Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

The books! Over seven hundred of them and still counting...
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Moonraker
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Moonraker »

Daisy wrote:
Rob Houghton wrote:I've now 'liked' it and left a brief comment. I had to actually visit the Enid Blyton Society facebook page, though, as I have had absolutely no notifications - yet I have notifications and updates for all the other pages I follow constantly. Maybe the Enid Blyton Society just gets drowned in the flood!
The same happens for me - I had to go to the face book page although I had seen it on my wall earlier but when I hunted again for it, it just wasn't there!
The oddities of Facebook, eh? Things vanish from my 'home' page from time to time, but I do seem to get all the posts from pages I follow. There is an option to "see fewer posts like this" , but wouldn't have thought that applied in your case, Rob. I'm sure you have checked this, Rob, bit have you ticked for notifications to be sent to your page?

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Rob Houghton
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Rob Houghton »

Yes, my notifications are all turned on etc - I think its just Facebook. They seem to decide what is important and what isn't...which is why I now get a load of adverts for things I'm not interested in, and sponsored pages saying things like 'Nigel likes Amazon' etc! ;-) :lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Moonraker
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Moonraker »

Rob Houghton wrote:YI now get a load of adverts for things I'm not interested in, and sponsored pages saying things like 'Nigel likes Amazon' etc! ;-) :lol:
I hope it doesn't tell you everything I buy from Amazon.... :oops:
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Daisy
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Daisy »

Aha - that would be telling, wouldn't it. :lol:
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

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Rob Houghton
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Rob Houghton »

Moonraker wrote:
Rob Houghton wrote:YI now get a load of adverts for things I'm not interested in, and sponsored pages saying things like 'Nigel likes Amazon' etc! ;-) :lol:
I hope it doesn't tell you everything I buy from Amazon.... :oops:
lol! My lips are sealed! :lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by pete9012S »

Image
Cullen
Image
Wraparound dustwrapper from the 1st edition, illustrated by Stuart Tresilian
Chucklers' Weekly
Cullen
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... perid=3739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Interesting, Pete. Cullen was clearly heavily influenced by Stuart Tresilian when it came to content and layout but didn't have the same finesse.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Courtenay »

He does make Philip look rather like some kind of ape-man there... :shock:
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Rob Houghton »

It's actually quite shocking how he was apparently allowed to pretty much copy Tresilian's original illustration and do it so badly! I wonder why they allowed him to copy it so closely?
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Tony Summerfield »

If you are talking about copying closely, I wonder if you have seen the Australian editions of some of the Newnes books which were published by Angus and Robertson. These were exact copies of the original by an uncredited artist and you sometimes have to look carefully to spot the differences.


Image
Image

There are plenty of other examples. Have a look at The Boy Next Door where the differences are easy to spot and Shadow, the Sheep-Dog where they are not quite as easy.

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... +Next+Door" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... +Sheep-Dog" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Rob Houghton »

Really interesting, thanks Tony! I had seen those before in the cave - but hadn't actually compared them, and probably thought they were different covers drawn by the same artist! The Shadow the Sheepdog one is very similar indeed - makes you wonder why they bothered - couldn't they just use the original artwork?!

The Boy Next door Australian cover is slightly improved from the original, in my opinion - much lighter in touch and colour...unless that's just the condition of the wrapper or the scan...but I rather like the Australian version, with the girl in red shorts and a stripe down the side! :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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pete9012S
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by pete9012S »

I wondered if if it was down to money?
Would an artist who merely copied/parodied the original cover be paid much less?
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

It is very interesting - and seems a strange thing for publishers to do. How boring for the illustrators to have to recreate other artists' pictures rather than having a free rein.
Rob Houghton wrote:The Boy Next door Australian cover is slightly improved from the original, in my opinion - much lighter in touch and colour...unless that's just the condition of the wrapper or the scan...but I rather like the Australian version, with the girl in red shorts and a stripe down the side! :-)
I prefer the more muted tones of the original, though the Australian cover is okay too.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Rob Houghton
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Rob Houghton »

One thing I do find interesting is that the artist depicts a horse chestnut tree in the Australian version. Do horse chestnut trees grow in Australia? I guess they must do? Just wondered why they didn't change the tree to a more typically antipodean one! :wink:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Personal Gems From The Cave Of Books

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I should really have added that I do have copies of these Angus and Robertson books which I bought from Australia in the days when postage was still sensible and I knew that I would need them for decent illustrations in the Cave. So what is interesting about them is that all the internal illustrations are exactly the same as the Newnes editions and are credited to the original artists, E.H. Davie, A.E. Bestall, Hilda McGavin etc. So it is a bit of a puzzle as to why they changed the cover but nothing else.

I can see that I never put in the Angus and Robertson cover for Adventures of the Wishing-Chair but I will do that at some stage.
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