Valerie

[Stephen]

This is going to seem very random. But I was looking at my copy of Five Go Off In A Caravan and found this written inside.

http://www.freewebs.com/perranporth/Valerie.jpg

To Valerie
Wishing you a
Merry Xmas
From Mum & Dad
1949

I've had this book for years. It's a Hodder and Stoughton Third Impression hardback from 1949. It was given to me by my mum who must have got it second hand herself. But it's just fascinating to think that there was a real person called Valerie who presumably liked Enid Blyton during her heyday and got this brand new book as a Christmas present. I'm assuming if she is still alive, she'd be about 70 now. I've got next to no chance of finding out who she is and where she is now, but I thought I'd like to share these thoughts with you.

[Julie2owlsdene]

It's always intriguing I think if you have a second hand book with an inscription inside as you have Stephen, you then feel as if you want to know more about the person, and whether they loved their book or not, and how you come to have their copy, and indeed if they are still living.

I also have one or two with inscriptions inside and have had the very same thoughts.

[Lucky Star]

Many of my old Blyton hardbacks have inscriptions in them. Most are along the lines of happy Birthday, Happy Christmas etc. They are very poignant are'nt they. I often wonder who the people were and whether or not they remember their books. I like to think that their books have found a safe home with me, hopefully for many more years to come.

[Susie]

When I was a child when I got fed up with a book, I would give it to the charity shop, and come back with another book. I gave a way a lot of Blytons. Silly me.

[Jen-Jen]

Years and years ago I was going through a box of my mother's old books that were to be donated to chairty and discovered The Boy Next Door among them and of course rescued it. This particular copy belonged to my uncle (his name was written inside). About a month or two ago I showed it to him and told him it used to belong to him. Sadly, he couldn't remember it at all. But it was obvious he once loved it - he had neatly coloured in all the pictures at some point.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I like it when I open one of my childhood books to find an inscription in the front which reminds me who gave me the book, and when. My copy of Circus Days Again, which is a Dean&Son hardback, says: "From Auntie Janet, January 1975," so I must have got it for my fifth birthday. Even though it's the last title in the Galliano's Circus series, it was the first one I read.

Anita

[Moonraker]

I wonder what Valerie would say if she knew she had a thread devoted to her on the Society forums?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Perhaps she'll see it and demand the return of her long-lost book!

[Tony Summerfield]

I had an email from someone yesterday who went by the splendid pseudonym of granny truffles (though as she also became a member she did give me her real name as well!). She had a letter published in Sunny Stories somewhere around 1942 and had a signed certificate back from Enid Blyton thanking her for her clever letter. I have often wondered about all the prize winners that are listed in Sunny Stories, and it is wonderful to be contacted by one of them. When I can find the time I will see if I can find her letter.

[Anita Bensoussane]

That reminds me of Michael Rouse, who edited Green Hedges Magazine. On buying a second-hand copy of The Story of My Life which was inscribed, "For Ian David Stuart with very best wishes from Enid Blyton," Michael realised that the name Ian David Stuart was familiar to him and he tracked it down to a 1953 issue of Enid Blyton's Magazine, in which Enid Blyton had printed a letter from Ian about a library he had set up with his friends. After some detective work, Michael finally managed to trace Ian David Stuart in 2001and found that he had corresponded with Enid Blyton for a number of years. The Story of My Life had been awarded to Ian by Enid Blyton and had later been passed down through the family with the rest of his "library" before ending up on the second-hand market. Enid Blyton mentioned Ian David Stuart several times in her magazine, reflecting on some of her most enterprising readers in 1958 and writing that she had once had a reader named Ian Stuart who "ran a first-class library just as if he were a trained librarian." In an article in Green Hedges Magazine number 40, Spring 2002, Michael Rouse says, "Enid Blyton would, I am sure, have been delighted to have known that Ian Stuart eventually did become a librarian and spent most of his career with Buckinghamshire County Library!"

Anita

[Ming]

Too true!

My copy of the Put-Em-Rights has

"From Grandad and Gran Greenwood
To David
Best of luck Xmas"

written inside - I keep wondering about 'David'!

[dsr]

Not EB, but I once bought a copy of a Giles annual from a second-hand shop and found it had been given by my parents to a friend of ours. Ingratitude, eh?

[Ming]

Isn't that amazing? I always imagined I'd come across something like that - but I never did.