Chimney Corner Stories

[Kate Mary]

Here's a bit of a puzzle! I'm reading "Chimney Corner Stories" (Dean ed.) at the moment and I had a squint at the entry for this title in the Cave.

The first edition published by the National Magazine Co. lists 20 stories as does the Dean, but they have only 9 stories in common, the rest in the Dean Rewards edition come from "My Enid Blyton Book No. 2".

Another curious thing is among the list of reprints is "More Chimney Corner Stories", why does this title not have its own entry?

This seems very odd, why delete half the stories from the first edition and replace them with other stories from another collection?


Kate

[Tony Summerfield]

The simple answer to this Kate, is that there was a middleman involved! Originally both Chimney Corner Stories and Round the Clock Stories were published by the National Magazine Co. The former had 144 pages with 20 stories and the latter 128 pages, with 24 stories. The next publisher on the scene for these two books was Latimer House. Their books worked to a rigid formula of 92 pages.

When they published Chimney Corner Stories, they used 11 of the original stories. They realised they could make another book out of the other 9 stories, and so we had More Chimney Corner Stories. They are both listed under Chimney Corner Stories in the Cave, as they are two halves of the same book. (You may remember that Dragon did this with Adventures of the Wishing Chair).

When it came to Round the Clock Stories, Latimer House managed to fit 17 stories into the 92 pages, and with only 7 stories left over that was not enough for another book, which is why we never got More Round the Clock Stories.

Dean were the next publisher on the scene and their books had room for far more stories than the Latimer House versions. They took all their stories from the Latimer House books and not from the original books and they were a law unto themselves as they didn't seem to mind where they took their stories from. So although they sometimes used original titles, the contents were by no means the same.

As I have now listed the Dean Rewards as a separate series in their own right, I will try and put the contents in for all these short story books and you will be able to see where they have been taken from. My somewhat long-winded reply is why I hadn't answered your post earlier!

Specially for a Cave regular visitor, the Dean Chimney Corner Stories now has all its details!

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's great to see the details for the Dean Chimney Corner Stories and to know the history behind the book! Chimney Corner Stories (Dean, with the Rene Cloke cover) was one of the first Blytons I ever read and I was enthralled by the tales. Always loved Cicely Steed's illustrations for stories like 'The Snoozy Gnome,' 'She Turned Up Her Nose,' 'The Tiresome Poker' and 'The Smickle-Smockle.' Adorable-looking nursery toys, and the illustrations of pixies and gnomes are comical yet atmospheric.

Anita

[Kate Mary]

Thank you, Tony for taking the time to write such a detailed reply. I stand in awe of your encyclopedic knowledge.
I read Chimney Corner Stories many times as a child but this is the first time I have re-read it in forty years.
Thanks also for listing the contents of the Dean editions.

Kate.