Enid Blyton Caravan

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Rob Houghton
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Rob Houghton »

That's really interesting! What a great thing to own! It would be fascinating to find out more about the history of the caravan! :-) Thank you for posting the receipt, Frenchy. :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I haven't managed to ask Imogen about this yet, although I was kindly sent a scan of the receipt a while back. Although the signature looks fine I am not so sure about the writing as it doesn't look as if Enid wrote it to me. I need to ask more about it. The other thing that I find a bit curious is that she signed it Enid Blyton when for things not related to her books she normally signed as Enid Waters.
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Rob Houghton »

It would be really interesting to find out more. :-) I agree I wasn't sure about the writing being Enid's - but then I'm not sure I've seen much of Enid's writing from 1964, when presumably she was starting to deteriorate heath-wise. The signature certainly looks good to me...maybe the buyer asked her to sign it 'Enid Blyton'''? 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Frenchy
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Frenchy »

Thanks Guys, I really appreciate these views, if anyone should know, it will be here, for sure. Note the 1963, Surrey stamped envelope the receipt was stored in.
I assume Mr Baker, or maybe Mrs Baker, was aware who Enid was and decided to store the receipt as a keepsake.
I have gone to further extremes with the tracing of "The Folding Caravan Co" Penn, Bucks, since I first placed my thoughts on this Forum...I have taken a trip to Penn and made some enquiries with a few locals, not a single person I asked could recall the company in the village during the 50s/60s....

Is there much 1964 hand written material of Enid's to compare this receipt to??

I do hope this is not the end of this mystery, but whatever the outcome, I am enjoying the resto.

Thanks all.
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Tony Summerfield »

You obviously have a real mystery here and you have clearly been at pains to try and solve it, but all is not quite as it appears.

I have just phoned Imogen and she told me that Enid and Kenneth definitely never owned a caravan of any sort, they would have had no use for it and it just wasn't their sort of thing.

Although I have thought from the beginning that this wasn't Green Hedges notepaper, but just a copy of it, you may have now confirmed this for me. Correct me if I am wrong, but if the receipt is in the envelope in the scan that you have posted above it appears that the back is lined paper and if this is the case it is just a copy of Green Hedges notepaper - possibly a photocopy of a genuine letter, but copied onto another sheet of paper which is why the address is slightly blurred.

Two things are genuine, the date is certainly Enid Blyton's handwriting as is the signature, but nothing else there has been written by Enid Blyton. Imogen also said, much as I thought, that she would never have signed it as Enid Blyton, but as Enid Waters.

I would suggest that someone has photocopied both the date and signature from a genuine brief note, but removed what she wrote and replaced it with what we can see now.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks as if the receipt is just a forgery.
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Rob Houghton »

That makes it even more intriguing in a way! Why would someone pretend this caravan was from Enid? Obviously, one thinks of the fact it might make it more valuable...but the whole thing seems to be very much 'of it's time' and not something that was written recently.

Of course, if the address has been ripped from the envelope, as it appears to have been, then that could mean it's the address of someone entirely different...but presumably the envelope isn't the original anyway, as the date stamp is a year out!

The 'Enid Blyton' name doesn't LOOK like a photo copy o me, but I guess it would be hard to tell unless it was right here in front of me.

It's all quite intriguing!

I did wonder if maybe Enid was selling the caravan on behalf of someone...but I know that is a long shot, especially since she signed it 'Enid Blyton' rather than 'Enid Waters'. Someone obviously went to a lot of trouble to do all this though!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Courtenay »

The plot thickens... :shock: I think we need the brains of Fatty to solve this one.
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Daisy »

It deepens the mystery, doesn't it. Was somebody hoodwinked in the 1960s I wonder. It is very strange that there is no trace of the Folding Caravan Company in Penn. It would appear there are or were 144 other similar folding caravans made by them. I wonder if any others survived.
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by pete9012S »

Some good sleuthing work by Tony.

It reminds me of my current fave tv show 'Fake Or Fortune' on BBC on Sundays.

Last weeks painting had been altered and touched up,which was obviously going to detract from it's value - until they discovered that the original artist had altered the painting himself.

If I am correct in assuming that there is a note with Enid's signature and date on it that is not just a photocopy,this piece of paper could be worth more than the caravan itself?

I thought £100 in 1964 for this 2nd hand caravan seemed a huge amount of money.What would that be in today's prices?
You could buy a house back then for how much? A few thousand pounds??
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Rob Houghton »

My mom and dad bought our current three bed-roomed house in 1960 for £2,500. It's now worth around £200,000 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Carlotta King »

The word 'sincerely' is spelt wrong, it's missing an 'e'.
Also would Enid really have used the word 'cute' to describe the caravan?!
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Rob Houghton »

Carlotta King wrote:The word 'sincerely' is spelt wrong, it's missing an 'e'.
Also would Enid really have used the word 'cute' to describe the caravan?!
Funnily enough, that was the word that jumped out at me, too! I've rarely heard Enid describe anything as 'cute' in that way. She would more likely have said 'this dear little caravan' 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Courtenay »

I thought that was a bit suspicious too when I saw it — "cute" isn't an Enid Blyton sort of word. Also, by 1964 her mental clarity was definitely deteriorating, to the point where she was no longer able to successfully write new stories, so I was already thinking this caravan sale seemed a bit strange, even before Tony confirmed it must be a hoax.

I wonder who forged the letter and when and why? Presumably they were thinking they could get more money for the caravan if they could produce "evidence" that Enid Blyton once owned it, but it still seems a strange sort of length to go to. It'd be fascinating to find out how it came about...
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Carlotta King wrote:The word 'sincerely' is spelt wrong, it's missing an 'e'.
Also would Enid really have used the word 'cute' to describe the caravan?!
I agree with both these points, and Imogen also spotted the word 'cute' when I read it out to her. Enid would also not have written 'collet' instead of collect!
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Re: Enid Blyton Caravan

Post by Rob Houghton »

Maybe someone at the time (1964) sold it for a vast amount of money (£100) by pretending to be Enid Blyton...which is why 'they' weren't around to greet the buyer when the buyer came to pick it up! It all seems like a quite carefully worked-out plot to me. I guess whoever sold it pretended they were acting for Enid and probably conned whoever bought it.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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