Signed copies of Famous Five books

[Rob Houghton]

There's a copy of 'Five Go To Mystery Moor' for sale on eBay - signed by Enid Blyton.

Interestingly the same seller also has another 10 Famous Five books, all signed, which they are hoping to sell in the future (see the last photo in their listing).

They certainly look genuine.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Enid-Blyton-S ... SwNuxXayNP

[Courtenay]

Except that his others (going by the "More From This Seller" headings) seem to be by Enid Bylton.

[Tony Summerfield]

They are all genuine and the seller tried to sell them to me two or three weeks ago asking me £600 for the lot, although they had been on eBay for £750. I told him if I bought them I would be offering them singly at cost price to Society members and I wouldn't want them to be more than about £40 per book, Mystery Moor is the only 1st edition and most had no wrapper, although one or two others had very poor wrappers. Looking at the signatures very closely I was worried that somebody has tampered with the 'love' on Mystery Moor as Enid always did it with a straight line. I advised him to put them on eBay singly as nobody was going to pay £750 for 11 books (apparently he had a 12th book which he had already sold for £120 on eBay, but I could find no evidence of this).

I think Mystery Moor is possibly a good buy and I might well have kept that one and put my own 1st edition dustwrapper on it, but I couldn't justify buying the rest at the price he wanted.

[Rob Houghton]

Thanks for the extra information Tony. . I thought they looked genuine, but it wasn't clear from the photo he supplied of the other books that they mostly didn't have wrappers.

Mystery Moor is probably one of my favourite Fives books...but I was put off by the fact that the top corner of many of the pages has been torn off, otherwise I might have considered it, as my own copy is a second edition.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Thanks for the info, Tony. We're lucky we can count on your for real advice.

I too have a first edition of Mystery Moor, and a few other first editions of the Five.

[Courtenay]

His copy of Five Run Away Together (one of my favourite FFs) has a dust jacket — http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152153681839" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; — but it has a big chunk torn out of the front, the coloured frontispiece is falling out, and we're told "around 7 pages has rips out of them" [sic]. I'm afraid I wouldn't pay even £20 for a book in such shabby condition, let alone £75, signature or no signature.

[Rob Houghton]

I can't help thinking they're all a bit overpriced given the condition. Most seem to have tears or chunks torn out of pages, or no dust wrapper etc. I would have gone for Hike, which is in quite good condition, but no dust wrapper. For £75 I would expect a wrapper, unless it was a really old book or a book that looked good without the wrapper.

[Rob Houghton]

Looking at the last photo of the Mystery Moor offering, I see the seller also has dust wrapper copies of Smuggler's Top and Treasure Island amongst others, but they haven't been listed yet.

[Courtenay]

I can't help thinking they're all a bit overpriced given the condition. Most seem to have tears or chunks torn out of pages...

I'm just wondering what kind of drongo, having got so many books signed by a famous author, would allow them anywhere near the hands of young kids (or anyone else) who would rip up the dust jackets and tear chunks out of the pages!!

[Rob Houghton]

I thought that, too! It almost seems like they were ripped and had chunks torn out of them on purpose! Maybe it was a jealous sibling!

[Courtenay]

Possibly. Or maybe one who really didn't like Enid Blyton.

[MJE]

     Well, this is not a signed copy - but I couldn't help thinking this is overpriced:

  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262507608384? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Anyone disagree? Are my ideas of a reasonable price way out?

Regards, Michael.

[Daisy]

That is such a tatty cover it is hardly worth having!

[Julie2owlsdene]

There are so many second hand book shops out there, that I've seen, where you can get a fantastic F.F book with dust jacket for under £20. I saw one shop yesterday in Weymouth too. But as I have all the set and some 1st Editions, I don't bother buying them anymore.

[Rob Houghton]

I don't usually provide links to my own books, because some might think i overprice them, but compared to the one shown, I think mine are fairly reasonably priced!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Enid-Blyton-F ... Swgn5XEWMG