The Enid Blyton Society

Ah, now that's interesting — I thought the image of three children "sailing" on an upturned table was familiar, so I just checked the Cave and The Three Sailors is the first short story in the later version of At Seaside Cottage, which is where I'm remembering it from. And yet the earlier "John and Mary" cover has the children apparently sailing away in a folded paper boat, which is even more improbable!

Courtenay wrote: And yet the earlier "John and Mary" cover has the children apparently sailing away in a folded paper boat, which is even more improbable!

I thought that too! Odd cover illustration!

pete9012S wrote:Thanks Rob - I also came across these two items today:

'Sandle Brothers 'had their hand in the 'John and Mary' series and not content with issuing single tales, they published a later compilation of their adventures entitled 'Storyland' of which there seems no record in any catalogue at all. So, the prospective bibliographer is facing a nightmare scenario when contemplating the Blyton collection. The best knowledge source, of course, is the Enid Blyton Society.

I've never come across that one, but have got a later compilation - High Adventure - which is a 1980's collection of these stories -

Rob Houghton wrote:I think it does have the same contents, Pete - its just a later edition of the same book.

While it probably is the same story I wonder if they re-translated it from the French edition - Jacques Fromont illustrated the French edition of the Mystery series for the "Idéal bibliothèque" and some other Blyton books.

In my copy of 'How John Got His Ducklings' there's no mention of it being a translation. It was published in England by Sandle Brothers and printed in Hungary. The first edition was apparently published by Brockhampton Press in 1966. The illustrations are indeed by the French illustrator, but I'm not sure if the books ever appeared in French. The story appeared in Enid Blyton's Sunny Story Book and before that in a Sunny Stories magazine in 1934.

The Three Sailors originally published also by Brockhampton (1967) and first appeared in book form in The Enid Blyton Gay Story Book and before that in Sunny Stories magazine in 1938.

There is a book in French called "Les trois petits marins", I have a copy of it. The cover doesn't feature the paper boat though.

First edition: 1922
Publisher: J. Saville
Illustrator: not illustrated
Category: Poetry Books
Genre: Mixed
Type: Poetry and Song Books

As shown above the cave mentions this book is not illustrated.This seller seems to think the illustration for sale could be from this book though??

This is an original watercolor by Phyllis Chase dated 1921. Phyllis Chase famously illustrated Enid Blyton's first and second books, Child Whispers in 1922, and Real Fairies and Responsive Singing Games in 1923, all published by J Saville & Co. This picture I believe could be from the Child Whispers. It is watercolor on paper in a simple frame under glass the size of the illustration is 13 3/4 inches by just under 10 inches but the surround makes it bigger. The colors are vibrant as it hasn’t been exposed to sunlight.

https://www.rubylane.com/item/1000183-M ... or-Phyllis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PLAYING AT HOME - A NOVELTY BOOK

First edition: 1955
Publisher: Methuen
Illustrator: Sabine Schweitzer
Category: One-off Painting and Novelty
Genre: Novelty
Type: Painting and Novelty Books

A few more pics from the inside of the book:

https://imgur.com/a/TieJB" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Did you buy the book from Ebay's seller for £14 something, Pete?

No,
I stumbled across it in the cave for the very first time today sixret and thought I'd share my new discovery!

Its the sort of book I would have loved as a child. In fact I had lots of similar books - some where you pressed out sticky shapes and stuck them in place, some where you pressed out flat buildings and assembled them, etc. I loved any books like this. I had a press out farm, press out three Little Pigs with their houses, and a press out bird table with lots of birds! Wish I still had them!!

Courtenay wrote: I thought the image of three children "sailing" on an upturned table was familiar

Didn't the Kirrins do this in Treasure Island? I seem to remember Quentin coming in the room after the table went over with a bang.

Yes, Julian turns a table over suggestiong they all play at wrecks. There is an illustration of it too.

pete9012S wrote:

First edition: 1922
Publisher: J. Saville
Illustrator: not illustrated
Category: Poetry Books
Genre: Mixed
Type: Poetry and Song Books

As shown above the cave mentions this book is not illustrated.This seller seems to think the illustration for sale could be from this book though??

This is an original watercolor by Phyllis Chase dated 1921. Phyllis Chase famously illustrated Enid Blyton's first and second books, Child Whispers in 1922, and Real Fairies and Responsive Singing Games in 1923, all published by J Saville & Co. This picture I believe could be from the Child Whispers. It is watercolor on paper in a simple frame under glass the size of the illustration is 13 3/4 inches by just under 10 inches but the surround makes it bigger. The colors are vibrant as it hasn’t been exposed to sunlight.

https://www.rubylane.com/item/1000183-M ... or-Phyllis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am a bit late in replying to this as I was on holiday (!!!) when you posted it, but you are absolutely right, none of the J. Saville books had any internal illustrations, so the seller is telling porkies to try and get more money. This painting has nothing to do with Enid Blyton.

Thanks for that confirmation of my suspicions Tony. It didn't seem quite right to me when I read the sale description.

On a much more cheerful note:

Daisy wrote:Yes, Julian turns a table over suggestiong they all play at wrecks. There is an illustration of it too.

They all went to play in the other room. Julian turned a table upside down with a crash. "We'll play at wrecks," he said. "This is the wreck. Now we're going to explore it."
The door flew open and an angry, frowning face looked in. It was George's father!
"What was that noise?" he said. "George! Did you overturn that table?"
"I did," said Julian. "I'm sorry, sir. I quite forgot you were working."

Let the Maxey slaying begin.....

pete9012S wrote: Let the Maxey slaying begin.....

Well, it goes without saying - that table Maxey drew is hardly gonna be big enough to play shipwrecks with!!!