The Enid Blyton Society

I've just been looking at the cover of the paperback version of the Circus of Adventure (1966) and wondered if Enid was as 'hands on' choosing and dictating the covers for the paperback versions of her books that were produced in her own lifetime?

It seems very well known and documented that she was very selective about the covers,illustrations and indeed illustrators of her 1st edition hardback novels-was she as attentive and choosy with the paperbacks?

Here's a few that were released before she passed away:




I noticed all these books cost the princely sum of 2/6.How much would that equate to today in our money,I wonder?

ps.
Although the paperback cover for the Circus of Adventure above is not bad,my favourite paperback cover is definitely the slightly later one from 1969:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/auth ... ture-3.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

pete9012S wrote:I noticed all these books cost the princely sum of 2/6.How much would that equate to today in our money,I wonder?

Funnily Enough I was just reading one of my armadas, Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm:
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/auth ... farm-1.jpg
The price is 2/6 but in brackets beside it is 12 1/2p. I don't know how to change it into purchasing power but this link says it's £13.30? http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/ ... amount=0.1

Aaron

EDIT: I just clicked on the link but it doesn't work; the value used to be £13.30

I looked up the Circus of Adventure at WH Smith online..

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSear ... 0330448345" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It seems the books RRP is £4.99 but its on offer for £3.69
So does that seem right? Does 2/6 equate to £4.99 in today's money?

I noticed WH Smith are doing a 'bundle' of 5 Enid Blyton books for £6.99
the blurb states:
'Enid Blyton Book Bundle (5 Books)' Description

Containing 5 bestselling books by Enid Blyton, this bundle is perfect for any fan of Famous Five, Secret Seven, Malorie Towers, St. Clare's and many other Books. This Bundle will make an excellent gift or be a wonderful addition to any bookshelf.
Book Bundles - What You Will Receive

Although we cannot guarentee the exact books you will receive, you can be assured you will be getting great value for money as each Enid Blyton Bundle will have an approximate RRP of £30 saving you around £25 (83%)


http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSear ... 0330448345" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2/6 in 1965 would be £1.61 in 2005. & £1.61 in 2005 is probably worth about 25p nowadays...

Zar Quon wrote:According to

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2/6 in 1965 would be £1.61 in 2005.

I've got a few Enid Blyton paperbacks dating from 2000 (I don't have any from as late as 2005) and they cost £3.99 each full price even then.

Coming back to the original question, I would doubt it. I think at this stage all covers would simply have been approved by the Company, but that is only my opinion.

Loony the Dog wrote:The price is 2/6 but in brackets beside it is 12 1/2p. I don't know how to change it into purchasing power but this link says it's £13.30?

I've always related prices to the price of a gallon of petrol.

If my memory serves me correctly, in 1965 a gallon of petrol cost around 5 shillings, or 60 old pence. So back then one of Enid's Armada paperbacks at 2/6d, or 30 old pence (12½p), cost half the price of a gallon of petrol. Today a gallon of petrol costs about £6.50, and half that is £3.25, which is around the same price as a Blyton paperback from somewhere like Amazon.

Also in 1965, H&S hardback editions of Enid's books each cost 7/6d or 90 old pence (37½ new pence) - basically 1½ times the cost of a gallon of petrol in 1965. Therefore, if you apply the same formula to the price of a gallon today, a hardback Blyton edition should cost (6.50 x 1.5) £9.75.

But are Enid's books available 'new' in hardback now? I must say I've never seen them.

My mother often says that she feels books are much cheaper now in propotion to income than they used to be. When she was younger I think only hardback books were available. I know her family were not particularly well off, and she usually only got a couple of books for either birthday or Christmas. For example an aunt would buy her one Famous Five book, her parents would perhaps buy her one or two books and maybe a few small other presents. If the figures I hear bandied about by friends and the media are to be believed, the average parent spends £100 or more per child, so that would put a hardback book somewhere at least £15 to £20, probably more.

Although the comparison with petrol is a good idea, I know someone who reckons that if petrol had really risen in line with average incomes, we'd actually be spending much more per gallon than we do nowadays. I can't remember for certain what they worked it out to be, but £9 or more seems to be stuck in my head.

I'm glad that cheaper paperbacks are available, as it enables my children to own many more books than they would be able to do if the more expensive hardbacks were the only option. Although I can't help feeling that a hardback book feels more special to hold.

I would have loved to own some Famous Five or Adventure series books when I
was young - I only had one precious "Five go to Billycock Hill". This probably explains
why I love this book much more than most people do.

A very atmospheric book. A charming few chapters of the journey amongst flora and fauna, misty nights, planes overhead, a cruel son, two 'mad' lepidopterists, an abused old woman, caves, annoying small child with obligatory 'odd' pet, a villain who we all knew ('cos Timmy liked him) wasn't a villain but would turn out to be a hero...what more could you want (apart from a decent plot, that is)!

I always think this book was inspired by the cold war with its' defections,
spying and general atmosphere of suspicion. The lack of plot didn't worry
me as a child - I grew up travelling on blacked-out trains to Berlin,
armed russian guards searching the train for escapees, worry about russian
invasion and lots of air activity. It was also my only FF book and I didn't
have others to compare it with - that came later. (ps I still love it -
must be a matter of first love!)

Francis wrote:The lack of plot didn't worry me as a child

Me neither. I still love it now. It's been criticised (by Keith, among others) that it could have had more adventures inside the caves, with which I kind of agree. Still love the atmos of the stormy night on the hillside -- sheer class.

That is a fascinating entry though. The note expressing her enthusiasm about 50,000 copies being sold of the paperback Five Go Adventuring Again shows that despite suffering from debilitating dementia, she still cared about her success and status as a writer.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:
It seems that Enid Blyton was an admirer of Betty Maxey as she writes of the Famous Five paperbacks: "The books are beautifully produced."

Enid's Last Diaries

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... f=4&t=4659" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to read Duncan's account of how pleased Enid was with the books that where produced for my own generation.
It shows how forward thinking she was right to the end. Who knows, she may even have loved the cartoon/stick-like people covers we see on today's latest editions!

Thanks again to Duncan for helping to answer the question I have long wondered about many of the paperback editions produced during her lifetime.

50,000 copies of one paperback book is quite astounding, and presumably in a relatively short amount of time, too! It just proves how popular Enid was, and also maybe just how many children were crying out for cheaper editions of her books, rather than waiting around to collect the more expensive hard back editions.

I don't know what it is about them but I do not like any of the paperbacks at all. I don't like the illustrations on the covers or the ones inside, compared to the originals they just aren't 'Enid Blyton' in my mind. I've often thought that if the paperback copies had the same picture on the cover and internal images as the originals I would have liked them better as then then the characters would be familiar. We did have some paperbacks on the shelf, Famous Fives, Barney and various others, but even as a child I'd go straight past them and only wanted the red hardbacks - the colourful pictures on the paperbacks were boring but the plain red boards were exciting and drew me to to them! There is something about the hardbacks, they have an almost tangible quality to them, there's history in the pages and the look, feel and smell can transport your mind back to that time the second you open it in a way that a paperback can't. Maybe it's psychological, but nobody ever has floor to ceiling shelves of paperbacks in their library do they?!