The Enid Blyton Society

What is a reasonable price for a copy in a dust wrapper? I've been told to make an offer, I don't want to insult the person but I don't want to be stung either. I can't find any other copies to use as a guide even without a dj.

If this is the Andrew Lang book it originally came out in 1894 and was one of a series of different colour Fairy Books so I presume that this is a much more recent copy. I wouldn't pay more than £20 at the most.

Presume you mean The Yellow Fairy Book by Enid Blyton (which later became the Queer Adventure'?

I've seen copies without wrappers for between £20.00 and £45.00 - so with a wrapper I'd say at least £90 personally, depending on edition of course, and condition.

Yes that's the one. It's a 1938 copy with a good condition wrapper featuring a mythical dog like creature with wings on the front. I think the person selling it is expecting a lot as they've been told it's of high value (hundreds!). Personally I don't think it is, the green goblin book with a wrapper seems to be around £200 so not sure why this one would be 'hundreds'.

Trust me to get the wrong book! I suspect you are right that it is not worth 'hundreds' - there isn't the same demand for these books these days and prices have reduced considerably since the 1990s.

IceMaiden wrote:Yes that's the one. It's a 1938 copy with a good condition wrapper featuring a mythical dog like creature with wings on the front. I think the person selling it is expecting a lot as they've been told it's of high value (hundreds!). Personally I don't think it is, the green goblin book with a wrapper seems to be around £200 so not sure why this one would be 'hundreds'.

I'd have to see it to give better advice - but then it all depends what the seller expects to sell it for! Personally I don't have a copy with or without a dust wrapper. I narrowly missed out on buying one on eBay once - it went for about £25 without a wrapper - but I've actually never seen one with a wrapper for sale.

The dog like creature is the 'Goblin Dog' who is quite a hero in the story!


Here's the book in The Cave -

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... venture%29

In a dustwrapper this book is much scarcer than The Green Goblin Book. I only have a photocopied dustwrapper myself as I am not prepared to spend the sort of money that would be wanted for it.

I've certainly never seen one in a dust wrapper - even for £200 - although for me condition would make a big difference. I would probably never buy a dust wrapper version because I wouldn't pay more than about £90 - never have paid more than that for any of my books!

I don't think I'll be buying it either then, much as I'd like to, as I'm pretty sure this person wants a fair whack for it and I am not prepared to pay it. A copy wrapper will do fine if I find a decent priced copy of the book at some point, and the fact The Queer Adventure is essentially the same book (have I got that right - that it's a re-named edition but the same story?) and far cheaper makes me up even less inclined to want to pay a lot for it!

I think The Queer Adventure has a few changes (such as Moonface making a token appearance, as he wasn't in the original) and of course different illustrations. They were originally by H R Millar (who illustrated many E. Nesbit books) and I think are much nicer than the Norman Meredith ones (although I'm a big Norman Meredith fan!) Details on the link above.

I have 3 copies of The Yellow Fairy Books first edition. Two without dust jacket and one with original dust jacket in a good condition, to my surprise. I paid only £40 including postage for the dust jacket copy. I bought it from a very nice and fair seller(judging from our conversation in e-mail). Again, the seller was not on Ebay.

I've found out for quite some times, you still can get better deal and prices for vintage books from other online market apart from Ebay. Some Ebay sellers have been succumbed to greed and the prices they quoted do not necessarily reflect and represent the true price of the books. But sadly, most people around the world depend on Ebay to buy vintage books when it comes to online market. They form the opinion that the prices of the vintage books have gone up based solely on Ebay without taking other online markets into account.

For example, I bought the true first edition of The Magic Faraway Tree in fair dust jacket(with chips and one closed tear but good otherwise) for £25 on Amazon UK used books market. Again, a very nice seller.

Yes, we can find bargain on Ebay sometimes but it is not the only place to buy online. Always look elsewhere for a better deal. I have been buying books online(the only way I could get the vintage books) since 2001. I have learned so many things along the way and I am still learning.

Is the Goblin Dog the one where the children get on his back and have to rub the bumps on his shoulders so that his wings sprout and he can fly them away? I have never been sure which book that incident comes from.

Yes - that's the one!

As for eBay and bargains - I agree to a certain extent - although just lately (over the last year) I've bought some really good bargains from eBay. I also sell some really good bargains too!!