Betty Maxey FF 70's Hardbacks

[kirrin_castle]

I have been collecting the Famous Five 70's paperbacks with Betty Maxey covers & internal illustrations. I was never aware that there was also a hardback issued, I believe most of them were from Brockhampton Press 1974 when Betty's illustrations were mainly first used. I have managed to buy 4 of these (Plenty Of Fun, Secret Trail, Finniston Farm & Mystery To Solve), and have seen a few more on google searches, namely Demon's Rocks, Fall Into Adventure & Wonderful Time. I attach a link below to Finniston Farm as an example.

Does anybody know if every title in the series was available in hardback, or only some? Has anyone got any pics they can share?

They seem very hard to find on searches through Ebay, Amazon, Abe Books, Oxfam etc.

Thanks in advance for any help.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/famous-five- ... 2749.l2648" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Boatbuilder]

I know they are Famous FIVE books, but why FIVE identical links?

[kirrin_castle]

Sorry was trying to link to five pics but picked up same one, now edited thanks

[pete9012S]

Does anybody know if every title in the series was available in hardback, or only some? Has anyone got any pics they can share?

Hi kirrin_castle - yes I think you can collect them, but they are hard to find, I agree.
Click on the link below to see the list of the twenty one Famous Five books in the cave:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/famous-five.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Then click on a specific book - the hardback 1974 editions you desire are usually the fourth book listed, although that can vary and there are some Tony doesn't have scans for yet.

If there were any of the twenty one that did not get released in 1974 hardback edition I'm sure Tony will know which books, but I think they possibly did do the full set, they may not have printed that many though??


May I also say you have excellent taste!

I have a couple myself, but they are extremely well worn now and battered!



As another example: Five Run Away Together 1974 hardback is the fifth version listed in the cave:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... y+Together" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope that helps.

Regards

Pete

[pete9012S]

Here are the editions I found in the cave and one I found that we have scans for:















Regards

Pete

[kirrin_castle]

Thanks so much pete9012S, that really is a great help, although now I have the task of trying to find them all! I had of course seen the covers in the Cave Of Books but had thought they were all paperbacks, but now you have picked them out I can see they are all hardback. Yes I love the betty maxey books from my childhood, I've only come to know Eileen Soper's work as an adult, so I love both the same now. When I have received my hardback Five Have A Mystery To Solve I can send a scan to replace the missing picture in the cave, would I send that to Tony? Thanks again

[pete9012S]

Yes you could email it to him and when he gets a minute I'm sure he will pop it in the cave for you.

Regards

Pete

[aminmec]

I remember there being Hardcover editions of the ' bold red printed title of Famous five' one. Did they print all 21 as well..

[pete9012S]

1986 Hodder & Stoughton, illustrations by Jolyne Knox, cover uncredited (*)

This version?
Looking through the cave's details it looks like they did.

[aminmec]

Yes these are the ones.However they would have Betty Maxey's art jut like the paperback versions and not Jolyene Knoxs .
It's a pity we don't know who the cover artist was. I quite liked all these covers

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes, those covers are rather nice. They're the same as the covers of the slightly earlier paperbacks, but with the addition of a blue border. I wonder if they were done by one of the artists who did Famous Five illustrations for the Purnell annuals, or for Look-in or jigsaws. Mike Noble and John Cooper were associated with that kind of thing but there were others too and I don't think we know all their names.

[pete9012S]

Yes these are the ones.However they would have Betty Maxey's art jut like the paperback versions and not Jolyene Knoxs .
It's a pity we don't know who the cover artist was. I quite liked all these covers

1993 Award, illustrations by Jolyne Knox, cover uncredited

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... ure+Island" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all those hardbacks were illustrated by Farwa's favourite illustrator Joleyne Knoxs?

I'm not absolutely certain whether Tony will be adding any Jolyene Knoxs Famous Five illustrations into the cave?
Even the sublime, inimitable Betty Maxey has only just made it in by default!

[Wolfgang]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all those hardbacks were illustrated by Farwa's favourite illustrator Joleyne Knoxs?

I'm not absolutely certain whether Tony will be adding any Jolyene Knoxs Famous Five illustrations into the cave?
Even the sublime, inimitable Betty Maxey has only just made it in by default!

No, not all Award editions are illustrated by Joleyne Knox. Later books are illustrated by someone else.

[aminmec]

Yes, those covers are rather nice. They're the same as the covers of the slightly earlier paperbacks, but with the addition of a blue border. I wonder if they were done by one of the artists who did Famous Five illustrations for the Purnell annuals, or for Look-in or jigsaws. Mike Noble and John Cooper were associated with that kind of thing but there were others too and I don't think we know all their names.

Anita I feel its the same artist who did the Famous Five game books ,the ones with book ,cards and maps etc .I don't know the names of the game books as I don't have any.Is that artist a well known one ?

[Anita Bensoussane]

We used to have a couple of the 1980s game books and my daughter enjoyed playing with them, but they got lost over the years. According to the Cave, the illustrator is Gary Rees:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... =fivegames" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;