The Secret Island

[Blytonboy]

It's a fair cop, course I was I wondered how long it would take someone to suss that. Enid would have got it straight away!
If you search my posts you'll see the story behind the book a few years ago.
I have now sold all my books including the signed 1st Edition of The Secret of Moon Castle and this was the last one.
Who said it looked tatty, bl**dy cheek.None of the contributors to this forum seem to realise how rare this book is and when I first uploaded images of the restored book everybody was purring "oohs and Aahs about it.

[Tony Summerfield]

None of the contributors to this forum seem to realise how rare this book is ....

I think you underestimate us! Some of us realised immediately who the seller was, but were too polite to say so!

[Seymour Glass]

Do I sense an argument brewing...?

It may not be so rare any more; Award Publications have released the entire series, first in 2002 and then in 2007.

[Rob Houghton]

None of the contributors to this forum seem to realise how rare this book is ....

I think you underestimate us! Some of us realised immediately who the seller was, but were too polite to say so!

I did think so a while back...I found it very hard to be polite for so long!!

So-called 'rare books' never really interested me. Usually a 'rare book' is just made rarer the more interest people shown in it.

My 'rare' books are first editions of 'Enid Blyton's Omnibus' and 'The Hidey Hole' and my copy of my 'Children's book club' edition of 'Five Minute Tales' (which is so rare that even Tony hadnt seen a copy until a few years ago!! ) - books that might not be worth a lot but are complete dust-jacketed first editions, as well as quite a vast number of later editions with nice dust-jackets. the most I have ever paid for any book was £38.00. My favourite 'rare' books are those I came across by accident and payed quite absurdly low prices for!

To me, buying a 'rare' first edition is just a mugs game, unless you happen to see it very cheap and in very good condition!!

[Tony Summerfield]

I would certainly call a first edition of The Secret Island with no dustwrapper a scarce book, but I know of a number of collectors who have copies including myself, so I wouldn't really call it a rare book.

So, what would I call a rare book? About ten years ago a magazine published an article on Enid Blyton books and someone wrote to them and asked why his favourite Enid Blyton book never got a mention. It was called The Wonderful Adventure. The editor couldn't answer this, so he passed the letter over to the Society. It meant nothing to me at all or anyone else who I asked, so the initial reaction was that it must be an error. I noticed that the seller lived fairly close, so I contacted him. He invited me to come and see the book, so I jumped straight into my car.

He was an elderly man who had collected books all his life, but this was the only children's book that he possessed. He had been given it as a present for his tenth birthday and as it was his favourite children's book he had kept it. It was a staggering discovery as with the help of the numbering (Birns books had numbers) and inscription I was able to date it at around 1927, which meant that it had been written more than ten years before The Secret Island, which had always held pride of place as the first adventure book that Enid had written.

He didn't want to sell it, but he allowed me to take photos of it. Several months later he phoned me. He had not been in the best of health and had given the book to his grandchildren to read (mental shudder!), but they weren't particularly interested in it and did I still want to buy it. I did! In the ten years that have followed one other copy of the book has turned up on ebay and it was bought by an Australian collector who I knew at the time as she contacted me to ask if she had paid too much for it. She hadn't! I know of no other copies at all, and certainly none of the collectors who I know with large collections have ever seen a copy of the book.

This is what I call a 'rare' book.

[hope189]

As Tony said, that is a rare book.

I don't own any first editions. The oldest book I have is a second edition of Rubadub mystery. I also own a 1960's edition of secnd form at Malory Towers.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree, Tony, that 'The Wonderful Adventure' IS a very rare book, and well worth paying a heap of money for if it was ever for sale!

I would also maybe say the same for 'Child Whispers', 'rare' because it was Enid's first official book rather than being hard to come by. There arent many others I would put under the 'rare' heading, though there ARE many others I would call 'scarce'.

[Timmy-the-dog]

None of the contributors to this forum seem to realise how rare this book is

Oh dear
Maybe I'll give up 30 years of collecting and try something else...
Timmy

[Moonraker]

I have several first editions, mainly Famous Five, but I have some FF-O&D and others. However, it was pure chance that I bought these. I do not collect FEs, I collect mainly Enid's books in their original published form. At least I won't have to spend £50 restoring one, only to be able to raise only £30 for it!

Incidentally, I do have some tatty books, I only keep them as they are quite scarce!

Good April Fool, Blytonboy!!!

PS Like Tony, I had decided to give you a lot more rope before exposing you!

[Blytonboy]

Moonraker, I don't mind being exposed and I was disappointed not to get my reserve for this rare, sorry scarce, book. I thought £100 was fair.
I do detect some nastiness in your response and you are correct in that had I sold the book at £30 I would have been £20 down because of the restoration costs of £50. Add to that, the £4 purchase price then I would have been £24 down...Oh,dear, worst things happen at sea and, at least, I still have the rare, sorry scarce, book and it has been sensitively restored for the future even if you think it looked "tatty".I certainly have no regrets about spending £50 to stabilise such a rare, sorry scarce, book. I will eventually shift it at far more than £30.

I am pleased to say that Enid has been very kind to me financially as a collector/seller over the last few years and I have made a fair amount of money from my activities.I was fortunate enough to obtain a beautiful 1st edition of Five Go off to Camp a few years ago and sell it for £800 to a collector in Australia (not on EBAY)

I have now finished collecting and dealing in EB books and have sold my collection but I will always be on the look out for something interesting which will prove to be a good investment.

I now have no reason to visit this smug little forum and the endless boring fantasy-land postings

[Anita Bensoussane]

I have now finished collecting and dealing in EB books and have sold my collection but I will always be on the look out for something interesting which will prove to be a good investment.

I don't view my books that way at all - as things to "collect" and "deal in" in order to make an eventual profit. Much as I admire the early editions for their lavish illustrations and chunky feel, I wouldn't part with my own Blyton books (which are mainly 1970s paperbacks and Dean & Son hardbacks) even if they were worth a huge amount of money. They are very special to me and I love to re-read and savour the stories and enjoy the whole look and feel of the books.

I now have no reason to visit this smug little forum and the endless boring fantasy-land postings .

The posts will only seem boring to those who don't have a real love of the stories and characters.

Anita

[Nearby]

I wouldn't part with my own Blyton books (which are mainly 1970s paperbacks and Dean & Son hardbacks) even if they were worth a huge amount of money. They are very special to me and I love to re-read and savour the stories and enjoy the whole look and feel of the books.

Stepping delicately over the argument, I must say I have to agree with you. When I first joined I posted my tale of woe of my mother accidentally sending my Blyton Books to the car boot sale, which is why I started collecting all over again, and partly why I decided on collecting as near to the first editions as I could afford, to build a collection to be proud of.

I have to admit though, the books that I lost, they were nothing special, just the Famous Five 'Knight' paperbacks, that were bought by my mother to read, and handed down to me. As soon as I finished one, she gave me another until I had the 21. They'd been faithful friends throughout my childhood, and I loved the covers on them. With every birthday or christmas, or a visit to the market, I would add to the collection.

I miss those books. The ones I have now are certainly older, and perhaps nicer, but my paperbacks had a 'history'.

The only good thing to come out of it all is that when I started collecting, I came across this website, and found many Enid Blyton books in the excellent book listing, that I had previously never even heard of. So I got to experience the inimitable joy of reading and enjoying and Enid Blyton book for the first time. Something I hadn't experienced in years.

[Rob Houghton]

I miss those books. The ones I have now are certainly older, and perhaps nicer, but my paperbacks had a 'history'.

Don't feel ashamed. I feel the same way about the 'Dean and Sons' books. I have all of them, most with dustwrappers, and I love the feel of them, the illustrations, and even the smell of them when I open the pages. They remind me of my childhood: a much simpler, carefree time than the competitive, money-orientated world we live in today. Most collectors such as blytonboy look only for the chance to make a quick buck. I dislike collectors like that, because really all they are waiting for is some mug who will part with their hard-earned cash for some book or other that is 'supposed' to be 'rare'.

The books that have the most value, as far as I'm concerned, are mostly the type of books blytonboy wouldn't touch with a barge-pole: much loved editions from my childhood.

Blytonboy's reaction to the folk on this wonderful forum seems to be very much 'sour grapes' - "I spent loadsa money restoring this rare book and now there's no-one mug enough to buy it." the sad thing is, like he says in his last post, one day he WILL find someone who'll buy it, and then he'll be a thousand pounds better off.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I have to admit though, the books that I lost, they were nothing special, just the Famous Five 'Knight' paperbacks, that were bought by my mother to read, and handed down to me. As soon as I finished one, she gave me another until I had the 21. They'd been faithful friends throughout my childhood, and I loved the covers on them. With every birthday or christmas, or a visit to the market, I would add to the collection.

I miss those books. The ones I have now are certainly older, and perhaps nicer, but my paperbacks had a 'history'.

Perhaps you could gradually collect the paperbacks again too, Nearby, as money (and space!) allow.

To get back to The Secret Island, my own copy is a 1978 Armada paperback with a red spine and border. The cover illustration is okay, but a bit bland, and the internal illustrations are nothing special either. Yet I value the book because reading it takes me back to my childhood. And let's face it, the really important thing is the story itself and that's the same in any edition (bar the occasional minor update that may possibly be found in recent printings).

Anita

[Kitty]

I don't view my books that way at all - as things to "collect" and "deal in" in order to make an eventual profit. Much as I admire the early editions for their lavish illustrations and chunky feel, I wouldn't part with my own Blyton books (which are mainly 1970s paperbacks and Dean & Son hardbacks) even if they were worth a huge amount of money. They are very special to me and I love to re-read and savour the stories and enjoy the whole look and feel of the books.

I quite agree with you. There's nothing like the feel of reading a Blyton that has associations with your own childhood. I was lucky enough to get a VERY tatty first of Island of Adventure in a charity shop, but in some ways I prefer reading a modern edition bought for me by a relative who is no longer with us, who inscribed it with a lovely message. It is priceless to me, I'd never part with it, and I can't imagine how many times I've read it over the years. My Second Form at Malory Towers has had to have the sellotape holding it together replaced several times, because it keeps drying out - I can still remember the excitement of choosing it with my mother. Sorry to witter on, but your post really struck a chord.