giant Country. The man-eating giants are captured and imprisoned in a deep pit.
Language
The BFG’s language is the novel’s greatest invention — a private dialect of malapropisms, portmanteau words, and poetic distortions that constitutes one of the finest examples of literary invented speech since Carroll’s Jabberwocky:
- “Human beans” for human beings
- “Snozzcumber” for the revolting vegetable
- “Frobscottle” for the drink that causes “whizzpoppers” (downward burps)
- “Delumptious” for delicious
- “Gloriumptious” for glorious
This language gives the BFG his character — gentle, playful, slightly confused by the world, more poet than logician. Children adore it; it is one of the most imitated elements of Dahl’s work.
Collecting The BFG
First edition (Jonathan Cape, London, 1982): Green boards. Dust jacket illustrated by Quentin Blake.
Identification points:
- Jonathan Cape imprint
- “First published 1982” stated
- Illustrations by Quentin Blake throughout
- 224 pages
Market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $1,000–$3,000
- Very good in jacket: $500–$1,000
- Without jacket: $100–$300
First American edition (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1982): Published the same year. $300–$800 in jacket.
Signed copies: $3,000–$8,000. Dahl signed at events in the 1980s.
The 2016 Steven Spielberg film adaptation renewed interest in the book and its first editions. The BFG remains one of Dahl’s most universally loved creations — gentler and more accessible than Wonka, more consistently funny than any other Dahl character.