The Enid Blyton Society

Wolfgang wrote:Unfortunately it's not just books, Tony, it's audioplays as well. Europa (Sony) is publishing several new Famous Five audioplays per year, the first 21 were the ones by Blyton, the following 8 by Voilier and the rest complete new stories with not much spirit of the Famous Five with love. I think they're by volume 86 or so, so go figure. And Sarah Bosse has started to write books about them, 19 have been published, book 60 is not announced yet (22 by Blyton and 18 by Voilier +19 Bosse).

Those new stories are awful! But as far as I know the books sell quite well and so do the audio plays
I didn't know that Enid Blyton didn't write the "Tina und Tini" stories But it does make sense to me now because that's why I couldn't find the English title!

Anita Bensoussane wrote:When the series first came out, each book was called The Riddle of... A few years later the series was rereleased with each book retitled, being called The Young Adventurers and... The current publishers (Award) have reverted to The Riddle of... but still have "The Young Adventurers" written on a band across the bottom of every cover.

Am I imagining this, or did I read somewhere that Gillian Baverstock had something to do with it? If I remember correctly she herself did the text alterations to fit the stand-alone books into the Riddle series.

I've been trying for some time to obtain a copy of Hollow Tree House, at reasonable cost, but so far have been unsuccessful. As a last resort, I have just ordered a copy of The Riddle of Hollow Tree from Amazon. Does anyone know if there are many textual changes in this new edition?

I would imagine there would be some, Eddie. I have a paperback of Hollow Tree House, which you're welcome to borrow. I can always bring it with me to the EB DAy, and you can give it back when you and Chick visit Owls Dene around June.

That's very kind of you, Julie. I'd love to borrow it. Many thanks. Chick and I look forward to visiting Owls Dene or the caravan - perhaps in June.

Hang on a couple of months, Eddie, and you may well pick one up at Twyford!

Ming wrote:Am I imagining this, or did I read somewhere that Gillian Baverstock had something to do with it? If I remember correctly she herself did the text alterations to fit the stand-alone books into the Riddle series.

Yes, Gillian Baverstock was asked to rewrite the six books to form a series. At first she was hesitant, but she realised that if she didn't do it herself the job would be given to someone else who might not be as sensitive to Enid Blyton's originals. All six titles have undergone textual changes, with some being altered more than others. I've just finished collecting them but haven't yet got round to reading them. I've read all Blyton's original one-off novels so it'll be interesting to see how the new series compares, though I'm apprehensive as it does seem a terrible shame to "dilute" gripping stand-alone stories like The Boy Next Door and reshape them to become part of a series.

Moonraker wrote:Hang on a couple of months, Eddie, and you may well pick one up at Twyford!

That's true. You could be in luck there, Eddie. I've had a look at EBAY and there are 7 listed but no pictures, so I don't know if they're original or not

I think they are Rewards/paperbacks.

Moonraker wrote:Hang on a couple of months, Eddie, and you may well pick one up at Twyford!

Julie2owlsdene wrote: That's true. You could be in luck there, Eddie. I've had a look at EBAY and there are 7 listed but no pictures, so I don't know if they're original or not.

Moonraker wrote:I think they are Rewards/paperbacks.

Many thanks for the info, Nigel and Julie. I think I will try to pick up a copy at Twyford and borrow your copy only if I don't manage to find one there, Julie. In the meantime, I'll await my copy of The Riddle of the Hollow Tree which I have ordered from Amazon.

Reading your excellent review of Hollow Tree House first prompted me to find a copy, Nigel.

I've finally joined the society and received my copy of Journal 41 today - most exciting!!!!!!! (I can't imagine why it took me so long to do so!!!) It looks wonderful and I can't wait to read it!!

Thank you Tony!!
P.s. My mother thinks you have gorgeous handwriting Tony - she said she was waiting impatiently for me to come home all day so she could see what was in the nicely addressed package from England.

With all the mention of Enid Boyten I've noticed this which has come up on ebay UK.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1953-IPC-COMICS-L ... 25597ec44c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks. Those look really interesting. They're not that expensive either, I wonder if there will be much interest in them. I've put them on my watch list just to see how they fare.

They have gone on my watch list too! I thought it would make a nice little item for the next Journal as a follow up to the extract from Fred Clampitt's letter. I would honestly have thought it was only of archive interest as there are no famous signatures or even writing involved and I wondered if the £14 starting price was a bit optimistic!

I have 2 books from the Schoolgirls' own Library by Enid Boyten which I have had since they were first published in the early 1950s - number 69 "Her Secret Pupil of the Jungle School" and number 88 "The Girl who put Flame First". I remember thinking at the time that the name was very similar to that of my favourite author but I wasn't confused into thinking it was her. They cost 7d. There's an advert. for Oxo on the back of both and for Cadbury's products in the inner front cover! These books can be bought for around £4 or £5 these days.