What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

[Boatbuilder]

I’m guessing your book is a first edition, Paul as it was published by H&S.

[Paul Greaves]

Yes, it is.

[Judith Crabb]

Yesterday at a Sunday car boot sale at a local high school I noticed a large 'Noddy Classic Treasury' (2013). It looked new and when I picked it up the book-mark ribbon attached was tucked into its lower edge, a dead giveaway. But, when I opened it there was an inscription from grandparents to a newly-christened grandchild. Why was the book never read? Sure, these large omnibus volumes never seem as appealing to children as the small originals, but they are well-adapted to the child on the lap. This book seems unread (not just insanely well looked after). What, I wonder, is the story. I think I can discount tragedy - child deaths, once so common, are thanks to medical advances largely a thing of the past. Deaths of the grand-parents before the child was of an age to cope with the traumas of being Noddy? Unlikely, since the inscription is vigorous, not like the trembling hand of the faltering aged. Family breakdown perhaps, somewhat more common these days. Grandparents no longer welcome? Censorship by parents? Who knows? I never will. But for a while 'Noddy Classic Treasury' will find a place on my shelves, next to the 'Adventure Treasury'.
(It was a bargain at $1.)

[pete9012S]

A great find at a superb price Judith!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sounds good, Judith, and I enjoyed reading your musings on the book's pristine condition - though it's sad that it seems to have gone unread.

[Judith Crabb]

On the cheap table at my local thrift shop were some Enid Blyton paperbacks and I bought the Armada 'The Secret of Spiggy Holes' (1981) and 'The Secret of Killimooin' (1982). No, I don't need them , but who knows, I might meet a child who has read 'The Secret Island' and wants some more about Jack and friends. I notice that 'Spiggy Holes' is newly illustrated (not an improvement) but 'Killimooin' has (some of) the original Soper illustrations. The paper has deteriorated - some rather blotchy foxing. (Enid would not have approved cost cutting on inferior paper!) Apart from that, the condition is very good and the wrappers excellent, though the boat on the cover of 'Killimooin' looks rather like the bottom half of a large pie. I'm feeling rather protective of out-of-print Enid Blyton titles and am finding my 'buy-nothing-published-since-her-death' resolution difficult to not to break. As I handed over my 40 cents I felt sure that Pete would recognise two more bargains.

[Anita Bensoussane]

That certainly is a bargain, Judith! Those are my editions, which I've had since childhood, though mine both date from 1978. I've always thought the same about the boat on the cover of Killimooin - that the boys look as though they're sitting in a pie!

Armada started bringing Enid Blyton's books out in paperback as early as 1962. Enid must have accepted the fact that lower-quality paper, thin card covers and (in many cases) fewer illustrations brought down costs enormously, meaning that many children would be able to buy books for themselves on a regular basis. In 1978, at the age of eight, I received 25p pocket money every week. A paperback cost 50p so I could usually buy one a fortnight (sometimes, of course, I had to save up money to buy other things, e.g. birthday presents for family members). My sister liked to spend her money on books too and we both read them all, keeping them in a bookcase in our shared bedroom. As we also received book tokens for birthdays and Christmas, we soon amassed quite a collection!

[Fiona1986]

That boat does look remarkably pie-like. Is it perhaps the angle of viewing that makes it look so round? It's actually rather like the ones in Soper's drawings, though being black and white they also lack that perfect golden crust colour

[pete9012S]

Yes, I remember doctoring a cover about this in the past, but can I find it!
This will have to do...

'Hurry, the crust is crumbling and flaking!!'

[Anita Bensoussane]

That's pukka!

[pete9012S]

[Bertie]

Yes, I remember doctoring a cover about this in the past, but can I find it!
This will have to do...

"'Goodnight, Holland, see you later.' The employees left for home, wondering once more why the famous pie company insisted on these gimmicky company vehicles."

[Bertie]

Just ordered House-at-the-Corner, which I've never read before.

I re-took the 'Character Quiz' on the EBS main page tonight. I rememberr taking it soon after I joined - expecting it to be someone like Dick or George, or Philip Mannering - and it suggested some girl from a book I'd never heard of and quickly forgot. I took it again tonight, and presumably answered pretty much the same things again as it again said that I'm most like Elizabeth Farrell from House-at-the-Corner!

This time I looked her up, thinking she must be something pretty special ( ) - and initially felt like Fatty when he first saw Ern,
the boy they'd all mistook him for! Words like plain, gawky, shy and doormat weren't the most flattering description! But having read more, she seems quite a decent character so I thought I'd give the book a go and, as I said, I've ordered a copy tonight.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Let us know what you think of House-at-the-Corner - and Elizabeth Farrell in particular - Bertie!

[Bertie]

Will do, Anita.