Journal 62

What did you think of the latest Journal?
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Chrissie777
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Chrissie777 »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:What a stunning cover with all the daffodils!
Anita, the daffodils remind me of my very first trip to the UK in 1981. After visiting London and Beaconsfield we went to Hadrian's Wall, stopping for a night at a B & B in Warkworth on the way up north.
There's a beautiful castle ruin, Warkworth Castle, standing on top of a steep hill in the middle of the village. Our B & B was right on the other side of the street that lead around that hill which was covered with thousands of daffodils. It was early May and such a beautiful sight. Unforgettable.
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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Rob Houghton wrote:I think various people discover them! I've discovered a couple of books Tony didn't know existed... ;-) It's usually by accident!
I had't yet replied to this, Rob, but I have given this quite a lot of thought. I know that one of the books that you found was the book club edition of Five-Minute Tales, not sure about the other one but I am sure you will remind me! The point here is that it is a Blyton book that we already knew about and this was just an edition that I hadn't seen. I think you are right that possibly more books like this may turn up by accident, particularly paperbacks, there are already some that I suspect might exist.

However, books like Toyland will not turn up by accident, they have no publisher, author or illustrator credited at all. They are only going to turn up by diligent detective work and there is only one person I know who has the knowledge to do this - and I don't mean myself as I seldom leave Salisbury now! I can see an article here so I am going to say little more about this period now. I will say that these books are from a workbook that goes up to 1926 and there are 30 Birn Brothers books listed in it, only 12 of which have turned up, so there are still 18 books that haven't.

From 1927 to 1932 things are different. 23 books have turned up from this period, but there is no existing workbook to go from, so we don't even know any titles until the books are 'discovered'! We know they are by Enid Blyton as from 1927 onwards almost all the books had her name in them. There is only one book where her name was on the cover, Wake Up!, one or two where her name was on the title page, The Wonderful Adventure, and all the rest simply have her name on the back page under the final poem or story. The Big clue here on missing books is that all these books are numbered in some way, and gaps in numbering can lead to other possibilities as most Birn books were issued in series of four.

The numbers can be found on the back cover, so giving just one example before this post gets too long and readers lose the will to live:-
Jolly Times (No. 130) (c. 1927) (10 X 7½) (62 pages)
Toys! For Girls and Boys (No. 131) (c. 1927) (10 X 7½) (62 pages)
The Wonderful Adventure (No. 133) (c. 1927) (10 X 7½) (62 pages)

It is almost certain that although we have no idea of the title, No. 132 is a Blyton book waiting to be discovered!! :D

One other thing to say, Birn Brothers didn't send any of these books to libraries, any information about them to reference books and they didn't even send a copy of each to Enid Blyton herself as there were none in her collection and none in the Darrell Waters archives.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Rob Houghton »

Tony Summerfield wrote:
Rob Houghton wrote:I think various people discover them! I've discovered a couple of books Tony didn't know existed... ;-) It's usually by accident!
I had't yet replied to this, Rob, but I have given this quite a lot of thought. I know that one of the books that you found was the book club edition of Five-Minute Tales, not sure about the other one but I am sure you will remind me! The point here is that it is a Blyton book that we already knew about and this was just an edition that I hadn't seen. I think you are right that possibly more books like this may turn up by accident, particularly paperbacks, there are already some that I suspect might exist.

However, books like Toyland will not turn up by accident, they have no publisher, author or illustrator credited at all. They are only going to turn up by diligent detective work
I guess when I said 'by accident' I really meant that its a case of these books being discovered 'by accident' - as there are so few around - with detective work, but also through lucky chance - for example, I mean someone may have a few Enid Blyton Birn Brothers books on their shelves without even knowing it!

I can't really recall a second book I 'discovered' - I'm sure there was another one...but yes - the main one was Five Minute Tales - bookclub edition - and I also remember showing you my first edition of 'before I Go to Sleep' which had a different wrapper, which I believe you hadn't known existed until I happened to describe it!

I'm sure there are many 'undiscovered' Bylton books out there - though not as exciting a find as the Birn books!
'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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Rob Houghton
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Rob Houghton »

Chrissie777 wrote:
Anita Bensoussane wrote:What a stunning cover with all the daffodils!
Anita, the daffodils remind me of my very first trip to the UK in 1981....Our B & B was right on the other side of the street that lead around that hill which was covered with thousands of daffodils. It was early May and such a beautiful sight. Unforgettable.
That's very late for daffodils, Chrissie! :D Was it really early May? Our daffodils have been out a couple of weeks already here, with some just about to come into flower and some almost finished. I'm sure there won't be any around by early May, but I could be wrong! I guess it alters the further north you travel in the UK. :-)
'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: Journal 62

Post by Chrissie777 »

Rob Houghton wrote:Mind you, we hardly ever have post on a Thursday. We hardly ever have post on a Tuesday either. On Wednesday I received three parcels and several letters/junk mail, all bundled up with an elastic band. I'm sure they save it until they have a certain amount. I find it very annoying! :x
We used to get mail 6 days every week. Now USPS brings mail on only 4 or 5 days. There's always at least one day without any mail and i check the calendar if it's a holiday. Usually it's not. :twisted:
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Interesting information about the Birn Brothers books, Tony. I'd love to discover a long-lost Blyton!

May does sound late for daffodils, Chrissie. Spring flowers are a glorious sight. I enjoy seeing crocuses en masse as well as daffodils.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by sixret »

Who's that person? Norman Wright?
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Learn the history. Do research.

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Re: Journal 62

Post by Tony Summerfield »

sixret wrote:Who's that person? Norman Wright?
If I had wanted to say I would have done, but it isn't Norman Wright who is a Famous Five expert.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Chrissie777 »

Rob Houghton wrote:That's very late for daffodils, Chrissie! :D Was it really early May? Our daffodils have been out a couple of weeks already here, with some just about to come into flower and some almost finished. I'm sure there won't be any around by early May, but I could be wrong! I guess it alters the further north you travel in the UK. :-)
I remember that we were leaving Germany around end of April, taking the short ferry from Calais to Dover.
Then seeing London first (and ordering hardcover versions of the 8 Adventure series books at Foyle's to pick them up at the end of our trip).
After 2 or 3 nights in Beaconsfield (I had a cold) we were then going up to Hadrian's Wall, spending one night in Warkworth. So this might have been the 5th of May.
I took pics, but unfortunately couldn't scan them as they are behind foil in a large UK photo album.

But I found this on the Internet, of course it doesn't give the date when these pics were taken:

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/warkwo ... odils.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Chrissie777
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Chrissie777 »

Rob Houghton wrote:That's very late for daffodils, Chrissie! :D Was it really early May? Our daffodils have been out a couple of weeks already here, with some just about to come into flower and some almost finished. I'm sure there won't be any around by early May, but I could be wrong! I guess it alters the further north you travel in the UK. :-)
Plus this was before the global warming in 1981.
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Chrissie777
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Chrissie777 »

sixret wrote:Who's that person? Norman Wright?
Check this book out, sixret:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Famous-Five-Ev ... sr=1-2-ent" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's one of the finest in my EB collection and highly recommendable.
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Rob Houghton »

yes - a great book, I agree! I have it too! :-)
'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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Rob Houghton
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Rob Houghton »

Chrissie777 wrote:
Rob Houghton wrote:That's very late for daffodils, Chrissie! :D Was it really early May? Our daffodils have been out a couple of weeks already here, with some just about to come into flower and some almost finished. I'm sure there won't be any around by early May, but I could be wrong! I guess it alters the further north you travel in the UK. :-)
Plus this was before the global warming in 1981.
That could be something to do with it - also if the place you stayed was quite far north, the season changes slightly. :-) I've just posted a photo on facebook of some daffodils we saw today on a walk in our local park. :-)

Image
'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: Journal 62

Post by Katharine »

I was about to get into my car to go to work on Thursday when the post arrived. I thought I'd save the postman the effort of walking a few extra steps to put the post through the door, so took what he had for us - nothing exciting. He started to walk away then said 'oh, there's another one here for you' and handed me the Journal. :D

I had a couple of quiet moments at work so managed to read a couple of articles. It was very interesting to read Anita's thoughts on the Dean book. I only read it as a couple of years ago, and it didn't appeal to me much, but it was interesting to read the classic tales - I'd only come across a couple as a child. I certainly think that Enid's delicate way of dealing with some of the more gruesome parts of the originals is better than me reading them in their original form. Once again I was in awe of Anita's reading ability at such a young age, and for her to have a friend of a similar ability. I have been listening to Reception class children reading for the past 7 years, and I don't think I've come across one, let alone two who would be capable of reading a book like that.

I absolutely loved Ilsa's diary, and can't wait for the rest of it.

I'm also half way through Angela Canning's thoughts on Smuggler's Top, and am exploring the book with her. I'm looking forward to reading the rest soon. :D
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Re: Journal 62

Post by Chrissie777 »

Rob Houghton wrote:That could be something to do with it - also if the place you stayed was quite far north, the season changes slightly. :-) I've just posted a photo on facebook of some daffodils we saw today on a walk in our local park. :-)
Usually at this time of the year we already have crocus and snowdrops, but not this winter with the blizzard on Tuesday.

I couldn't tell you how far up north Warkworth is located. This was a long time ago.
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