The Enid Blyton Society

US seller. Only £7.78 so far. Good Luck! It's rare even without dust jacket. Hard to come by in online market.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-1943-U-K ... Sw5cRZJ3Db" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is hardly the right place to post about edits to The Magic Faraway Tree but I noticed one of the photos of the copy for sale showed a couple of pages of text, the beginning of chapter 15. I checked this against my Dean copy and found a couple of slight abridgements. The sentence ("Down you go! said Jo to a fat golliwog giving him a hard push - and down he went.) finishes there in the Dean but the original continues (kicking out madly, for he couldn't imagine what was happening.) And ("A push for you!" yelled Dick to a big blue teddy bear - and down the slide went the bear.) continues in the Newnes (grunting with fright). The rest of the text is the same. My other copy, a Mammoth omnibus paperback edition is identical to the Dean.

Apologies for appending this here, please feel free Anita to put it in a more appropriate thread or even delete it altogether. And yes I know I really should get out more.

Golly - I hadn't realised the text had been edited like that in the Dean (and other) editions! What a pity! Thanks for pointing that out, Kate.

If the discussion of edits becomes lengthy, I'll see if I can move it. Otherwise I think it's fine here.

I'm now wondering whether I should try to get the Newnes Faraway Tree books, especially if some of the ones linked to by Sixret don't go up too much in price. The trouble is that I have very little space for books and have already got several piles which live permanently on the floor!

Thank you, Kate Mary. I always assumed that there were no abridgements in Dean edition apart from Golliwog and currency values.

Gosh I didn't realise there were slight alterations either! I've just checked my 1951 edition Newnes and it's got the extra text Kate mentions.

Like you Anita I was happy believing the Dean editions were pretty much the same as the original, that the editor was only concerned with updating the currency and, as there were no references to money, left the texts alone. Well, I've just exploded that theory! I don't think I'll try getting Newnes editions, I'll stick with the ones I've had for 40 years but I would like to know how extensive the cuts were.

The seller refers to the book as a classic and so it is, but it's a scandal that the complete text has not been available since the 1960s.

I'm sorry if I've caused you to spend a lot of money Anita. You must be wishing I'd left well alone.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:The trouble is that I have very little space for books and have already got several piles which live permanently on the floor!

You are playing my tune!

There is never any need to buy expensive 1st editions. I have just checked a 1st edition of The Enchanted Wood with a 1968 reprint and they are absolutely identical with their layout.

Kate Mary wrote:Like you Anita I was happy believing the Dean editions were pretty much the same as the original, that the editor was only concerned with updating the currency and, as there were no references to money, left the texts alone. Well, I've just exploded that theory! I don't think I'll try getting Newnes editions, I'll stick with the ones I've had for 40 years but I would like to know how extensive the cuts were.

I might end up sticking with my Dean books too, Kate. However, I'm glad to know one way or the other about the edits because I was uncertain before.

Kate Mary wrote:I'm sorry if I've caused you to spend a lot of money Anita.

Oh, I'd only be able to get the Newnes editions if I happened to see a bargain but I may well start keeping an eye out from time to time.

Tony Summerfield wrote:There is never any need to buy expensive 1st editions. I have just checked a 1st edition of The Enchanted Wood with a 1968 reprint and they are absolutely identical with their layout.

Yes, it's just good to have the complete text.

Mind you, when it comes to 'expensive first editions' of the Enchanted Wood books, usually even the pre-Dean versions from the 1960's fetch around £45!

Very true.

Tony Summerfield wrote:

Anita Bensoussane wrote:The trouble is that I have very little space for books and have already got several piles which live permanently on the floor!

You are playing my tune!

There is never any need to buy expensive 1st editions. I have just checked a 1st edition of The Enchanted Wood with a 1968 reprint and they are absolutely identical with their layout.

Which would those be .Do the beaver paperbacks suffice ?

I’m not sure. Sorry. Hope Anita or Tony will let you know Aminmec.

I'm afraid I don't have the Beaver editions so I don't know if they've been edited or not.

I have the Beaver edition of Folk of The faraway Tree but not Magic Faraway Tree so can't check either.