What Enid Blyton book have you recently bought?

[Rob Houghton]

Does anyone know if Enid Blyton Armada paperbacks(also Knight and Dragon for that matter) have complete texts or abridged? Please advise. I don't know where to ask so I ask here.

I think its a really difficult question to answer unless people have read both versions, and even then it would be difficult to spot changes. I was brought up with the dragon paperbacks and also Armada - but have no way of knowing if there were changes. I would assume not...but that doesn't go for every series - Famous Five and Secret Seven were altered slightly even in the 1970's.

[Anita Bensoussane]

As well as the 1960s-70s Knight books mentioned by Rob (Famous Five and Secret Seven), the 1960s Armada Adventure books contain a few minor edits. However, the 1970s Piccolo editions appear to have the original text. The Knight and Armada books haven't actually been "abridged". It's just a question of a few small alterations - e.g. shorts sometimes becoming jeans, overcoats sometimes becoming anoraks and Croydon Airport being changed to Heathrow Airport.

Short story collections like The Red Story Book etc. (Dragon, 1960s) are shorter than the originals as some stories are missing.

I think my Dragon/Granada full-length books (e.g. Find-Outers, Malory Towers and St. Clare's) have the original text although I can't be 100% certain. My copies date from 1976-1980 so there may have been alterations later on.

[Rob Houghton]

Yes - I'm pretty certain the Find Outer books were untouched until at least 1999 and maybe after.

[sixret]

Thank you, Rob and Anita.

[Anita Bensoussane]

A piece of luck, I found a beautiful 1963 Dean and Son copy of CHIMNEY CORNER STORIES at our local bookshop this morning, in perfect condition! The bookshop is heavenly, just down the lane from us in a little country hotel, we'd stayed there for a couple of nights while moving in to our new abode, a great discovery all round.

A good find, Flora. The Dean & Son Chimney Corner Stories was one of my favourite short story books as a child. I particularly loved 'The Tiresome Poker' and 'The Magic Walking-Stick' (which are quite similar), 'The Enchanted Table' (I'd love to have it in my house!), 'Winkle-Pip Walks Out', 'The Little Paper-Folk', 'The Secret Cave', 'She Turned Up Her Nose' and 'The Six Little Motor-Cars'. A wonderful collection of tales.

[Rob Houghton]

Yes - Chimney Corner Stories was also one of my favourites. I had it in the Dean glazed board version - but now also have the Dean wrapper version as well as the original!!

The Dean book and the original both contain the same amount of stories (20) but some stories are different. For example, the original Chimney Corner Stories includes the stories-

The Party In The Hollow Tree,
The Enchanted Balloon,
Mary Jane the Little Doll,
Polly and the Monkey,
The Lazy Giant,
The Skippetty Goblins,
The Big Humming Top,
Mr Curly-Wig's Adventure,
Dame Crabby's Surprise Package,
Bonzo Gets Into Trouble
In The King's Shoes,

while the Dean version includes -

The Clockwork Mouse,
Trit-Trot the Pony,
The Snoozy Gnome,
She Turned Up Her Nose,
The Proud Little Dog,
The Six Little Motor-cars,
The Unkind Children,
The Boy Who Boasted,
The Smickle-Smockle,

[floragord]

A piece of luck, I found a beautiful 1963 Dean and Son copy of CHIMNEY CORNER STORIES at our local bookshop this morning, in perfect condition! The bookshop is heavenly, just down the lane from us in a little country hotel, we'd stayed there for a couple of nights while moving in to our new abode, a great discovery all round.

A good find, Flora. The Dean & Son Chimney Corner Stories was one of my favourite short story books as a child. I particularly loved 'The Tiresome Poker' and 'The Magic Walking-Stick' (which are quite similar), 'The Enchanted Table' (I'd love to have it in my house!), 'Winkle-Pip Walks Out', 'The Little Paper-Folk', 'The Secret Cave', 'She Turned Up Her Nose' and 'The Six Little Motor-Cars'. A wonderful collection of tales.

Many thanks, Anita and Rob, for sharing your enjoyment of the CHIMNEY CORNER STORIES, one I hadn't come across before! I plan to save it to take it on holiday and savour, a more manageable volume than the hefty giftbook/annual I'll read here!

[Machupicchu14]

I soo wanna buy an Enid Blyton book! Yet the problem is, I have read all the ones they sell in the bookshop and if you order one, well, it gets more expensive and not at all affordable.

[Courtenay]

Not necessarily, María Esther — you can easily pick up some great out-of-print ones for a very reasonable price on eBay, so long as they're not early editions with dust jackets in top condition.

[Machupicchu14]

Certainly Courtenay!

[Wolfgang]

Today the post(wo)man delivered some more books:
Les sept et la déesse d'or Hachette idéal 1979
Betty s'en va-t-en guerre Hachette 1972 The Naughtiest Girl Again
Bravo les jumeaux ! Hachette 1980 Hello Twins
Le Mystère de l'ennemi sans nom Hachette idéal 1970 The Mystery of the Strange Messages

It's proving more and more difficult to get the Mystery books by "idéal Bibliothèque" .

[Chrissie777]

Today the post(wo)man delivered some more books:
Betty s'en va-t-en guerre Hachette 1972 The Naughtiest Girl Again

Sounds almost like the early sixties Brigitte Bardot movie "Babette s'en va-t-en guerre".

[IceMaiden]

A piece of luck, I found a beautiful 1963 Dean and Son copy of CHIMNEY CORNER STORIES at our local bookshop this morning, in perfect condition! The bookshop is heavenly, just down the lane from us in a little country hotel, we'd stayed there for a couple of nights while moving in to our new abode, a great discovery all round.

That's a great find, both the book and the shop Floragord! Where you are sounds more appealing with every post . I do miss having a secondhand bookshop in town to go rummaging in in the hope of finding a bargain.

[floragord]

Thank you for your kind words IceMaiden!, we're delighted with our new location, and now all up and running for good everyday living can enjoy the garden and finding lovely places to visit! I've signed up to join the bookclub at the bookshop/hotel!, meeting once a month, and just purchased the book to be discussed,
Tracey Chevalier AT THE EDGE OF THE ORCHARD, not something I'd normally have chosen, so interesting to stretch my "reading horizons". A second hand bookshop to browse on rainy days preferably with a woodstove and coffee thrown in is paradise isn't it, hope something opens up in your neck of the woods soon - we had something similar at "Bookmans Halt" in Hastings in our previous existence, sadly now closed.

[Fiona1986]

I've just bought the Caravan Family omnibus from the Works. It's £2 in the sale, but weirdly it just has stories 2, 3, 4 and 6...