Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

[Wolfgang]

Actually it's good to see that you both, Rob and Sixret, are playing together again after the Mystery of Banshee Towers disaster.

[sixret]

[Moonraker]

That is a breathtaking illustration, Ming. It exudes contentment, abundance, health, radiance and anticipation. It reminds me of vintage railway posters which enticed people to travel to the countryside by train and showed idyllic pastoral scenes bathed in a golden glow...

Oh, doesn't it? My favourite all-time railway poster is below:



The Southern Railway ran trains from Waterloo to many holiday resorts in the south and south west, including Brighton, Bognor Regis, Portsmouth & Southsea, Bournemouth, Swanage, Weymouth, Ilfracombe and Padstow.

[Anita Bensoussane]

A great railway poster, Nigel!

[Courtenay]

My favourite all-time railway poster is below:

It's coming even sooner in the Southern Hemisphere for me. One week to go...



(that's a modern poster in retro style, not a genuine vintage one, but I like it)

[sixret]

Not quite sure why only Monday & Tuesday were published?

Wednesday and Thursday were both compiled by Enid and sent to the publishers, I have lists of the stories that were going in them. I guess the first two books didn't sell that well and the publishers decided to draw a line under the rest of the series. They are strange little books with soft cloth covers over card and for some reason it is much easier to find copies of Monday than Tuesday.

I am very interested in knowing the titles for Wednesday and Thursday compiled by Enid Blyton. I bought Monday and Tuesday listed together as one item on Ebay in October this year. The seller accepted my best offer. Like you said, the books are a bit odd with soft covers over card! I find them odd unlike any Enid Blyton usual and typical book. I also bought Fives to Sevens without the dj in October this year. Without the discussions about them, I would have never bought them. So thank you to all.

[Rob Houghton]

I'm sure I have seen Sunny Stories calendar listing on Ebay. I'm not sure your price range, but it is worth checking, Rob.

Edit: Yes, there's one being listed on ebay. EBay item number:192036006145

So - I finally succumbed! I had £100 from a very kind friend of my dad's for Christmas, and so I thought why not spend it on something memorable - so I put it towards the Sunny Stories calendar. I figure these things will only get steeper and steeper in price as the years go by - and I know there are cheaper ones out there (this cost me £125!!! - a bit much really - must be mad!) - but its a 'one of a kind' piece of ephemera and I'm not likely to buy another unless I find them considerably cheaper - so I treated myself. It even has the original envelope, and its quite an early calendar (1944) so I thought it was a good thing to have!

Just need a diary now - and I see Sue Bell has a few...

I'm aiming to buy one of everything of this sort - I have one 'Show Book' and I have a couple of jigsaws, one Famous Five Bestime puzzle, and now one calendar. If ever I see cheap versions in good condition though, I might not resist getting two instead of one!

[pete9012S]

You're only here once Rob - you deserve to enjoy and treat yourself!

I enjoyed this little timely treasure from the cave today:





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[Lucky Star]

You can't take it with you Rob. Spend it on what you enjoy while you can. It sounds like a great addition to your collection.

[Tony Summerfield]

If anyone ever sees the 1945 Calendar I would love to add it to the Cave. The kind person who sent me the pages from that one only had those pages and not the whole thing.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Wonderful, Rob! The Sunny Stories calendars look super and feature some real gems.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I see no harm in treating yourself, Rob, if it's something you want. As many have said, you can't take the cash with you when you go, and if buying something you want makes you happy then, why not.

Love the railway poster, Nigel. I love all those steam railway posters, very nostalgic indeed, takes me back to the days as a child, when a steam train used to come thundering into the station and I'd put my hands over my ears because of the noise.

[sixret]

Well done, Rob! You have every right to spend your money on something that you wanted so much. The purchase is worth your money. It is definitely a worthy investment for the future. More and more Enid Blyton's younger fans will become adults. I am certain some of them will collect anything related to Enid Blyton. The value of your calendar will increase as time goes by!

I have decided that I don't want to buy Enid Blyton's ephemera. I must draw a line somewhere. But who knows in the future I might change my mind.

And thank you so much, Pete. I did not know the existence of Sunny Stories calendars in The Cave before today!

[Rob Houghton]

Well done, Rob! You have every right to spend your money on something that you wanted so much. The purchase is worth your money. It is definitely a worthy investment for the future. More and more Enid Blyton's younger fans will become adults. I am certain some of them will collect anything related to Enid Blyton. The value of your calendar will increase as time goes by!

Thank you for reminding me of its existence on eBay. I had seen it there before, but had resisted buying it, but when you jogged my memory, I thought 'why not?!'

Games and jigsaws can take up a lot of room, but there is so much 'ephemera' that is interesting - the diaries, Sunny Stories calendars, card games, party games like 'What's Wrong?' and even the EB magazines and Sunny Stories magazines...hard to resist buying some of them!

[IceMaiden]

I haven't yet gone completely through the cave of books yet as it is so vast with so much to look through! It reminds me of one of those enormous Asda/Tesco's that are so big you only get around part of it in one visit and it takes several trips to see everything on offer. What I have read though is just brilliant, it's like an encyclopaedia of Enid's books to find key points of information quickly, if it was printed into a catalogue I would buy it instantly . Personal gem (at least so far) would be the pictures of the dustwrappers on all the books, even if you don't have a wrapper you know what it would look like thanks to those.

Congratulations on your calendar Rob , I thought at first you'd got the one with the two dogs on it I saw listed on Monday, but it's still there so obviously it's a different one but at the same price. There's a lovely Famous Five pocket watch on there too, I had no idea such a thing existed.