My Enid Blyton Bookcase!

[Tony Summerfield]

Great photos, Tony. Are the Narnia books 1st editions?

Sadly not, they are out of my price range! Two of the Arthur Ransome books are 1st editions and they are both signed as is The Magic Bedknob which is signed by Mary Norton with an inscription to someone saying that one of the characters in the book is based on her. Sometimes you are just lucky as the book cost very little and the bookshop owner hadn't realised that the author was the person who had signed the book.

I bought another signed first edition which had a lengthy bit in it running to several lines and the owner apologised that someone had written in the book and said that he had reduced the price heavily because of it. Little did he realise that it was a 1st edition of the first Wombles book and the writer of the inscription who had signed it underneath was Elizabeth Beresford. After I had bought the book I told him that it was the author who had written inside it!

[Courtenay]

Brilliant, Tony. More fool those booksellers!

That said, not being a "serious" collector, I'd rather have a slightly later edition with dust jacket in good condition than a first edition with dust jacket in bad condition or missing entirely. Those two Adventure series dust jackets (Valley and Mountain) on my shelf aren't firsts, but the jackets are near flawless - except for some fading on the spine, but that's almost inevitable - and incredibly beautiful to look at, so they've replaced my jacket-less first editions. Now if only I can find the other six books with jackets in similarly excellent condition...

[Tony Summerfield]

You must remember that I bought all these books before the invention of the internet and they all came from general bookshops who didn't rate children's books all that highly. I paid less than £10 for the Narnia books and that was for all seven of them, not each, the most expensive one was a dizzy £2 - those were the days!

[Rob Houghton]

So true! Even when I started collecting, in 2000, most book shops didn't know anything about the value of children's books. Obviously it was more expensive than pre-internet, but some of the books I got back then were very cheap compared to what would be paid now. One of the best bargains, I think, was a 3rd edition of The Secret Island for £3:50, 1955 edition of Land of Far Beyond with very good dust wrapper for £4 and the only 'book club edition' of 'Five Minute Tales' that Tony had ever seen for just £3 in a very good DW. Things have certainly become more expensive!

[Tony Summerfield]

It is always the bargains that you remember particularly when they come from the most unlikely places. I went into a university bookshop in Preston and realised that they only sold academic books, but on the counter was a small bookcase with a row of Children's books in fine dustwrappers, all were by Enid Blyton or Malcolm Saville and all except one were 1st editions from either 1942 or 1943. They were all under £5 and I bought most of them including the extremely scarce 1st edition of Mystery at Witchend - even in those days a visitor to my house offered me £400 for it, but I still have it today!

I went into a collectibles shop in Bournemouth that mostly sold records and I was just leaving when the owner asked what I was looking for. I said I was looking for children's books, but realised that he didn't sell books. I have a few in a room out the back if you would like to look he said. I came out with two William books, which cost me £20 for the pair, William and the Witch and William the Lawless, both 1st editions in super wrappers. Even back then William the Lawless was being sold by specialist dealers for about £400.

Sadly since the advent of the internet those bargain days are over!

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Searc ... t+Witchend" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Searc ... he+Lawless" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Julie2owlsdene]

Sadly since the advent of the internet those bargain days are over!

So true. I sometimes thing these booksellers on Ebay etc, see Enid Blyton, Malcolm Saville etc, and just see pounds signs, and how much we can rip people off for.

Some books are reasonable on Ebay, and some sellers just go over the top.

[Rob Houghton]

And bookshops take their prices from the internet...being able to view what other sellers are charging and charge accordingly. Even Oxfam bookshop and the like have Enid Blyton books for big prices. I saw a very tatty glazed boards version of Rocking Down Mystery from the mid 1960s, complete with Biro scribbles on the boards, for £10 in Worcester the other week! I paid about £5 each for my mid 1950s original dustwrapper versions of all the Barney books!

[Courtenay]

You do occasionally still pick up bargains from the internet, from people who either haven't searched far enough afield to know the potential price they could get, or from those who are simply wanting to get rid of a book or books without being interested in making a fortune. The other day I bought a 1957 copy of The Rockingdown Mystery on eBay, with very good dust jacket. It was sold by a professional bookseller, but for reasons known only to themselves, they had recently reduced the price - from £32.80 to £7.98!! (With free postage.) I'm hoping it will arrive today so that I can start reading it...

[Anita Bensoussane]

... as is The Magic Bedknob which is signed by Mary Norton with an inscription to someone saying that one of the characters in the book is based on her.

Fabulous to come across an inscription containing an interesting piece of information like that.

I bought another signed first edition which had a lengthy bit in it running to several lines and the owner apologised that someone had written in the book and said that he had reduced the price heavily because of it. Little did he realise that it was a 1st edition of the first Wombles book and the writer of the inscription who had signed it underneath was Elizabeth Beresford. After I had bought the book I told him that it was the author who had written inside it!

A great find - and a great story!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Looking through this thread, my photos seem to have disappeared...annoying!

I wonder why that happens. Sometimes I can see a photo or picture perfectly well one day, but not the next (I just get the "image" symbol of a hill and cloud instead). Then a few days later, I can see the picture/photo again! I heard that computers are programmed using a "language of logic", so why do they operate in such an illogical way?!

[Lucky Star]

Even Oxfam bookshop and the like have Enid Blyton books for big prices. I saw a very tatty glazed boards version of Rocking Down Mystery from the mid 1960s, complete with Biro scribbles on the boards, for £10 in Worcester the other week! I paid about £5 each for my mid 1950s original dustwrapper versions of all the Barney books!

This really irks me. My local Oxfam is the worst for this. The number of times I have seen appalling books, quite literally falling to pieces being sold for £10 or more in there just because of the author's name. You do still pick up the odd bargain here and there but as others have said they are increasingly rare and noteworthy.

[Rob Houghton]

Up until about 5 years ago I was regularly picking up good quality Blyton bargains at my local Oxfam Bookshop - but these days they mainly have tatty hardcover or new paperbacks in the children's section. They have a 'rare books' section but that never has any Blyton's either. I'm presuming they put all the better ones in the back and dealers have first pick - which also annoys me! I never bother to ask, because I have most of the more common books anyway - and I can guess the prices of less common/older editions in DWs!

[John Pickup]

I was offered a 1st edition of Mystery At Witchend by a book dealer and he wanted £1500 for it. There is no way I could afford that and I envy Tony his copy. I do have about 10 or 11 1st edition Lone Pine books with dustwrappers but some of them are from my childhood. There is a second-hand record shop in Keswick in the Lake District that sold a few books, I bought a 1st edition of Lone Pine Five from there for £15. There are bargains to be had out there.

[Poppy]

Speaking of Oxfam, I really think it depends on which shop you use. I have been in two different shops in the past few weeks and both proved to have completely different price ranges. For instance, one had early hardback copies of the Secret Seven books (ranging from 2nd editions and later editions). There were about five of these and they were £1.99 each. I already had them all so I left them. And then in this different Oxfam shop, there was an Armada paperback version of The Rockingdown Mystery in fairly good condition, but it was scuffed in a few places, for £3.99!! I couldn't believe this massive difference in prices for books. Obviously the former books were the more rare and collectable ones, but still they were the cheaper ones.

[Tony Summerfield]

I agree Poppy, the Salisbury Oxfam bookshop is excellent, it is run by a man who used to own a secondhand bookshop in the town and all his children's books are sensibly priced and very affordable. I have bought both hardbacks and paperbacks there that look as if they haven't been read and the same books in Waterstone's cost about three times the price. I am currently reading Numbers by Rachel Ward and it is in mint condition and cost me 99p! Fatter paperbacks are £1.99 and hardbacks £2.99 and these prices are for books that look new.