The Enid Blyton Society

Rob Houghton wrote:

IceMaiden wrote:I saw this and decided if it didn't go too high (over £20) I would bid for it. It probably will though . I really don't care if the wrapper is the wrong one, I wouldn't use that one anyway as it would look out of place with the others that all have the pictured spines. I'm afraid I'm not fond of the white spines as to me they just don't look very appealing on the shelf .

I'm not keen on the white spines either - that's why I'm collecting them as 'extra' to my main set of pictorial spines! The one thing I do like about the first six white spine versions (apart from Treasure Island!) is that they have a full-colour frontispiece illustration.

I like the front cover drawings of them, just not the white spine itself, but that's not enough of a reason for me to justify buying different copies of books I already have, not when I already want a lot of others that I don't have at all. Especially as their not very cheap! With the frontispieces, are they different to the pictured spine edition illustrations? As the first six in those have a colour frontispiece, at least mine do (except the first) .

Yes, you're right - the earlier coloured spine editions do have the coloured frontispiece - I'd forgotten, and didn't bother to check. They are reproductions of the cover images. They were removed in later editions though.

IceMaiden wrote:I saw this and decided if it didn't go too high (over £20) I would bid for it. It probably will though . I really don't care if the wrapper is the wrong one, I wouldn't use that one anyway as it would look out of place with the others that all have the pictured spines. I'm afraid I'm not fond of the white spines as to me they just don't look very appealing on the shelf .

It sold for £42 !!

I wouldn't have paid half that.

I was tricked by an eBay seller this week in a similar way. Unfortunately they didn't include a photo of the dust wrapper and I just believed them that this was a first edition of Five On A Secret Trail. I only have a later version in my Famous Five set so I bought it for £8, as no one else bid for it...maybe that should have told me something!

Turns out it is indeed a first edition book - but instead of a 1956 DW its in a DW from about 1962.

Luckily I also won a first edition of the same title, with a first edition wrapper, for £19. A pity I had to pay twice, and I left a review on the first seller saying 'excellent service but received a first edition book in a much later wrapper'.

I find it ABSOLUTELY weird how people pay prices like £42 for a Famous Five book like the Treasure Island one in this thread. People have bid and bid and bid to raise the price, for a first edition without a dust wrapper! Most of my Famous Five books with wrappers are £10 or £12...and yet buyers would rather pay more than that for books with no wrappers!

I sympathize Rob - It is bizarre!
Maybe you could channel your angst into the current limerick thread Rob?



http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... 10#p307710" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If it makes anyone feel better, here's a first edition with the genuine dust jacket in "acceptable" condition... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Enid-Blyton-F ... 2285596708" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (And they have the decency to offer free P&P, too.)

Oh what a snip.... I bet there's a queue for that one - not.

They don't even have the "Make an offer" option, drat it. I was going to see if they would take £1,200... no, I mean £1.20.

Courtenay wrote:They don't even have the "Make an offer" option, drat it. I was going to see if they would take £1,200... no, I mean £1.20.

Yes - £1.20 is more like it!

I've seen that one for a while. I don't understand why anyone would want to buy a wrapper like that! A first edition is really only worth anything if it still has a good wrapper, in my opinion.

Meanwhile I bought a copy of the Bom annual - which is described as having 'a partial wrapper'. I won it for £9.99 with a 'Rainbow annual' from the 1950's thrown in. Looking at the listing, I wouldn't describe the wrapper as a 'partial wrapper' - it just has some average-size chips and tears - but most of it can easily be mended. As I only have the Bom annual without a wrapper, and its very hard to find in a wrapper of any sort, I thought it was a good price to pay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-ANNUALS-ENI ... 7675.l2557

Now that was a good bargain, Rob — well done.

PatrickB wrote:

IceMaiden wrote:I saw this and decided if it didn't go too high (over £20) I would bid for it. It probably will though . I really don't care if the wrapper is the wrong one, I wouldn't use that one anyway as it would look out of place with the others that all have the pictured spines. I'm afraid I'm not fond of the white spines as to me they just don't look very appealing on the shelf .

It sold for £42 !!

Yes, it was at £33 when I looked at it so I left it. I'd have paid £10-15, maybe 20 if I got into a bidding frenzy!, but no more. I've got a 1942 copy and that's good enough for me .