Journal 62

[Kate Mary]

I arrived home from a short break in Norfolk to find Journal 62 on the doormat. It looks a corker as usual but before I read any of it I wrote out a cheque and posted it to renew my subscription. I don't intend missing any future issues. I've only read the editorial and Rob's article so far but I like the look of Daisy's diary of a Kirrin ancestor and Tony's article on books that never made it into print, in fact the whole issue looks splendid and several stories, poems and articles by Enid herself. You can never have too many things by Enid in the Journal. Many thanks to all contributors.

[sixret]

Now I am intrigued. Books that never made into print?! Enid Blyton's books?

[sixret]

Hopefully my copy will arrive next week!

[Tony Summerfield]

I'm afraid in this case these books are not going to turn up in a hurry, as I said in the Journal there are nine books in this particular series and as yet only two have turned up. I still reckon that there are about 20-30 books waiting to be discovered that Enid wrote for Birn Brothers all in the 1920s. Several, like the two pictured above, have no credit to Enid Blyton at all, so even if people have them they are not going to know that they are Blyton books. It is only when I put them in the Journal and eventually into the Cave that they suddenly leap in value.

How do I know that they are by Enid Blyton - because I have a record of them in an early workbook that she kept, but even this is not straightforward as she sometimes used 'working titles' and in some cases the title was changed when the books were published. There is no other record of these books anywhere as they are not in any copyright libraries and nor were any of them mentioned in reference books of the time. It does help, as in both these cases, that some of the poems were used again in later Birn Brothers books that were credited to Blyton. Play-time is already in the Cave and eventually Toyland will join it.

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... =Play-Time" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Julie2owlsdene]

How interesting all this is.

When you say copyright libraries, Tony, is that the same place as The British Library, which I think have a copy of every published book, goes in the British National Bibliography. I'm just wondering about the University Libraries, whether copies are in there?

[Tony Summerfield]

The British Library is one copyright library, Julie, but there are also two or three others. None of these Birns Books are in the British Library, and I'm afraid it just isn't true about them having copies of all published books as I studied their catalogue in detail when I was compiling my bibliographies and there are a fair number of Blyton books that they don't have copies of. Some of these are relatively common books.

[sixret]

Thank you so much, Tony. Very interesting and fun to read. In short, you have become a book detective! I love both books and detective stories.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Thanks, Tony. That's also interesting, as I thought every book was in the British Library. I'd be tempted to look at all the first editions of by gone books, if I worked there.

[Nicko]

I look forward to reading this journal as always.

Well done to Tony and all of the contributors for coming up with such an appealing collection of articles.

[Chrissie777]

This has to be a very good omen: on our wedding anniversary the mail man did bring the 62nd EBS Journal.
How much better can it get?

I couldn't find a "Journal 62" thread, that's why I posted it here.

(Now moved to the "Journal 62" thread. - Anita)

Great Eileen Soper color illustrations in the middle of the journal.
And now I', looking very much forward to start reading all the articles.
A big big thank you to Tony for his labor of love!!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've often thought that the Werner Laurie Showbooks were managed very badly by the publisher. If they had been sensible they would have released the Famous Five one first! It was Enid's most popular series, and aimed at slightly older children than Rubbalong and Mary Mouse. Its amazing to me that the publishers aimed such a complicated fiddly cutting-out book at such young children...nearly all the proposed books were aimed at 4 or 5 year olds! As the owner of the sample shown in the Journal (the cut out version!) I can't imagining making this myself until I was maybe 8 or 9 - and I was very used to scissors and had used them regularly even before I went to school. If the publishers had aimed these books at older readers, with books revolving around The Famous Five, the Fatty books and the Adventure books, I'm sure they would have been much more popular!

Tony's article on the Showbooks and the John Jolly books is super. It's fascinating to see the instructions for one of the Showbooks, giving us an understanding of exactly what was involved in creating the "peepshow" scenes, and I have to chuckle at Tony's amusing comments about children requiring garden shears and perhaps plasters!

I agree with you, Rob, that the Showbooks might have had more chance of success if the publishers had started with popular series and aimed them at older children who could cope with all the intricate cutting out. I'd have loved some adventure/mystery themed ones at the age of about 8 - 11.

I just love the cover!

I agree! I find it interesting that this, which is the back of the Daffodil Storybook wrapper, is actually much nicer than the front!

I love both the front and the back covers of Enid Blyton's Daffodil Story Book, but I agree that the back cover is so nice it's wasted on the rear of a book! I'm pleased Tony has used it as a Journal cover as I'd never seen it before.

... as I said in the Journal there are nine books in this particular series [the Birn Brothers 'Toy Books' series] and as yet only two have turned up. I still reckon that there are about 20-30 books waiting to be discovered that Enid wrote for Birn Brothers all in the 1920s. Several... have no credit to Enid Blyton at all, so even if people have them they are not going to know that they are Blyton books. It is only when I put them in the Journal and eventually into the Cave that they suddenly leap in value.

How do I know that they are by Enid Blyton - because I have a record of them in an early workbook that she kept, but even this is not straightforward as she sometimes used 'working titles' and in some cases the title was changed when the books were published. There is no other record of these books anywhere as they are not in any copyright libraries and nor were any of them mentioned in reference books of the time. It does help, as in both these cases, that some of the poems were used again in later Birn Brothers books that were credited to Blyton. Play-time is already in the Cave and eventually Toyland will join it.

Interesting stuff. It's always good to read about these discoveries and I look forward to seeing Toyland in the Cave of Books at some stage.

The Journal centre spread looks stunning with the Bestime Famous Five jigsaws "printed in the gayest of gay colours". The one of the camp fire is my favourite as it's such a cosy-looking scene.

'It Happened So Suddenly!' is an excellent "consequences" story, all the more interesting for having been inspired by a real incident reported in a newspaper. I wonder what adventure book Paul is reading, in which "two boys have just got lost in a cave"?

As for 'Nimble-Gnome and the Fairy Baby', it's charming and the illustrations by Frank Adams are gorgeous. It's lovely that the "gifts" given to the children relate to the presents they brought. The name "Mollie" crops up again and again in early Blyton stories. Enid Blyton taught a Mollie Sayer at Southernhay, so maybe she had that Mollie at the back of her mind.

A wonderful Journal and I'll have more to say about other articles later on!

[Julie2owlsdene]

Really enjoyed the journal, especially Tony writing about those missing books. Like Anita I think those John Jolly books look great. The centre page of jigsaws look great.

Enid's story of - It Happened So Suddenly - was great too. And I've mentioned Ilsa's Diary article already.

Thanks to all the contributors, another enjoyable read.

[Chrissie777]

Mine Journal has arrived already, I'm so pleased. I wasn't expecting it yet.

I was already waiting for it and started wondering if it got lost?
Then I checked for this thread a few days ago, but there still was no thread.
Now my EBS Journal has arrived yesterday and it's beautiful!
Thank you, Tony!!!

[Chrissie777]

I think Tony only puts it up on the Journal page when he's sent them out, these days, so he doesn't get people constantly asking when its arriving, lol!

Makes sense!

[Rob Houghton]

I love both the front and the back covers of Enid Blyton's Daffodil Story Book, but I agree that the back cover is so nice it's wasted on the rear of a book! I'm pleased Tony has used it as a Journal cover as I'd never seen it before.

The Journal centre spread looks stunning with the Bestime Famous Five jigsaws "printed in the gayest of gay colours". The one of the camp fire is my favourite as it's such a cosy-looking scene.

I agree - I also like the front cover of The Daffodil Story Book - but I was amazed how great the back cover was - worthy of being on the front!

I too love the centre spread of Bestime Famous Five puzzles. I have the skiing one - given to me by a man via this website who wrote to me asking if I wanted it free of charge as the box wasn't too good! Its a lovely puzzle - and I agree about the colours - 'printed in the gayest of gay colours!' I also love the campfire one, but I also love the horse riding one too!