The Enid Blyton Society

This article has been published in the Northampton Chronicle.

Wonderful!
Wouldn't it be great to see the letter that touched Enid so much from Barbara.

Wow, fantastic. What a great find!

Fantastic indeed. Thanks for the link, Nigel.

This is ringing bells with me as I am pretty sure I had an email about this a while back from the journalist. I don't think that I probably answered it as the point of the email was to get me to put a value on it and I won't do this at all, particularly without seeing something.

If I am reading the letter correctly Enid seems to be generously offering to send a book to Barbara as she liked her letter, but she seems to be asking Barbara to pay for the book and postage!

Is there a reason why the article is seemingly encrypted or is there something wrong with my connection?! I can't read the article, only see the photo.

Thanks for the link, Nigel. Have you tried refreshing the page or deleting your cookies, Rob? That sometimes helps.

Tony Summerfield wrote:If I am reading the letter correctly Enid seems to be generously offering to send a book to Barbara as she liked her letter, but she seems to be asking Barbara to pay for the book and postage!

Yes, that is queer! It seems it was wartime (Barbara received a 1943 edition of The Twins at St. Clare's which was first published in 1941, and Spiggy Holes and Secret Mountain were first published in 1940 and 1941 respectively) so perhaps Barbara was lamenting the fact that she'd saved up some money for books but the titles she wanted to buy weren't available in the shops.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:It seems it was wartime (Barbara received a 1943 edition of The Twins at St. Clare's which was first published in 1941, and Spiggy Holes and Secret Mountain were first published in 1940 and 1941 respectively) so perhaps Barbara was lamenting the fact that she'd saved up some money for books but the titles she wanted to buy weren't available in the shops.

That sounds like the most sensible explanation, Anita. What a fantastic find!

I can read it alright now - must have been our internet connection earlier, which was a bit slow!

I was amused that 'Bob' the man sorting through the books said he saw Enid's name on the spine and thought 'this might be worth something!' - apparently, judging by eBay, the thought that goes through most people's heads when they see a book by Enid Blyton!

However, this time, his hunch turned out to be right!

Very interesting to see Enid's letter, and the fact she tells Barbara not to tell her friends, lol!

I was right in my post above as I did get an email from this journalist two weeks ago, but I was wrong in saying that he wanted to know the value. He actually wanted me to tell him who Barbara was - a slightly harder question than I normally get asked!! To be fair he was able to give me a clue as he told me that Barbara came from Green Hedges in Beaconsfield - if that were the case Enid needn't have worried about postage.

How great it would be to discover who Barbara was! C'mon, Tony - give us the answer!!

I wish I could find something like that. I'm also wondering how Nigel came across the Northampton Chronicle.

I cannot remember, John! It was probably a link in an online news(paper) website.