Enid Blyton Material on Ebay

If it doesn't fit into any of the above categories, post it here!
Steve Alpe
Posts: 133
Joined: 16 Mar 2005, 13:08

Enid Blyton Material on Ebay

Post by Steve Alpe »

As Tony and others have pointed out on other threads - be aware when buying on Ebay. I have just found this item listed

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Enid-Blyton-Castl ... dZViewItem

£22.50 for a Facsimile Jacket!!!!
Tony Summerfield
Posts: 6386
Joined: 26 Dec 2004, 12:20

Ebay listing

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I think this sort of behaviour is scandalous Steve - some of these sellers think they have a licence to print money. Note also, and this is often the case in these sort of circumstances, that the bidder's identity is kept private, so if the spider lures some poor soul into the trap, they can't be warned. Invariably this is also the case when forged signatures are offered for sale!!! :evil: :evil: :evil:

Best wishes
Tony
Steve Alpe
Posts: 133
Joined: 16 Mar 2005, 13:08

Post by Steve Alpe »

Tony

I totally agree which is why I drew peoples attention to it. Perhaps we ought to use this thread to warn (at least our community) of any behavoiur of this type that we see.

Steve
noddy13
Posts: 139
Joined: 01 May 2006, 11:21
Location: india

Post by noddy13 »

Hi Steve and Tony,

Well Im glad Im not the only sucker..
Bought three books which were supposed to be first edition... but turned out to be the 14th editions and in some cases 17th or so reprint...ridiculous...but its so difficult to return its not worth the trouble.
You know Im a noddy fan... just bought 8 books from Canada which say first editions... but am now reliably informed by the nets Noddy expert that the first books did not even have a publishing date. Its unbelievable what goes on.. and in may cases sellers simply say sorry, they dont know much about books. Im mean these are guys with hundreds and thousands of sales........

Maybe the society should offer themselves as an authenticity organisation.. charge a small fee which can be used for perhaps one day a setting up of a museum or a non profit venture that will further EB books..I know its done in the case of comics and the like. What say you Tony..?
Steve Alpe
Posts: 133
Joined: 16 Mar 2005, 13:08

Post by Steve Alpe »

Hi Prabhu

Sorry we never got to say hello at the EB Day maybe next year and sorry you have got stung on Ebay but then who hasn't. Tony's excellent Bibliographies have helped me no end since I bought them at the EB Day last year.

Your idea is excellent. However, the majority of Ebay sellers - especially those out to make a 'fast buck' will not subscribe they will just list the book (or false signature) anyway. They could even use us in their listing by saying something to the effect that 'authenticated by the EB Society' and as we can not alter their listing we would not be able to say otherwise. Even if we sent the seller a message he is not going to change the listing.

All we can do is try to help one another as best we can.

Tony - you may have other ideas.
User avatar
enidblytoncollector
Posts: 120
Joined: 25 Jul 2005, 21:05
Location: Milton Keynes, UK

Post by enidblytoncollector »

The link you posted is a seller that seems to just make a living from selling photocopy jackets of rare books, I see he commands prices upto £100 for some of the jackets, the sad thing is people buy them!!
If anybody is unsure if a Noddy they have bought is a first or not, id be happy to help out with identification as i have a set of 1sts, so i could refer to them if need be.
I was pleased to see the island of adventure seller changed there listing to state the jacket was a 2nd imp, was watching the listing like a hawk at one point ready to let any potential bidder know it wasnt a first, but thankfully the seller did the right thing and updated their listing.

If in doubt, ask if its a 1st edition 1st impression, as some people do list as 1st editions even though the book may be a 12th imp etc.. so easy to get caught out. If need be ask for pictures of the title pages and jacket flaps, I must admit i nearly always ask for these details when bidding even if the listing states its a 1st, just to be on the safe side (This is only after getting stung a couple of times myself - A 1st five get into trouble in a 2nd imp jacket springs to mind)
:D
noddy13
Posts: 139
Joined: 01 May 2006, 11:21
Location: india

Post by noddy13 »

Hi Steve,

Im not sure if you are aware of CGC but Ive taken the liberty of pasting something about them.

INTRODUCING COMICS GUARANTY

Comics Guaranty, LLC (CGC) is an independent member of the Certified Collectibles Group of companies.

The Certified Collectibles Group is an umbrella organization consisting of Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America (NGC) the leading grading service in rare coins, Sportscard Guaranty, LLC (SGC) the fastest growing grading service in sportscards, and now CGC the first independent, impartial, expert third party grading service in comics.

Our certification companies have a proven and respected commitment to integrity, accuracy, consistency and impartiality in grading collectibles that has made them leaders in their fields. This proven model of success is ideally suited to adapt to the unique challenges of grading comic books.


---unquote...

When comics come up for sale.. sometimes they are certified by the above... and infact given a seal of approval. Im sure that if there are really serious sellers and buyers, a price and an effort are both worth the investment to get their books graded. Since we have arguably the worlds finest EB authorities under the Society's umbrella.. we can be the ultimate authority.. more so when both the number of books out there, and the number of buyers and sellers are enormous.

Im just looking at an option of making ourselves heard a little bit more... Im ofcourse a new member, and may be speaking rather ambitiously, but Im a tad impatient and feel we should have a bigger role to play in matters such as these. I must admit .. I need someone likethe society to babysit me through potential collectibles purchase...!
Tony Summerfield
Posts: 6386
Joined: 26 Dec 2004, 12:20

Noddy Book Guide

Post by Tony Summerfield »

At the risk of mucking up the whole system I am going to attempt to post below the relevant part of an article that I wrote eight years ago in Journal 5 - I have already sent this to noddy13 attached to an email, but it occurred to me that others might be interested so here goes:-

Noddy Book Guide
If someone tries to sell you a first edition without a dustwrapper, forget it. With the best will in the world no-one can be certain if the wrapper is missing. It must have a price - 3/6 for Nos 1-15, 4/6 for Nos 16-24. If your copy has been price-clipped be a bit wary. The first fifteen books must not be dated, Nos 16-24 all have a date on the title page. (This is a good guide for all Sampson Low books, but especially Noddy, as they only started dating books in 1958. So if a book is dated, no matter what the date is, it was published in or after 1958). If your book or books pass all these tests, let's now examine them in greater detail, but remember that what follows only applies to books that have already passed all the general points above, ie if a book is right in all aspects but the price is wrong, then it is not a first edition.

Nos 1-6 All have rounded spines and the address 25 Gilbert Street on the title page. All editions up to the end of 1952 carried both these features so on their own they merely prove that you have an early edition which is not necessarily a first edition.
No 1 Describes only that book on plain white front flap and mentions Toby Twirl and Nicholas Thomas on back flap with no numbers. This describes the first two editions. In the first edition the cover letters are a very pale green, whilst the 2nd edition has dark green letters, most noticeable in the word 'BY'. Both are fat books. It is perhaps worth mentioning at this stage that both dustwrapper and pictureboard cover are identical in all the books, so if yours do not correspond you may have a swapped dustwarpper, ie in this case the pale green letters look identical.
No 2 Describes only the first two books at bottom of inside flap and lists Toby Twirl 1 & 2 and Nicholas Thomas 1 & 2 on back flap. The pink letters on the cover are very pale. Another fat book.
No 3 Describes the first two books and a Big Book at bottom of inside flap and lists Toby Twirl 1,2 & 3 and Nicholas Thomas 1, 2 & 3 on back flap. Still a fat book.
No. 4 Describes the first three books and a Big Book at bottom of inside flap and lists Toby Twirl 1,2 3 & 4 and Nicholas Thomas 1,2 & 3 on back flap. (The 2nd edition has The Children's Library on back flap as in Nos 5-9)
Nos 5 & 6 From this point on all books had a full colour picture on the inside flap (Nos 2-4 just had Noddy in full colour) and described only that particular book. The back inside flap showed The Children's Library.

Nos 7-11
Nos 7 & 8 Full pictorial front flap and The Children's Library back flap. C.A. Publications on title page.
No 9 Full pictorial front flap and The Children's Library back flap. Pleiades Books on title page.
No 10 Three separate pictures on front flap and The Children's Library with three square-boxed pictures on back flap. Pleiades Books on title page.
No 11 Full pictorial front flap and The Children's Library back flap as in No 10 C.A.Publications on title page.

Nos 12-18
From here on all back flaps list the whole Noddy series up to and including the book in question; all have a full pictorial front flap.
Nos 12-15 Dennis Dobson on title page (No 14 is the only book that has no Noddy at top of spine, although this was added in later editions)
No 16 D.V. Publications on title page.
Nos 17 & 18 Dennis Dobson on title page.

Nos 19-24
Nos 19-20 The Richards Press on title page.
No 21 D.V. Publications on title page.
Nos 22-24 The Richards Press on title page (No 24 is the only book to have the date in Roman Numerals. This is also probably the hardest first edition to identify as it lists all titles on the back flap)

The Noddy Big Books
These are very easy to identify correctly as they were produced as annuals and after eight books they went back to the beginning and started again. Only the first three were reprinted in dustwrappers and the books all had cloth spines. As all were reprinted after 1958 all were dated (see earlier). From then on all books came with fully laminated covers including spines. So all first editions are undated apart from No 8. Although most of the laminated pictureboard reprints are very similar in design to their dustwrappered ancestors, there are two attractive variations to the originals issued in 1970 (ISBN 361 01505 4 @ 12/-) and 1971 (ISBN 361 01750 2 @ 65p(13/-))

Although there are many other attractive Noddy books, these two series together form the flagship of the Noddy Fleet and hopefully this article will at least have helped readers to recognise early editions if not always first editions. Happy hunting and remember: think before you buy!

This seems to have worked, but has resulted in rather a long post. I hope it helps someone, but just remember when people offer you a 1st edition Noddy book, more often than not, they are not selling you the correct article.

Best wishes
Tony
noddy13
Posts: 139
Joined: 01 May 2006, 11:21
Location: india

First eds

Post by noddy13 »

Thanks Tony... for obvious reasons... I need to really study your first edition guidelines... your EB Brain must sooner or later become a World Heritage Site..., you do know that do you not..?
User avatar
HeatherS
Posts: 395
Joined: 03 Feb 2005, 03:50
Favourite book/series: Mystery
Favourite character: Fatty
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Post by HeatherS »

Tony, maybe you should invest in a colour photocopier yourself. Seems you could be a millionaire!

:roll:
Heather
"Have you held your breath in wonder, at the sky so dark and deep?" - Enid Blyton
http://www.heathersblytonpages.com/
User avatar
Mollybob
Posts: 444
Joined: 16 May 2006, 13:35
Favourite book/series: The Valley of Adventure, Five On a Treasure Island
Favourite character: Philip, George
Location: Calne, Wiltshire

Post by Mollybob »

I recently listed some books on ebay, including a nice edition of The Wishing Chair Again. I was surprised to receive an email from a "potential" bidder in the Bahamas saying that they were interested in bidding on the book and please could I email them a scan (not a photo) of the whole dust jacket. This immediately aroused my suspicions, making me think that they just wanted to print out a scanned copy of the dust jacket for a book in their possession. I therefore replied that I do not have a scanner (true) and sent them two photos of the dust jacket, in two parts, with the flash showing up on the protective wrapper so that it could not be used for this purpose. Although the dust jacket was about as good as can be, suffice it to say they did not bid on the book!
It's sad how many books are being sold on ebay now with scanned/facsimile dust jackets.
User avatar
enidblytoncollector
Posts: 120
Joined: 25 Jul 2005, 21:05
Location: Milton Keynes, UK

Post by enidblytoncollector »

bought some books on ebay only to find they were shill bidding, after detective work, with 4!!! names. So am now refusing to pay for them, could be my first negative :roll: 'sob' 'sniff' oh the mine fields and pit falls :lol: :lol:
Raci
Posts: 814
Joined: 01 Apr 2005, 01:26
Location: UK

Post by Raci »

I had a problem on 1 item with this - I reported them straight away to eBay and eBay kicked them off!!!!!

If they've already negatived you, I would post a reply explaining thats what they were doing so everyone can see it before asking eBay to remove that feedback (although any negative you give them would also be removed this way). But replying first means people see your side of the story because after feedback has been mutually withdrawn you can no longer respond to it.
User avatar
enidblytoncollector
Posts: 120
Joined: 25 Jul 2005, 21:05
Location: Milton Keynes, UK

Post by enidblytoncollector »

Looks like no negative for me after all, they have been suspended as well as one of their other names, Shame they still have 2 names going, guess ebay just cut there user names down and gave them a ticking off :-)
noddy13
Posts: 139
Joined: 01 May 2006, 11:21
Location: india

heres another

Post by noddy13 »

Good work Lyn... would love to ghear of the other two names, so we are all careful...


look at this one below



FIRST EDITION - FIRST PRINTING WITH DUSTJACKET

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

THE ISLAND OF ADVENTURE

BY

ENID BLYTON

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Published by:

LONDON

MACMILLAN & CO. LTD

1944

[Date to bottom of title page is indication of a true first edition first printing]

NO OTHER PRINTINGS MENTIONED.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Condition of Book:

The facsimile dustjacket is in a fairly good condition. The original had small creases and scuffing to the extremities and this has transferred to this copy. The jacket retains the price of 7s. 6d. NET, to the inner flap. The dustjacket is now enclosed in a plastic protector. The boards are soiled with handling and there is a previous glue repair which has made the spine quite stiff. The board margins are very frayed. The front blank endpage has been removed and the book starts at the half-title page. There is some brown spotting to the rear end pages. Some occasional light soiling. 327 Pages tightly bound. Price will reflect.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Payment Methods:

UK Buyers: Cheque / Paypal / Cash / Postal Orders..

Overseas Buyers: Paypal / Cash (own denomination) - can be sent by registered post (if desired)

******************************

UK Post is £4.50

Overseas Post is £7.50

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Thank you for looking, and GOOD LUCK if you bid..

PLEASE PAY WITHIN 3 DAYS OF THE AUCTION CLOSING.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""



Just how does one ever pay 95 quid for a book with a copied cover.. which costs about 20 pence (in India) to make I think..? Its not even in mint conditon.. or its a subtle ploy to copy defects to make the book feel old..

Unbelievable... I feel so sorry for the people who have no experience in collecting....and who are suckered into this one! Its a routine seller.. and many books are being sold with this one..
Post Reply