Enid Blyton - Mason Willey's Collectors' and Enthusiasts' Guide to First Editions

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They say that knowledge is power. But knowledge is power only when given away; then it empowers. Knowledge retained is knowledge squandered.

 

Alan Titchmarsh.

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This site is in the form of a bibliography of the works of Enid Blyton which is aimed at providing a tool for serious collectors of the writer's books and novices who perhaps want information on a particular book or series of books. In addition, I have taken the liberty to add some of my own observations on the good lady's work, and one or two little asides concerning connected matters like illustrators etc. I hope you will find the site useful and informative. Please have a look at the Blyton on Blyton page where you will find a transcript of an interview Enid gave for the BBC in 1963, and also you will find there a link to the appropriate BBC archive website where you can listen to a recording of the interview. If you have any comments to make or further information you would like to share, please do not hesitate to e-mail me. If appropriate I will add any new data to the site with due recognition. Thank you!

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N.B. The publication dates given are for first editions unless stated otherwise.
 
Windows users: If you wish to find a book quickly, go directly to Alpha list of books and search using (CTRL)F. You can also search the whole site by clicking on to the PicoSearch button below.

Who is the best-selling author of all time?
 
Some time ago, I did a personal survey amongst my friends and acquaintances as to whom they thought was the best-selling author of all time. Answers ranged from Charles Dickens to Jackie Collins with all genres and styles in between. But nobody guessed correctly. The answer is, of course, as you will by now have worked out, Enid Blyton - and by a mile! But why? What was her particular magic? Her work didn't display the elegance of Jane Austen. She didn't have the rich vocabulary of Graham Greene, her descriptive passages were no rival to those of J. R. R. Tolkien. So what was the quality which made this schoolteacher from a humble background into one of the most influential literary and educational luminaries of the twentieth century? Quite simply, she was a superb story-teller, unique in her ability to hold children spellbound. Nothing more - nothing less. But what a gift!
 
 
The Famous Five series was
Enid Blyton's other great success

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First in a phenomenally successful series

 
Phyllis Chase illustrated most
of Enid Blyton's early work
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A Phyllis Chase picture which accompanied a 1920 poem
 
Enid Blyton books have been published
in many countries and translated into
many languages

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A Japanese edition of The Castle of Adventure, and a French version of Noddy Goes to School

Do you have a website of connected content? Please feel free to add a link using my Blybib logo (above). E-mail me with your site address, and I will return the compliment.

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This website has been constructed for the benefit of Enid Blyton collectors and enthusiasts, and no profit is involved. If any of the images displayed on the site infringe copyright, I will remove immediately. Thank you.

Noddy was perhaps the most famous creation of Enid Blyton's fertile imagination
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The tenth book in the Noddy main series
 
The publishers Dean issued cheap editions of a number of Blyton titles from the 1960s onwards
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A glazed board edition of one of Enid Blyton's most celebrated books
 
Enid Blyton produced a number of books on natural history
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Enid Blyton's Nature Lover's Book - one of the most beautiful Blyton books

Greeting card printers Birn Brothers issued a number of Blyton titles very early in her career, and these books are now extremely rare

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An undated, but very early Blyton ultra-rarity, published by Birn Brothers.