Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

The books! Over seven hundred of them and still counting...
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Rob Houghton »

Tony Summerfield wrote:Which means that you have a 16th reprint, Rob!
I get it now - I was looking for a 'full number line' as you described it, rather than just one number! :-) thanks Tony. :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
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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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KEVP
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by KEVP »

If it was a first printing, there would be a line that says

"16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"

Or some countdown from a different number.

If the countdown stops at, say, 3, then it is the third printing. And so on.
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Rob Houghton wrote:
Tony Summerfield wrote:Which means that you have a 16th reprint, Rob!
I get it now - I was looking for a 'full number line' as you described it, rather than just one number! :-) thanks Tony. :-)
It does differ from publisher to publisher but clearly Quercus just put the one number in when it goes over 10 and some other publishers do the same. You also sometimes see another number line going from 20 down to 11.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Rob Houghton »

KEVP wrote:If it was a first printing, there would be a line that says

"16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"

Or some countdown from a different number.

If the countdown stops at, say, 3, then it is the third printing. And so on.
that's interesting - so they would be expecting to do 16 reprints even after the first print run?
'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: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Fiona1986 »

I've got one that says '10' and one that says '10 9 8 7 6'. So a 10th printing and a 6th printing.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Rob Houghton wrote:
KEVP wrote:If it was a first printing, there would be a line that says

"16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"

Or some countdown from a different number.

If the countdown stops at, say, 3, then it is the third printing. And so on.
that's interesting - so they would be expecting to do 16 reprints even after the first print run?
A countdown from 16 to 1 would be very unlikely, it normally starts either as 10 to 1 or just the number 1, then 2 etc. It certainly doesn't mean that they expect at least 10 reprints, I have often bought a book that was published three years ago that still has the full countdown in it - simply meaning that it never even got reprinted as there are still copies of the first printing available.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Rob Houghton »

Thanks for the extra info, Tony - much appreciated. i've never noticed this in modern books before, so it was good to learn something new! :-D
'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: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Courtenay »

I can't wait to see unscrupulous (or idiotic) eBay sellers trying to flog them off for hundreds or thousands of pounds each — as we've already seen done for modern editions of Enid's books or even continuations and spin-offs that she didn't write — on the grounds that anything with "Enid Blyton" on the cover is a collector's item and worth that much... :mrgreen: :P
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Rob Houghton »

I saw a couple listed the other day on eBay - admittedly, for only £3.50 each - but they came up in a search for 'Enid Blyton' and nowhere on the listing did it say they weren't written by her - in fact it said 'Enid Blyton - Five Go Parenting' (or whatever the title is). :roll:
'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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Deej92
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Deej92 »

Can't believe it, my parents got me Five on Brexit Island for my birthday. They know I love the Famous Five and am interested in politics, so they went and bought me this book. I didn't know what to say really other than a polite thank you! :lol:
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Julie2owlsdene
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

At least you can let us know what you thought of it, Deej. :lol:

8)
Julian gave an exclamation and nudged George.
"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"

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Deej92
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Deej92 »

Indeed Julie, I wasn't too impressed! :lol: I started reading it last night and already there's tension between George and Julian, who are taking different sides in the referendum debate. Anne and Dick are apparently playing peacemakers and are neutral.
It's come to the point where George has threatened to punch Julian. There's also quite a bit of swearing. It's worse than I thought it would be and I've only read the first 14 pages! :shock:
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Rob Houghton »

Well done on reading 14 pages. I haven't managed to go any further than just flicking through and scanning the text...haven't read more than a couple of pages. I just find the writing so lame!
'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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Deej92
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Deej92 »

I'm not sure I'll be able to read the whole book the way it's going though! I'd agree that the writing is very lame and nothing like how Enid would write it. The front cover and illustrations aren't too bad though!
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Courtenay
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Re: Famous Five 'Adult' Books!

Post by Courtenay »

Rob Houghton wrote:I haven't managed to go any further than just flicking through and scanning the text...haven't read more than a couple of pages. I just find the writing so lame!
Me too, and I agree. As I've said, it's not even inordinately crass (although I could live without the regular swearing and toilet humour) — it's just so bland and lifeless and without any of the qualities that make genuine Enid Blyton books so readable. :roll: If they'd managed to do a decent imitation of Enid's own style while lacing it with genuinely clever and incisive humour, these books could be quite brilliant. But as it is, they seem to be something that deserves to be forgotten as soon as the novelty has worn off and they're consigned to charity shops everywhere. (Or, as I think I said before, to eBay sellers who'll try to flog them off for three- or even four-figure price tags on the assumption that they're "real" Enid Blytons. :twisted: )
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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