The Enid Blyton Society

I thought this wasn't a bad price for anyone interested in getting the whole set with wrappers. A couple of the wrappers look slightly chipped - and some loss on the rear of 'Rubadub' - but generally I thought the price (£35.00 and free postage) wasn't bad - only really £5.00 a book after postage has been paid.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361830945080? ... EBIDX%3AIT

It doesn't look a bad set at all. I've always wanted Ragamuffin in a wraparound but the extra height of that book has always put me off. Why on earth did Collins make the book different to the others?

Their really nice and if I didn't already have all 6 I might have been tempted, but I'd only be paying for the wrappers, which is too much .

The extra height on Ragamuffin annoys me too as it looks odd when put alongside the other five, but I've found if it's put on a shelf with other books the same/similar height following it it looks better. It still doesn't look part of the same set but it doesn't stick out oddly from it either. Not ideal, but how exactly are you supposed to make a book made higher than the rest of a set look like it's part of that set?

Chop off half an inch at the bottom?

IceMaiden wrote:Not ideal, but how exactly are you supposed to make a book made higher than the rest of a set look like it's part of that set?

Other than taking a hacksaw to it...

I'd seriously consider these, but I haven't ever read any of the Barney books other than Rockingdown, which I've read twice and found both times that it didn't grab me much — it built up brilliantly but the actual mystery, as it unfolded, was a let-down. I know everyone assures me that most of the rest of the books are much better, but I've just never got around to them! So I can't yet justify buying a complete set if I'm not sure I would want to keep them in the long run. I'd rather go for cheap "reading copies" of each and, if I like them, gradually replace them with early editions with dust jackets in the best possible condition. A very good deal overall, though, as you say, Rob.

Fiona1986 wrote:Chop off half an inch at the bottom?

Ah, just saw this from you, Fiona — great minds and all that...

But they also say that fools rarely tend to differ

True.

I agree about the early editions of 'Ragamuffin Mystery' being a different height - daft idea! I wonder why the publishers decided on doing that? Then again, as we all know, there's no accounting for publisher's decisions! Of course, another (less drastic!) solution to the height problem is to buy a slightly more recent edition. My wrap-around dust jacket version is from 1963, and by then they were all a uniform height!

It's one of my bug-bears. Why do publishers change covers (or formats) half-way through a series? It's fine for anyone who starts buying after the change, but fans from the beginning will have to live with a mismatched set. Mary-Janice Davidson's Undead series springs to mind, and I know Jodi Taylor's books are now on their THIRD set (but I only have hers on Kindle so it doesn't keep me up at night). I'm sure Sara Sheridan's hardbacks have one that's taller than the rest (thankfully I have even sized paperbacks)...

Fiona1986 wrote:Chop off half an inch at the bottom?

Have to use a circular saw then to get it all even

I once got into trouble at a job placement for a similar suggestion to that. They were sorting letters out ready to post when somebody complained the stamp was too big and they didn't have another. I jokingly said 'cut it in half' in jest and the humourless idiot reported me! I got hauled in front of the boss and was given a real ticking off!

Rob Houghton wrote:I agree about the early editions of 'Ragamuffin Mystery' being a different height - daft idea! I wonder why the publishers decided on doing that? Then again, as we all know, there's no accounting for publisher's decisions! Of course, another (less drastic!) solution to the height problem is to buy a slightly more recent edition. My wrap-around dust jacket version is from 1963, and by then they were all a uniform height!

I had thought about getting a different edition and if I'd bought it myself I probably would have, however mine was a Christmas present so it's out of the question. I don't mind swapping things I have bought and paid for but apart from changing the odd faulty/wrong size item I have never ever swapped, sold or handed on a present.