Enid Blyton Nature Readers

[Tony Summerfield]

The 30 Nature Readers that were published by Macmillan in 1945 and 46 each contained two stories illustrated by Eileen Soper, who also produced a colour plate to go with each of the 60 stories. All the stories and illustrations were collected in a series of five books published by Macmillan in 1952 and 53.

In 1955 a further six Nature Readers were published by Macmillan and I believe these are fairly scarce. Each of these contained three stories also illustrated by Eileen Soper and it is possible that the one or two people that look at these sorts of things on the website may not have seen these stories before so I have put one of the readers into the Cave of books.

http://enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-det ... 8No.+31%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sixret]

Thank you, Tony.

[Courtenay]

Thank you, Tony — I'll look forward to reading those. Lovely illustrations!

[John Pickup]

I've read the first two stories and really enjoyed them especially the first one with the lucky bag. Superb illustrations as always by Eileen, she's the best. Thanks Tony.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Great stuff, Tony! It's lovely to have the opportunity to see a scarce item like this. Thanks very much for the scans.

The 'Note for the Teacher' makes for fascinating reading as it shows how highly Enid Blyton was regarded and how seriously her work was taken at the time:

"Enid Blyton is loved and trusted by the children, who go to her books as much for guidance and knowledge as for entertainment. Here, in this delightful series, they get all three, and the teacher will find these tales the best of all foundations for the later study of science."

The stories are indeed informative as well as enjoyable, though '"You Must Do As You're Told!"' (about the thrushes) is rather sad. I first read about the caddis-grub in one of Enid Blyton's tales about Pip the Pixie and was amazed at the idea of the grub creating a "suit of armour" to protect its soft body. I loved Enid Blyton's nature stories as a child, as did my daughter when she was little.

Eileen Soper's pictures are very attractive, especially the one showing George building a nest.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Lovely little stories, and nice to see the large print, so much easier to read.

[Rob Houghton]

Lovely scans, tony!

I have a few Nature Readers, which I picked up fairly cheaply. I have numbers 3,4, 7,10 and 29. When I first bought them, my mom said she remembered reading them when she was at school.

I also have a couple of the books that were published later, such as 'My Fifth Nature Book - Susan and the Birds' Nature readers book, which was a compilation of several of these stories.

[Kate Mary]

Thank you very much Tony, it's a treat to read stories from one of these rare books.

[Rob Houghton]

I'm a bit puzzled that people are calling these 'rare'. Yes, they are rare compared to normal EB books, mainly because they were card covers and I guess got destroyed more easily, but I've seen quite a few for sale on eBay - often in full sets.

I think Tony meant that the later 1950's readers, with 3 stories each, are 'rare'. I've never seen any of those.

Here are some reasonably-priced 'Nature Readers' for sale on eBay -

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Enid-Bly ... SwXBVasu5H

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLYTON-Enid- ... SwytJZ8HZc

[Tony Summerfield]

You are absolutely right, Rob, I was indeed referring to 31 to 36 when I used the word rare, perhaps Sixret who seems to be the expert on rarity will tell me I am wrong!

Back in the dark ages when I was collecting Blyton books I had no problem at all getting 1 to 30 - I won't say that they were as common as mud, but they were certainly plentifully available, whilst Pennant Readers have never been easy to find and Peewit Readers are bordering on impossible!

Nos 31 to 36 are a different matter. I didn't even know that they existed until I came across them on one of my visits to the Darrell Waters offices in London - I had certainly never seen any for sale and I have only noticed the odd one here and there in the 25 years since my DW rummaging. As they had four mint sets of six they kindly gave me a set!! I anyway used to do a bit of swapping with them, giving them things that they didn't have in exchange for little things that they had duplicates of, such as Billy and Betty at the Seaside and John Jolly at the Circus - they weren't all that common then, but are resident expert will probably say they are now easy to find!.

Thanks for the interest in No. 31 - I might even do No. 32 now!

[Rob Houghton]

Yes - I'm understanding better now. I was talking about the whole set of Nature books (up till number 3) when I said they weren't 'rare' but others are probably commenting on the copy you have scanned, which is more 'rare' as you say, so the confusion was mostly mine,

However, the earlier books are fairly easy to find, and well worth adding to people's collections.

[Kate Mary]

I'm probably jumping the gun again, but thank you Tony for No.32.

[pete9012S]

Most appreciated Tony - thank you.

[Tony Summerfield]

I'm probably jumping the gun again, but thank you Tony for No.32.

No, you are not jumping the gun, I did it about ten days ago but just didn't announce it with a trumpet fanfare! When I can find the time I will gradually do the other four.

[John Pickup]

I enjoyed reading those stories. Thanks Tony.