The Enid Blyton Society

Interesting stuff! I think The Wizard Story Book has a particularly lovely cover.

I am struggling here, Rob, as I am not sure of any of the dates in the Collins Miscellaneous section as all of the books are undated! I don't think that Our Favourite Story Book and The Wizard Story Book would be the same year as they both have that Blyton story in them. The only thing that I was pretty sure about is that I have the dates right for the four Collins Annuals and it stands to reason that the stories that were originally in them would be in books published later.

As you know I need a date to be able to put books into the Cave, so I must have guessed the Miscellaneous section or perhaps taken a date from a book with an inscription in, but there is no guarantee that I have them in the right order, but I just put them in five consecutive years. I might put The Wizard Story Book in as 1962 and move Our Favourite Story book to the end! I think I might also list the contents of books as that might help identify them and prevent the muddle that occurred with this book.

I have the books in front of me now and I have realised why I put Our Favourite Story Book first as the other books have glazed shiny boards (as do the last two annuals), so I am sure it is earlier than the other books. Does The Wizard Story Book have glazed boards? I have also seen that Funtime Story Book has a Christmas 1963 inscription in it!!

I was simply going by the rough dates you'd given in the list you gave a link for, plus the fact that the abridged version is 1965. I agree its very difficult to try and date these books, and unfortunately mine don't have dated inscriptions, which might have helped.

To complicate things even more, I've seen this book also described as '1950's' but I think this is just a very wild guess on behalf of the seller. The unabridged version which I have is the one I started this thread talking about. Begrudgingly I had to get it from Stella books, despite it being a little more expensive! Their date isn't any more helpful, as they seem to have assumed this one is also 1964 - which I doubt very much!

I would personally date The Wizard Story Book as being 1963 - after the Wonder Story Book - which I would move along the line to 1962 and the book before it 1961 - but I'm not at all sure really! I'm sure 'Wonderful' would come before 'Wizard' - but that's only a gut feeling!

I have just checked further and all those books are published by The Children's Press, except Our Favourite Story Book which is published by Collins, like the annuals - so I am now sure that I was right that it is the earliest of the books. I don'y have a copy of The Wonder Story Book, just the loose pages that someone sent me along with its cover, and that is just card so it wasn't even a hardback as such which probably puts it at the end of the list!!

Interesting! Unless the card cover version came later and there was a hardback version previously! Both my copies of The Wizard Story Book have hard covers.

I've just realised that my abridged copy is 1965 - sorry to cause confusion - so I guess that means the original version might indeed only be 1964, as Stella and Rose suggested - provided the publishers were in the habit of reissuing a second edition as soon as the following year.

I still need to know if possible if it has a glazed shiny cover and if it is published by The Children's Press. My three shiny books are like yours I think, with stories, poems and picture stories and plenty pf pages - Our Favourite Story Book has no page numbers, is much thinner and It is possibly much later than all the other books.

Yes - published by The Children's Press, with glazed board covers.

It looks as though this series of Collins books may also have been produced by The Childrens Press because I have 'The Happyland Story Book' which looks very similar to 'The Wizard'. When I looked it up in the Cave the entry in the cave is identical to the one I have but the one the cave is entered under Collins, mine published by The Childrens Press.

I have waved my wand and The Wizard has taken his place!

http://enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-det ... Story+Book" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have adjusted the publisher to The Children's Press, but left the series title as Collins Miscellaneous Story Books as The Children's Press is an imprint of Collins.

I will add stories to the other books at some stage, but would be grateful if anyone can help me with The Wonder Story Book as I don't have a copy myself.

Thanks Tony - that's great - and useful to have a list of the stories, as these seem to come in various abridged and unabridged versions!

Unfortunately I don't have 'The Wonder Book' so hopefully someone else might be able to help you out!

I don't have a copy of the Wonder Book, but whilst looking through my shelves for this book I found two different 'My Big Wonder Book Annuals'.

These two books don't have any stories by Enid Blyton, but both have a foreword by her in the front. I find it unusual that she would do this foreword but none of her stories appear. The books are type where you would expect to find an Enid Blyton story. Any thoughts on why she would do this?

The forewords are lovely and both different. A full page by Enid.
As I still haven't mastered adding a picture to these forums despite many tries I will type out one of them:

Dear Children,
Here is a lovely BIG BOOK for you - the Big Wonder Book Annual!
Look inside and you will find such a lot of stories, with all kinds of lovely pictures.
You will hear about the little yellow duck who swam away from his mother, and came to the big sea - what an adventure! And the Fraidy Cat who played tiddlywinks with four little mice - what fun they had!
You will meet Timmy the terrier, as well - the puppy whose long hair tumbles right over his eyes. But when someone kindly tied up his hair for him, how happy he was!
You will love the tale of Baby Susan's chicken - how pleased Susan was, when she found an egg for her breakfast! Then there is the story of the kittens who ran away from their mother, because they didn't want their ears washed. I expect you will laugh when you read it!
And for everyone who loves counting there are lots of lovely counting rhymes - you will soon be able to count just a well as Mother does, when you hear them!
Well, here is your Wonder-Book. Sit on Mother's knee and read it with her - how happy you will be!
Enid Blyton

Thanks for typing that out, Sue. It's lovely to be able to read it. I remember Pete mentioning that Enid Blyton wrote forewords for My Big Wonder Annual and Tuck's Annual for Boys and Girls:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... 7s#p194074" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Cave features a Tuck's Annual for which Enid Blyton wrote a foreword:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... %5B1950%5D" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another one contained a chapter from Shadow, the Sheep-Dog:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... %5B1951%5D" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe the publishers commissioned Enid Blyton to write a foreword because she was such a well-known name in the world of children's books and her endorsement would help sales? As you say, Sue, it is a bit strange that she didn't also contribute a story!

Thanks Anita, I've missed Pete's earlier topic.

I see that the Tuck Annual that only has a foreword has been included in the cave, I wonder why the 'The Big Wonder Annuals' are not included. Even though there are no EB stories I think it is lovely to read the introductions written by her, they are so enticing, I'm sure they encouraged children to read the whole book.

cheers
Sue

Aussie Sue wrote: I see that the Tuck Annual that only has a foreword has been included in the cave, I wonder why the 'The Big Wonder Annuals' are not included. Even though there are no EB stories I think it is lovely to read the introductions written by her, they are so enticing, I'm sure they encouraged children to read the whole book.

cheers
Sue

It is rather nice to see her endorsing other writers' work too, I think.

I think Enid wrote quite a few Forwards in her time, with and without her own content being in the books.