Is this a good price for a Mary Pollock?

[Courtenay]

Hi everyone,

As I was mentioning on another thread, there are two of the Mary Pollock books in particular I'd love to own in early editions with dust jackets — The Children of Kidillin and Smuggler Ben. I've done a quick search on eBay and haven't found a suitable copy of Kidillin, but Stella & Rose have Smuggler Ben in a second edition with what looks like a very good jacket: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SMUGGLER-BEN ... 2758099080" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The price is £50.40, which is more than I'd like to pay, but not beyond my means if it is actually a reasonable price for an early copy of this book in good condition. I have a feeling it's really too expensive and I'd be better off waiting for a better price, but just wanting to hear from anyone else who knows more about these things — what do you think? Do cheaper copies in similar condition crop up fairly regularly?

[John Pickup]

I go to quite a few book fairs and I've never seen a Mary Pollock edition of Smuggler Ben at any of them. I've got a copy of Kidillin in a similar Newnes edition though. As the book you have seen is a 2nd edition I don't think it is worth £50.40 but it depends how much you want it. The book looks to be in good condition and the wrapper doesn't have much damage.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I don't think I'd pay that kind of price, but if someone really wanted the book that badly, then it would be worth whatever one feels like paying.

[Tony Summerfield]

That is the first edition to have a wrapper, as the first editions of the Mary Pollock books didn't have proper wrappers just a pictureboard cover with a glassine wrapper.

[Courtenay]

Ah, I see... “first edition thus”.

Thanks for your replies, everyone. I’m still not entirely sold on it — it is expensive and I’m not utterly desperate — but I will keep an eye on it and see if any cheaper ones do come up. If I miss out on this one, at least I won’t have lost any money.

[Courtenay]

Here's a Kidillin that's just been listed: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Children ... 2450314970" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; This one is a "first edition, second impression" so I can see what Tony means about it having a picture-board cover rather than a dust jacket. It seems a very reasonable price for an old book in good-but-not-brilliant condition, but I'm still not sure whether I'll buy it or not — I'd be willing to pay more for one in better condition. (There's a fairly detailed description, but as they only have the one photo of the book and it's not very clear, it's hard to tell just how good or bad it really is.)

[Rob Houghton]

'Smuggler Ben' looks to be in very good condition to me...although as its Stella and Rose, I do wonder whether there could be similar condition books elsewhere that are cheaper. On the other hand, its a book that isn't found very often under the name Mary Pollock in its original wrapper! The only Mary Pollock I have in a good wrapper is 'The Secret of Cliff Castle' (1947 edition). It cost £30 - but the wrapper isn't as good as the Smuggler Ben wrapper, as there is some loss to the bottom of the spine. My other Pollock books are either later Werner Laurie reprints or have no wrapper.

[Courtenay]

Yes, I might look around for a little longer. The Stella copy of Smuggler Ben probably won't sell in a hurry, or if it does, well, I won't feel I've missed out on a bargain. I'd rather have the two books in "matching" binding — either both with printed boards or both with dust jackets (probably the latter), just for the visual appeal. But I'm not feeling a pressing need to buy either, so I'll just keep looking and see what comes in future.

[Rob Houghton]

I think the one thing the Mary Pollock versions are worth getting for is the illustrations. I quite like the Werner Laurie illustrations, but these originals do have the benefit of really nice period illustrations compared to those. I particularly like the Smuggler Ben illustrations by EH Davie (although I also like the newer versions by GW Backhouse). I also love the covers, which are mostly pink, blue and red, as they are 'of a time' and less garish than later covers in my opinion.

Cliff Castle has a lovely cover in my opinion - by W Lindsay Cable -



It makes me smile that Enid was trying to pass herself off as another children's writer when all of Mary Pollock's books make use of already-established Blyton illustrators!

[Courtenay]

It makes me smile that Enid was trying to pass herself off as another children's writer when all of Mary Pollock's books make use of already-established Blyton illustrators!

Well, she was using one of her regular publishers, too (Newnes) — possibly those illustrators also worked on other Newnes publications too. Do we have any info about why she decided to use a pseudonym for a few shorter stories? I know Agatha Christie famously wrote some romantic stories as "Mary Westmacott", but there she was writing in a different genre from her usual one, whereas Enid's "Mary Pollock" stories are still well within her usual (very broad!) range of themes. Was Enid just trying to do a J.K. Rowling / Richard Galbraith act and seeing if she could sell books just as well on the strength of their content rather than the popularity of her name? I'd just be interested to know. (I seem to recall Rowling's cover was blown before her first Galbraith book came out anyway, so that didn't exactly prove anything, but it'd be interesting to know how the same trick worked for Enid.)

[Rob Houghton]

As I wrote in past Journals, in my 'Mary Pollock' series a few years ago, its my theory that she used these Mary Pollock' books as a way to gauge children's opinions and likes and dislikes. I think she was using a different name in order to observe the popularity of certain genres - but that's only my theory.

Most of the Pollock books were written before Enid's name was completely established as a novel writer. I think its even been suggested that despite publishing dates of 1940 - 1943, the Pollock books may have all been written and submitted in 1940...so they precede most of Enid's works of fiction from the early 1940's, especially her adventure/mystery books. My theory is that she was testing the waters, writing the popular genres of the day (school, circus, animals, mysteries, adventures etc) to see which way to go with the books she was to write under her own name. By 1942 I think, with Five On A Treasure Island, she was probably pretty much established in her own right regards the adventure genre, as well as the school genre with The Naughtiest Girl, and circus genre with Galliano, and so the other Pollock books were all brought out in a rush in 1943.

Its amazing to think that in 1940 most of the books Enid was to become famous for had not been written yet! In fact by 1940 she had only written a handful of novels - The Adventures of the Wishing Chair, Mr Galliano's Circus, The Secret Island (not really an adventure book as such), and The Enchanted Wood. Most of these were more like a series of short stories, so until Spiggy Holes, The Naughtiest Girl In the School, and The Treasure Hunters, Enid hadn't written many 'proper' novels until after the shorter Pollock books.