Is this a 1st edition?? The Play's The Thing

[pete9012S]

Enid Blyton THE PLAY'S THE THING! hb Alfred Bestall First edition?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Enid-Blyton-T ... 43da4f529d" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Courtenay]

Not too bad a price if it really is a first edition, but I don't think I would pay it even if I could afford it at the moment!! Well spotted, Pete. I hope it goes to a good home.

[Rob Houghton]

Not too bad a price if it really is a first edition, but I don't think I would pay it even if I could afford it at the moment!!

awwww...go on!

[Courtenay]

Don't even go there!

[Tony Summerfield]

Definitely not!

[Courtenay]

You mean it's definitely not a first edition, Tony, or I'm definitely not to waste my money on it? (Or both?)

[Tony Summerfield]

I was a bit quick off the mark as I was on my way to bed and The Mystery of the Island! To be fair, I can't say for sure but I have always suspected that the first edition came without a wrapper. It was a rather grand affair with embossed spine and title in gold and reinforced corners over the cloth boards. The version with the dustwrapper came with green or red cloth boards and a black spine as illustrated. It might have been published at the same time but I have always thought that it was probably published slightly later. The price is about right.

[Rob Houghton]

I would say for a book that's quite hard to find £45 is a good price, whether it's a first or second edition.

Hope you're enjoying The Mystery of the Island, Tony!

[pete9012S]

Yes,I agree,especially when some booksellers are asking for thousands of pounds for some titles!

[Tony Summerfield]

It is a very nice book, huge and heavy and full of Alfred Bestall illustrations. Costing 25/- it has the distinction of being the most expensive Blyton book published during her lifetime and it is also the largest by some way as it is a fair bit bigger than the size of an Annual - I have just compared my copies with my recent Famous Five Annual and they are quite a bit bigger! The only real fault is that it is difficult to find a bookcase large enough to take it!

[Rob Houghton]

On a second look I see its actually almost £50 rather than £45...but still a good price I would say. I do dislike books that are too big to fit comfortably into shelves though!

[Tony Summerfield]

Not very easy to do, but I have tried to take a photo at an angle to show a bit of spine of my copy that has no dustwrapper which I think is probably the 1st edition. My other copy which has a wrapper is very similar to the one on ebay except it has pale red boards instead of green.

[pete9012S]

Thanks for the extra info and also taking the trouble to post a pic of this large book Tony.
I bet you didn't pay £49 for any of your editions of the book!

[Tony Summerfield]

Not a cheap book this one, Pete, as the price inside the one pictured above is £40 - and I bought it a long time ago! I have just checked out my other copy which has the dustwrapper but it has no price inside it. Internally the two books are identical in every way.

[Katharine]

If it's any help, I paid £40 for one with a red cover and the gold lettering. That was last year I think. I bought it locally so didn't have to pay postage. It's in very good condition, better than the one on E-Bay from the look of it. The shop had another one on their shelves a few months later, and I think they wanted £48 for that.