What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

It is a lovely cover, should be on the front of the book not the back cover. :)

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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Katharine »

The perfect picture for a day like today. :D
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by IceMaiden »

That's a lovely cover, it would make a perfect Easter card :D
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Courtenay »

Or a perfect EBS Journal cover. :wink:
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Wolfgang »

Two more books arrived today:
Le Mystère du voleur invisible Hachette idéal 1970 The Mystery of the Invisible Thief
Le Mystère du caniche blanc Hachette idéal 1969 The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage
Looking at the illustrations of those editions you wonder if the children only have one dress/set of clothes or if they have the same dress/set of clothes several times...
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Daisy »

I think that happens in quite a few books... I first noticed it in the Faraway Tree books - Dorothy Wheeler always had Bessie in a checked dress, but Fanny never!
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Katharine »

I can think of several reasons why they might always be in the same clothes.

Firstly it makes the characters easy to identify, secondly it saves the illustrator having to think of different outfits, thirdly, certainly in the case of Bessie and Fanny, I think they were supposed to be quite poor, so chances are they didn't have another set of clothes other than Sunday Best. I think the first Mr. Pink-Whistle book has a story about a poor family where the children have to stay in bed while their mother washes their only clothes (might have got 2 separate stories muddled though).
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Daisy »

Yes, I think that's a good point, Katharine. One certainly always knew who was who!
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Ah yes - I remember the Mr. Pink-Whistle story. It's the opening two chapters of The Adventures of Mr. Pink-Whistle so helping that family is the first thing he does after vowing to look out for unfairness and put things right. I really like that story but I always wonder whether Mr. Pink-Whistle will return to the house every so often if the family continue to be short of money, and keep the children supplied with clothes and shoes as they grow.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Rob Houghton »

A 1961 edition of 'Bimbo and Topsy'. I already had the Dean version, but wanted the original as its one of the few originals I don't have. This one has a nice dust jacket and its in very good condition.

I found it interesting that in the opening introductory letter, written by 'Bimbo' that Enid seems to be encouraging children to colour the illustrations! She writes ' If you colour me with your crayons, don't forget to give me blue eyes, not green'. Shows that Enid was quite happy to have children colour the illustrations! :D
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Courtenay »

Rob Houghton wrote: I found it interesting that in the opening introductory letter, written by 'Bimbo' that Enid seems to be encouraging children to colour the illustrations! She writes ' If you colour me with your crayons, don't forget to give me blue eyes, not green'. Shows that Enid was quite happy to have children colour the illustrations! :D
So you're vindicated at last, Rob. :mrgreen: :wink:

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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Rob Houghton »

:D looks like it!

(goes off to colour Topsy's eyes blue) ;-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Kate Mary »

I had a couple of interesting finds in a charity shop recently. (Well, at least, I thought they were interesting). Firstly I came across Faraway Tree Stories (Mammoth 1994: eighth impression 1999), I though that Faraway Tree omnibus editions were either abridged Dean editions or updated Egmont ones, but not so, this edition is unabridged and unrevised, original names, Dame Slap, golliwogs and all, the illustrations are by Rene Cloke and the text is the same as the single volume Deans from the early 1970s.

Secondly I found an omnibus of The Secret Island and The Secret of Spiggy Holes (Parragon 1992: this impression 1996). I flicked through the book and was about to put it back on the shelf when my eye caught the word 'shillings'. Incredibly this edition seems completely unrevised. We are so used to later copies being updated it comes as a pleasant surprise to find original texts in relatively recent paperbacks. The books looked unread and were 50p each so I bought them, I really must stop buying duplicates but I couldn't resist these.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

It's good to hear that the Mammoth Faraway Tree omnibus is unabridged, Kate. Normally The Magic Faraway Tree gets abridged in omnibus editions, with the removal of half a dozen chapters including 'The Land of Tempers' and 'The Land of Presents'. Sacrilege!

Regarding money, it's interesting that some publishers retained the original currency even in the 1990s - and perhaps beyond. My Dean & Son Naughtiest Girl and Wishing-Chair books were published between 1971 and 1973 but the money had already been updated to decimal currency.
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Re: What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

Post by sixret »

Well done, Wolfgang, Rob and Kate Mary! :D

Yes, we always assume the modern editions are abridged. It's nice to hear that they are not in this case. :D
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