Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

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Chrissie777
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Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Chrissie777 »

Hi all,

For a few years now I'm trying to purchase an older hardcover copy from Blyton's "The Secret Island" with all the E. H. Davie illustrations.
It doesn't have to be from 1938, but a later hardcover edition with all illustrations included and please no text changes (politically correct text) would be perfect.
Since 2008 I'm checking amazon.co.uk on a regular basis, but all they offer are relatively new copies from the past 20 years. I doubt these are containing the E. H. Davie illustrations and worry they might have a modernized text (which I don't like at all).

So in case somebody could tell me where I can purchase an older hardcover copy for an affordable price, I would be very glad.
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Zar Quon »

Depends on your definition of affordable. Cheapest on Abe is 20 quid.
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Moonraker »

I would focus on eBay or eBid for a second hand copy, rather than Amazon. I'd make an offer on the Abe books copy.
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Chrissie777 »

Hi Nigel,

We both dislike eBay as it's just too time-consuming.
I guess I'll continue trying to find "The Secret Island" for less than 10 British Pounds (with shipping to the US that's close to 20 Pounds in the end).
I was checking for Vega Stewart's book "Fourwinds Island" for several years in vain and it was always around 70 British Pounds, unaffordable for me.
Suddenly last year somebody offered it for a fraction of that price at amazon.com and I ordered it.
Same with a sequel from a German trilogy, "Poosie" by Ruth Hoffmann (I only had the paperback version for many years and looked for the hardcover version to replace my paperback copy), I finally found it in March on amazon.de for a very inexpensive price. Now I have all three volumes in hardcover :)!
But thanks for the tip.
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Fiona1986 »

I'm not sure why you consider eBay "time consuming". I find eBay much quicker and easier to search than Amazon! Besides that, eBay generally has better results. Almost all of my collection (including The Secret Island) comes from eBay.
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Chrissie777 »

To be honest, I depend here on my husband's opinion on eBay as I never ordered anything there.
He told me a few years ago that he tried to order stuff from eBay and just did not have the time to follow their auctions (that's what he described as "too time-consuming").
Usually he is always right on top with his evaluations, so I didn't question it.

As a matter of fact, I find amazon.com, amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk very simple to use and spend a lot of time there either ordering books or writing reviews on books and movies. Probably because I'm used to amazon.com since 1998 (the year I got access to the Internet and started ordering all the many movies that never were shown on German TV and the many books that never have been translated into German) and thanks to the fact that amazon.com and the other amazons NEVER had a web design change (I call those" disimprovements" as they tend to make an easy to use perfect website more complicated instead of simplifying things), I never had trouble ordering stuff or finding stuff on amazon.

For instance ioffer or sell.com are more difficult to handle. We use amazon all the time and often found books or DVD's for less money than some of our friends who ordered the same items at eBay. But maybe we are a bit prejudiced, I don't deny that :).
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Fiona1986 »

Amazon is great for new items, I just find their way of organising used items rather fiddly - and full of errors. The other thing that frustrates me on Amazon is the number of items for sale that have absolutely no details given. The line between New-Amazon items and Used-Seller items seems to be getting blurrier and more confusing as time goes on, though I do like the User-Seller items that are sent by Amazon so I can use the free super saver delivery.

Yes, on eBay you might have to wait for an auction to end, but unless you feel the need to constantly check on it, there's only two bits of your time being taken up - the finding of it, and the end of the auction.
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

Yes, I have to agree that for the best offers you can't go wrong with EBAY.

If you put in an automatic bid at whatever level you're prepared to pay, then you don't have to watch it at all. If you've managed to win, you'll be notified. If I can work it, anyone can. :lol: :lol:

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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by 7upromana01 »

Yep I think ebay is best. My dad has bought loads of models off ebay and all have come. He's always getting parcels! I think amazon is better for brand new stuff!
Abi.

Still trialling other writers, but will eventually go back to reading a bit of Blyton! Just too many books...

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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Zar Quon »

eBay time-consuminmg? Pfft!

Takes me about half an hour a day to go thru my emailed searches - all 80 of 'em - except when there's a free-listing weekend. Then it can take a bit longer sometimes.

Moreover, a quick squizz suggests I'd be waiting a looong while to find (for instance) the 1956 Topper Book on amazon.

Still, you pays yer money & takes yer choice :mrgreen:
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by 7upromana01 »

My dad found an subbuteo full set on eBay for 99p and normal someone would charge £35 for it as it was an really rare one. eBay is not time-consuming. If you don't have time to watch the bids al day long, put it on your watch-list so everyday you just check it! And you also get bargains for like the one my dad got!
Abi.

Still trialling other writers, but will eventually go back to reading a bit of Blyton! Just too many books...

Occasionally will pop in! xx
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by RunrigNutter »

Also, with ebay, you have a picture of what you're getting. With Amazon, you wont know if it's the right version, if you don't have a picture. Most of the cassettes I bought on Ebay; because a, I love rare stuff, B,it's the only place I know where I can get it. If Secret Island came on Amazon, how would you know it;s a older version, just by looking on it. Would you really want to the hassle of contacting the seller(s) and find it's not the version you need? Ebay is not time-consuming, most times you find something rare; and it''s a buy it now.. But bidding is not time-consuming; if it's OOP, and it's rare; you have to bid. You wouldn't go to auction, and if they were selling a rare Enid book, you wouln't buy it because it's time-consusing. If you see it on ebay; you let it go knowing you could had won that auction? You have toput the time and effort in, and often you bidding, up to your limit means you either win or you dont.
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by MJE »

     I don't know about the original illustrations - but I feel you are safe with regard to the original text if you buy any edition before 1970 or so - even a paperback.
     As to eBay being too time-consuming, I don't know. I've never had that particular thought. Maybe it can be at times - but finding anything specific and not very common is going to take time to find by *any* means. You just have to decide whether or not it is worth the effort.
     I think Amazon sells quite a few second-hand books now, so I wouldn't rule it out as an option. But if you've found most copies of this book there to be too recent, you might try http://used.addall.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, or turn back to eBay again.
     (As a matter of interest: were the Armada editions of "The Secret Island" in the 1960s illustrated by E. H. Davie? I recall what they looked like, although I don't have the book handy to check now - but I don't recall what illustrator's name is mentioned in it.)

     I agree with the comment that often when web sites (usually quite needlessly) change their overall design, it makes them worse: less transparent, harder to use, harder to find things. I think Facebook is perhaps the worst offender here: each time it changes, it becomes much harder to find anything, especially if it took place more than just a few days ago.
     I also agree that Amazon listings often have errors in them. In fact, if you are trying to find reliable bibliographical information about a book or an author's works generally, I would *never* trust anything you see on Amazon without corroborating it on some more reliable site, or (best of all) several different independent web sites that agree.
     For new books, very likely a local bookshop is best of all. Buying on-line is always going to be handicapped by postage or shipping charges, which can be quite substantial, especially from overseas.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by BookWorm19 »

I can understand how you mean time consuming, by needing to wait for the auction to finish, sometimes its a week or 10 days, and you like to keep your eye on it to see how many bids are on it

On ebay though, there are many buy it now items, which is not at all time consuming, and I've bought loads of books on ebay via buy it now.

You can even message some sellers who are selling their items via auction, and you can offer them a buy it now price. I've done this a couple of times, and some have said yes, and some have said no. It cant hurt to ask!
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Re: Wanted - Older Copy from "The Secret Island"

Post by Katharine »

Last summer I saw a 1st edition without a D/W, priced £100 in a secondhand book shop. It was still there this summer, so either I've now missed out on a bargain twice, or it's overpriced? :wink:
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