How many Famous Five books did Enid Blyton write?

[alice vieira]

How many volumes did EB write of the Famous Five"? I've always heard there were 21 -- but now my granddaughter appeared with the 22nd!

[Katharine]

Have you tried looking in the Cave of Books to see which is the 'extra' book?

[Tony Summerfield]

Enid Blyton only wrote 21 books, Alice, and another 8 short stories. There are however a number of books about the Famous Five written for French and German markets by other authors. 18 of the French books have been translated in English, but none of the German extra books have English versions.

[RainbowJude]

It seems logical to me that the volume to which Alice is referring must be The Famous Five Short Story Collection, which was given "Book 22" status in the 2011 editions.

[Chrissie777]

In Germany there was a volume 22 ("Five are together again"/5 Freunde auf der verbotenen Insel, published in 1977) and a volume 23 (couldn't find out the English title/5 Freunde und der blaue Diamant, published in 1979 by Bertelsmann as well). Somehow the German publisher had gotten a hold of Blyton's last two unfinished FF manuscripts and hired Brigitte Blobel to finish the manuscripts.
However these books had to be removed from the book market a few years later as Blyton's estate withdrew their permission to have them published.
It took me many years of search to find them on flea markets where some kids were selling them. Finally around 1984/1985 I found the second one. They are readable though not as great as the first 18 or 19 Famous Five books.
Unfortunately they don't have the typical FF feel that the other FF books have. One reason might be the illustrations. They are not by Eileen Soper, but by Wolfgang Hennecke, a very untalented German illustrator who was hired by Bertelsmann to replace Soper's timeless and classic illustrations by some more modernized illustrations. Hennecke made Timmy look very ugly. I never forgave him for that . The four children wear blue jeans now. I like Soper's illustrations so much better!
Too bad Bertelsmann did not hire Soper to illustrate books 22 and 23, too!!!

[Tony Summerfield]

However these books had to be removed from the book market a few years later as Blyton's estate withdrew their permission to have them published.

They didn't withdraw their permission, Chrissie, they never gave their permission in the first place which is why the books had to be withdrawn.

I believe the number of German Famous Five books may have got into the 60s now!!

[lwindrush]

I remember reading several FF novels adapted as choose your own adventures in the 70's. I'm sure these were reworked versions of the official books.

[Chrissie777]

They didn't withdraw their permission, Chrissie, they never gave their permission in the first place which is why the books had to be withdrawn.

Tony,

Did you ever find out more details about this?
How did Bertelsmann get the unfinished manuscripts in the first place?

[MJE]

     That's interesting, about two Famous Five manuscripts by Enid Blyton that were unfinished. I have never heard of these before.
     Have these ever been published? Were they for novels or short stories?
     Does anyone know how many pages these progressed, and what the stories were about?
     Would there be any future in having a sympathetic writer finish them? Or will they probably remain forever unfinished and unpublished?

Regards, Michael.

[Tony Summerfield]

I think we are getting a bit muddled here. These are the two books that you are talking about, Chrissie:-

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/cont ... ousfiveseq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And this is what I wrote about them in the Cave:-
'These two books were published in German, supposedly translated by Brigitte Blobel, but as there has been no English version of them she must have actually written both books.'

I am a great believer in fact rather than speculation and here you can see in Enid's own handwriting that there were not going to be any more Famous Five books. This is from a 1964 notebook that she kept which I have in our archives and it contains some interesting information:-

[Chrissie777]

I think we are getting a bit muddled here. These are the two books that you are talking about, Chrissie:-
And this is what I wrote about them in the Cave:-
'These two books were published in German, supposedly translated by Brigitte Blobel, but as there has been no English version of them she must have actually written both books.'
I am a great believer in fact rather than speculation and here you can see in Enid's own handwriting that there were not going to be any more Famous Five books. This is from a 1964 notebook that she kept which I have in our archives and it contains some interesting information:-

Yes, Tony, those are the two books and it took me years to find them on German fleamarkets. Although they had to be withdrawn from German bookstores soon after they were published, a few have been sold before the British publishing house(s) became aware of it.
From what I understand, the manuscripts by Blyton were unfinished and Bertelsmann asked author Brigitte Blobel to finished them. Probably Bertelsmann wanted to take advantage of the huge success that the first 21 FF books created in Germany.

Unfortunately I cannot decypher EB's hand writing. Can you?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Chrissie, I think the notes made by Enid Blyton say:

1964 Don't forget that Hodders want a new Five for 1964, and that you have told them that owing to K's [Kenneth's] retirement there will not be any more Fives. (You can, of course, change your mind. Hodders would be delighted!)

They now plan another Famous Five "Special" with Five on a Treasure Island, Five Go Adventuring Again and Five Run Away Together. Call it the Three in One Famous Five Book?

March 1964

From what I understand, the manuscripts by Blyton were unfinished and Bertelsmann asked author Brigitte Blobel to finished them.

I think what Tony is saying is that Brigitte Blobel wrote the books in their entirety rather than completing unfinished Blyton manuscripts.

[Tony Summerfield]

That is exactly what I am saying, Chrissie, I don't know where you got the idea that they were unfinished manuscripts by Enid Blyton as they weren't anything to do with her.

[Chrissie777]

Hi Tony and Anita,

I kind of specialized on Enid Blyton in the early eighties and even ordered hundreds of newspaper clips from Duesseldorf or Dortmund from the newspaper clips service which one could request way back then through the library system. I did read in one of the Blyton newspaper clips that the two questionable FF sequels were based on two unfinished Blyton manuscripts, but of course not all published in the media is necessarily correct.
And I always wondered HOW Bertelsmann got a hold of these unfinished manuscripts??? So what you wrote makes more sense. Probably Brigitte Blobel created those books from beginning to end.

[Ed Fulcrum]

Probably Brigitte Blobel created those books from beginning to end.

Hi Chrissie777,

Thanks from me for bringing up an interesting subject!

Facinating to delve into the world of the new versions and Tony's posting of Enid's diary notes are worth it alone. I think I mentioned before on one of the forum topics that I devoured the Famous Five when I was young and when I'd finished the first 21 books by Enid I moved onto the French versions which I soon gave up on, (especially after the atrocious 'Five go on TV' - shudder!!).

Perhaps you could contact Brigitte Blobel and ask her? Her Wiki entry seems to indicate that she was still churning out books up to a short time ago!!

Anyway I appreciate all the input into the forums as they always end up unearthing something I haven't come across before