The Enid Blyton Society

Thank you to everyone for providing such interesting information in yesterday’s and today’s posts.

Yes - it looks to be an interesting article. Far too long to read on a screen, so I have sent it to my Kindle and look forward to reading it in the summerhouse later.

You're so bloody posh! Summerhouse indeed. It's autumn now, you know, lol!

I thought the same as you Rob,that it is good to hear that Nigel has found a small amount of time in his busy retirement schedule for some well earned relaxation.



I don not have a Summerhouse - I do like the look of this 'pamper station'. I would love one in my garden to escape from the humdrum and mundane distractions that constantly confront us in our busy,hectic,modern lives.

Pete, I've got a shed a bit like that at the bottom of my garden. The windows are not so big, but word processor, check. Shelves of books, check. Peace and quiet, check. There is a pear tree right outside where I'm sitting. At dusk, I sometimes see the two bats that live at the top of the spire next door. At night, I very occasionally hear a hedgehog snuffling around right outside. It's here I wrote the last Holly Lane post that some of you have been reading and kindly commenting on. It's here I am in the middle of writing a longer postscript to the piece. Right now.

For a few years I called the place 'FATTY'S SHED'. But one day I took the sign down - as it was embarrassingly badly painted, like something Goon might have come up with. Perhaps I should have left it up as I soon stopped referring to the place as Fatty's Shed.

Have now updated the Holly Lane piece by going into the signature business in a lot more detail: http://www.enidblyton.me.uk/styled-25/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You have to scroll down to get to the new bit.

Is there an overview re the printed signature that I've not quite nailed? Suggestions welcome.

Also, for the sake of completenes, it would be good to see on this thread a scan of the foreword to the first edition (or an early impression) of Five Go Off to Camp. Though I suspect the name Enid Blyton will be printed, not signed.

Likewise, it would be good to see the foreword of Last Term at Malory Towers where there will be a signature. (Anybody know why the early editions of this book are rare? Each time I look it up on abebooks there is nothing at a reasonable price.)

Lastly, if after reading the piece you're aware of printed signatures in Blyton books that are a bit different, maybe you could flag them up. Thanks.

Duncan

Brilliant! Thanks, Duncan. What a pity your Find-Outers articles aren’t available in book form. I’d be among the first to buy a copy.

I'm not usually that interested in signatures but now I'm poring over them like the Famous Five might pore over an old map!
I have a 1951 and a 1952 copy of "Five on a Hike Together". The 1951 copy doesn't have any forward from Enid but the 1952 copy does and it is the same as the one in Daisy's copy of "Five have a Wonderful Time" in the article.

An interesting examination of the signatures, Duncan. Most of my books are 1970s paperbacks or Dean & Son hardbacks with laminated boards and they rarely include the foreword.

fascinating stuff!

I have a third impressions of 'Five Go off to camp' (1950 with white spine) and there is no foreword at all in this book, although there is a list of previous books in the series, with the Enid Blyton signature ('stamped version as often seen) underneath the list.

In my fifth impression of 'Five Get Into Trouble' there is a foreword, as in the other decorated spine books - but I found the signature quite interesting, as it looks more hand-written, and isn't the well-known printed version we are all familiar with -

Duncan discusses the Five Get Into Trouble signature, which is a bit different from the norm, and says that the same signature appears at the end of the foreword to Five Fall Into Adventure. He doesn't have an early copy of Five on a Hike Together so he can't check that, but the Five Have a Wonderful Time foreword features a more familiar version of the signature.

Looking in the Cave, the signatures differ in Enid's short letters on the backs of the Famous Five dustwrappers too - though that's not surprising because each of those letters (signature included) would have been written entirely by hand.

Now that I'm emerging from the detailed research of that article, it's easier to state an overview...

Enid published her first Famous Five in 1942. The first Mystery in 1943. First Adventure in 1944. First Malory Towers in 1946. And of course there were other series.

After three or four years, the new book in each series needed a foreword to explain that the newly published book was part of a series and Enid wrote these as separate pages.

Then in 1949/50 Enid realised she wanted her signature on these forewords. (I think it was to do with her, not an editor, as she was dealing with different publishers.) For the Find-Outers, Methuen went for a particular Enid signature and stuck with it thereafter. At Hodder and Stoughton, re the Famous Fives, they went for a slightly odd signature (see my article or Rob's post above) in the books published in 1950 (Five Fall Into Adventure) and 1952 (Five Have a Wonderful Time) and I was asking what the signatures, if any, were like in 1949 (FIve Go Off to Camp) and 1951 (Five on a Hike Together).

Thanks to Lenoir for telling me about Five on a Hike Together. If the 1951 first edition really doesn't have a signature then I suspect that would have annoyed Enid as she clearly wanted all forewords of series signed from 1950. So maybe that needs corroboration. (Hope you don't mind me saying that Lenoir!) Anybody else got a first edition hardback of Five on a Hike Together?

Duncan

Blast, that's wrong! Sorry everyone. Let me try again...

1948 Five Go Off to Camp Signed foreword or not?
1949. Five Get Into Trouble. Slightly strange signature.
1950. Five Fall Into Adventure. Same slightly strange signature.
1951. Five on a Hike Together. No signature (according to Lenoir!)
1952. Five Have a Wonderful Time. Signature that became the norm.

Maybe that makes sense. Enid wanted the slightly unusual signature removed and it took the publisher a year to realise she wanted it replaced with a facsimile she was happy with! That's a tentative conclusion. More facts may yet emerge...

I didn't read the later part of your article, as I missed the additions and the link on Thursday. All very interesting, and its really got me looking at the various signatures and introductions in a new way. Apologies for posting the signature above, which you had already mentioned - as I say, I didn't notice the link to the additional parts of your blog.

I would imagine the 1948 version of Camp never had a foreword of any description, since there isn't one in the 1950 version I have, as mentioned above. However, the 1950 version does have a list of books, with the heading 'The 'Fives' Books by Enid Blyton' - and the 'Enid Blyton' is the stamped signature that became the norm, rather than the slightly unusual signature used in Trouble.

My 1952 edition of 'Hike' had an introduction - with the 'signature that became the norm'.

Green Hedges wrote: If the 1951 first edition really doesn't have a signature then I suspect that would have annoyed Enid as she clearly wanted all forewords of series signed from 1950. So maybe that needs corroboration. (Hope you don't mind me saying that Lenoir!) Anybody else got a first edition hardback of Five on a Hike Together?
Duncan

Yes, it would be nice to get confirmation, there might be two versions from 1951? My 2 books are the same except that the 1951 one has a blank page where the 1952 one has the forward. One book says "first printed 1951", the other says "Second impression 1952".

I have a copy of Five go off to Camp ("first printed August 1948"), it has a list of the books up to book 7, with the signature at the top of the list. Looks like the same one used in 1952, but it is not as thick and dark.