Faraway tree collection

[Tony Summerfield]

What I'd like to ask about the "Faraway Tree" books is the following. There is an omnibus of the three books at the shops at the moment. It's put out by Dean and the cover looks like this:



Later days
David

I'm a bit slow off the mark here, but the image you are showing is of a book published in 2002. A new edition which was published this year is currently selling in the shops here (£3.99 in 'The Works'). I have all these books in the Cave of Books under Recreation books, but I don't suppose that anyone has noticed them!

[Kate Mary]

Au Contraire Tony, I noticed, but then I haunt the Cave of Books and you are more likely to find me there than on the Forums! The uncredited cover illustration must be by Rene Cloke surely? It's a pity they didn't use Rene's pictures inside too, they are much better than Jill Newton's.

Kate.

[mish]

Could anybody help me out with what year Faraway Tree book I can buy BEFORE the PC brigade?

Would anything before 1969 be unabridged? Thanks!

[Kate Mary]

Without doubt, the best editions to buy are the original Newnes, but they are VERY expensive.

If you can't run to that, try the Dean hardbacks (1971/72) or Beaver (1978) or Mammoth (1992) paperbacks. My Dean editions do say revised but I cannot spot any revisions at all, there are no references to decimal money (at least in The Enchanted Wood which I have just read), the golliwogs are still there and the word 'queer' is much in evidence, which are the first things to go when the PC brigade get going.

The editions to avoid are the recent ones published by Egmont and illustrated by Jill Newton and the Dean omnibus which I believe is abridged.

Check out the Cave, all the UK editions are listed there.


Kate.

[mish]

Thanks for letting me know - I just bought this one on trademe:

The Magic Faraway Tree

Which is a dean hardback 1971 - I hope it is unabridged!! What I particularly want is one of the ones were the chapters haven't been taken out. As I do not have any copies of the Faraway Tree books anyway, it will good to have even if the chapters are missing.

Here in NZ I got a 3 compilation Faraway Tree series out from the library - Dean publishing, 2008 and you will all be pleased to hear (apart from those missing chapters) Dame Slap is Dame Slap, and Jo, Bessie and Fanny are Jo, Bessie and Fanny... I thought that was good anyway!!

[Kate Mary]

That's the edition I've got too, Mish. I'm sure it is unabridged. It is good to know the Dean omnibus has retained the original names, shame they lopped a few chapters.

By the way, modern paperback editions of "The Enchanted Wood" have 33 chapters, but the Dean and Newnes editions have only 29! I was puzzled by this for a time and thought even the Newnes edition (I handled a copy at last year's Enid Blyton Day) had been abridged, but using the excellent resource of the Cave I tracked down the original publication in Sunny Stories, and there were only 29 episodes which corresponded exactly to the chapter headings in my copy. I eventually found the four extra chapters were a completely separate story first published in "Enid Blyton's Omnibus" published in 1952, which has now been incorporated into "The Enchanted Wood". Mystery solved!

Kate.