The Enid Blyton Society

Rob Houghton wrote:I didn't realise that Sunny Stories magazines in those days often just contained one longer short story separated into chapters as this one is (five chapters)

Tony produced twelve of the early Sunny Stories for Little Folks as booklets a little while back and most of them consisted of a long story divided into chapters. Very enjoyable and imaginative.

Katharine wrote:

Rob Houghton wrote:Funny - I have always thought of EH Davie as being a man! Maybe its a man/woman thing, lol!

No, because I always assumed they were a man - and I'm mostly definitely a female.

Bang goes that theory!

I've never come across that thin book, Tony, containing 'The Wizard Who Wasn't' - and I think I missed the Sunny Stories booklets you produced too.

I love the poem by the nine year old Nadia Spindler. If she's still alive she will be coming up to 90 years old.

Rob Houghton wrote:I've never come across that thin book, Tony, containing 'The Wizard Who Wasn't' - and I think I missed the Sunny Stories booklets you produced too.

If you click on this link you can see the first one and you can then go straight through with the arrow at the top. Four of them have one or two short stories, but the other eight are all one story.

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

Thanks Tony - I've just bought a couple from the Society shop!

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/maga ... ?magid=298" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The December 1937 issues of Sunny Stories contain some lovely pieces as always. Thanks, Tony, for adding these gems to the Cave.

I found the riddles by Joan Woolford and Barry Bonner fun and cleverly constructed. I also enjoyed Enid Blyton's 'Christmas Tree' and 'Santa's Presents' Puzzle Competitions , though I'm rather too late to enter!

What an enchanting illustration by Grace Lodge for the poem 'Dinner for Ducks'. The uncredited illustrations of 'Mr. Mouse Goes Fishing!' are delightful too. Beautiful cover pictures, especially Margery Thorp's ('The Little Piggy-Boy') and Dorothy Wheeler's ('Santa Claus Makes a Mistake').

Of the poems, I think my favourite is 'The Silent Snow' - simple but evocative.

Well I really enjoyed that and reading it went far too quickly and left me wanting more.
Suppose I'll have to wait for the next issue just like all the other boys and girls!

Many thanks for preparing it for us Tony - I really appreciate the chance to read these lovely magazines.

I had a chuckle at the Can you guesses.

It's been such fun to read these pages from Sunny Stories all through the year, I hope (computer permitting) that they can continue into 2018 (or 1938 if you prefer). The illustrations for the poems and readers' contributions are delightful. My favourite poem is The Silent Snow too. Thank you for sharing Sunny Stories with us Tony.

Tony Summerfield wrote:The picture above and several others this month are by the prolific E.H. Davie. Despite many years of trying I still haven't even found out whether they are male or female, let alone anything more interesting about them. Just for fun ( ) I went through the first 100 issues of Sunny Stories and found illustrations by 'EH' in 84 of them, the next best was Hilda McGavin clocking in at 52 issues.

I have recently acquired some original illustrations by E H Davie. As I was going to sell them I thought i'd do some research of my own. Who is the mysterious E H Davie?

The two signed gouache paintings are cute anthropomorphic cat pictures illustrated for postcards, for the 'London Art Agency' Shaftesbury Avenue. They are dated 1936 which ties in with Enid Blyton illustration period.

I undertook a search of the 1939 voters register for an E H Davie - illustrator and got only one search result...

Emile H Davie born 18th Feb 1895 (illustrator/Artist) Cuckfield Sussex..... MALE

Despite not being conclusive, I think this is an excellent front runner. The only other information I can find is Emile Henry Davie marriage to Violet Eva Harford 1936, Emile's death aged 66 in 1961 (Sussex) and Violet's death in 1983 (Sussex).

m238583 wrote: I undertook a search of the 1939 voters register for an E H Davie - illustrator and got only one search result...

Emile H Davie born 18th Feb 1895 (illustrator/Artist) Cuckfield Sussex..... MALE

Despite not being conclusive, I think this is an excellent front runner. The only other information I can find is Emile Henry Davie marriage to Violet Eva Harford 1936, Emile's death aged 66 in 1961 (Sussex) and Violet's death in 1983 (Sussex).

Fascinating! I've always believed that EH Davie was a man, and these findings certainly point to that - presuming this is the right EH Davie of course! Mind you, it certainly looks as if it is! Well done with your detective work!

Yes, well done! It certainly sounds like this must be the right person at last — Davie (rather than Davies) isn't that common a surname, and there can't have been many of them who had the initials E.H. and were a professional illustrator at just the time when Enid Blyton was writing for Sunny Stories. Thanks for sharing this info!

I've always had E H Davie as a woman, in my head. But I'm well known for getting it wrong when it comes to guessing gender!