The Enid Blyton Society

I thought we had a thread for non-Blyton books that we'd bought recently, but couldn't find it, so have put my latest purchase here instead.

I don't think we've had a thread like that but it would be useful so I've used your post to start one. - Anita

Today I went to Felixstowe with my son, and was going to avoid all the charity shops and the two second hand bookshops as I didn't think it fair to drag him round with me, and also I'm a bit short of cash after Christmas. However I couldn't resist popping into a shop which I often forget is there - it sells a mixture of items, such as vintage badges, records and postcards as well as books - mostly annuals and magazines. They had a 'sale' sign in the window, so I thought I'd take a quick look. Nothing really appealed to me and I was about to leave when I caught sight of a Golly on the spine of a book, half hidden under some magazines.

The book is "My Big Dolls' House" by Mrs. Herbert Strang - I've already got one or two of her books and really like them. Because of the Golly, and the age of the book, I was expecting it to be quite pricey, but it said £4 inside, which I thought reasonable, and I was hoping it might be in the sale. I was really pleased when I went to the counter and was only charged £1 for it - bargain of the year.

Katharine wrote:
Because of the Golly, and the age of the book, I was expecting it to be quite pricey, but it said £4 inside, which I thought reasonable, and I was hoping it might be in the sale. I was really pleased when I went to the counter and was only charged £1 for it - bargain of the year.

Before anyone else says it - "Golly! that was a bargain!"

Ha ha.

I just bought a copy of Adventures With Marmaduke by Elizabeth Chapman from eBay - just a cheap one with no wrapper for £3.49. I wanted to read it, as the Marmaduke books were some of the first books I remember lending from our local library when I was about 3 or 4. I used to love them, and borrowed quite a few, and have thought of them often since, but could never remember the lorries name until the other day, so had a job searching for any! I'm not sure I used to read them myself - I think my mom read them to me, though I probably read a few as I got older.

Here's a picture of one of the books!

Also bought 'A Little Silver Trumpet' by LT Meade - 1920's edition (£7.49). Its a book I've long wanted to read, ever since seeing the BBC childrens TV adaptation in the early 1980's. I know the series was quite heavily abridged, as was the book (which I already have) which was rewritten to accompany the series, so it will be interesting to read the 'real thing'!

Edition I just bought -



BBC adaptation -

Gosh - now you mention the Marmaduke books I recall borrowing one or two from the library as well, Rob, though I'd forgotten all about them over the years.

I've got the paperback edition of The Little Silver Trumpet which I bought after watching the TV serial as a child. I hope you enjoy the original story.

The last book I picked up (just under a fortnight ago) was a secondhand copy of The Ship Between the Worlds by Julia Golding, which is described as "High adventure on the high seas". Julia Golding is a wonderful writer and I love her Cat Royal series. The Ship Between the Worlds is a paperback but it's signed by Julia Golding in gold pen and it only cost a couple of pounds in an Oxfam Bookshop.

The book I bought before that (and it was cheaper when I acquired it a couple of months ago!) was The Art of Harry Potter:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Harry-Pott ... 1785657399" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a huge, lavish volume containing concept art, storyboards, maps, graphics, etc. relating to the Harry Potter films. Much of the artwork is stunning.

Today "Five escape Brexit island" arrived. It will take some time though, until I read it, there are many other things to do and books to read .

I got a kindle for Christmas so I've been going nuts. Am reading Karen Maitland's 'The Plague Catcher' atm

I saw a first edition copy of Malcolm Saville's Where's My Girl? in a charity shop this morning, complete with dust jacket - unpriced. I asked the lady how much it should be and after searching for the price ticket (which has fallen out) said she'd look it up. Jane said she's probably gone on to eBay to see what they were fetching. She came back and said was £5 all right. I accepted. It seems a pretty good price as eBay are selling them between £40 - £240! It is in excellent condition.

Bargain. Well done.

I bought an Emilio Salgari book as well as one written by Pio Baroja. (He's a Spanish classic writer and a truly excellent one). It's a book of his stories and I have fallen in love with them. I can clearly see that along with Chekhov, he's a master storyteller. Also what I like is every single story has a deeper and profound meaning. And it allows me to go back to the Spain long gone by.

In the past week I have bought the following books. Three of them are new and one of them is second-hand.



The second-hand one -"Aberfan - The Story of a Disaster" by Tony Austin, is one that I have been looking for for some considerable time. I originally read the book not long after its publication back in 1967 when I borrowed it from my local library in Liverpool. This was, I guess, the first book ever written on the terrible coal tip tragedy of October 1966.

Whenever I have looked for the book online it has either never been available or has been rather expensive. On Friday of last week I looked again on Amazon and there were just two copies listed - one at £132.79 and listed as 'used' (shipping from the UK) and another at £91.62 and listed as 'collectible' and shipping from the USA and which was also listed on eBay. Both were somewhat more than I was prepared to pay.

I then ended up doing a 'wild' search online and eventually came across the book being sold on OXFAM's website and located in Sherwood, Nottingham. When I saw the price of £49.99 plus delivery of £3.95 I decided to buy it as I doubted I would find it cheaper.

The book arrived today and is in very good condition. There are just a few very minor tears on the edge of the dust jacket and almost no damage to the boards and spine. There is no yellowing of the pages and no marks within the book, and of course it is a first edition - although I'm not sure if it was ever re-printed. When I compared it to the images of the books listed on Amazon, it is in a much more superior condition than those, especially the one listed as collectible, so needless to say, I'm extremely pleased with my purchase. The book's original price of 30 shillings is on the inside front flap of the dj.

I'm now looking forward to reading it again after more than 50 years, along with the other three - which are all recent publications.





The 'writing' on the back of the dust jacket below is part of the printing.

I imagine the Aberfan book is quite a harrowing read BB. Nonetheless well done on finding it at last.

It's a long time since I first read it, John (LS), and haven't re-started it yet, so don't recall much of the detail it contains. However, I'm sure you are probably right on that score. Some of the pictures are are upsetting. I hope to start reading it again in a few days when I have caught up on some correspondence I need to do.

I went to a book fair at Bakewell last Saturday in search of titles I can never seem to find.
However, I bought a lovely copy of Adventure On Rainbow Island by Dorothy Clewes, which I had originally as an Armada paperback. It's in very good condition for £8.
I also bought a lovely copy of E. Nesbit's The Railway Children with a very good wrapper. Not a first but the 1948 edition and only £15.
There were about 30 dealers present and I noticed quite a few books by Enid, all of which I already have.