Enid Blyton First Editions: Famous Five, Faraway Tree and More

Enid Blyton's first editions came from five main publishers, one for each of her best-known series: Hodder & Stoughton for the Famous Five, George Newnes for the Faraway Tree, Methuen for Malory Towers and St Clare's, Brockhampton Press for the Secret Seven and Sampson Low for Noddy. The books were reprinted constantly, so most copies you find are later impressions. The ones collectors pay for are early titles in their original jackets.

The standard reference is Tony Summerfield's Enid Blyton: An Illustrated Bibliography, which dealers cite for points. The Enid Blyton Society's online Cave of Books lists the first publisher, year and illustrator of each book, with its reprints. Its pictures are sometimes of later jackets, so do not match your copy to them.

The main series

Series	Publisher	First book	Illustrator of the firsts
Famous Five (21 books)	Hodder & Stoughton	Five on a Treasure Island, 1942	Eileen Soper
The Faraway Tree	George Newnes	The Enchanted Wood, 1939	Dorothy M. Wheeler
St Clare's	Methuen	The Twins at St Clare's, 1941	W. Lindsay Cable
Malory Towers (6 books)	Methuen	First Term at Malory Towers, 1946	Stanley Lloyd
Secret Seven (15 books)	Brockhampton Press	The Secret Seven, 1949	George Brook
Noddy (24 books)	Sampson Low	Noddy Goes to Toyland, 1949	Harmsen van der Beek

The Famous Five

Hodder & Stoughton published all 21 Famous Five books, from Five on a Treasure Island on 11 September 1942 to Five Are Together Again in 1963, every one illustrated by Eileen Soper. The series name itself came later: Hodder first used "The Famous Five" in 1951, after nine books.

For Five on a Treasure Island, the first printing is bound in light blue cloth lettered in black, with 32 full-page Soper drawings. Its jacket is priced 5s net on the lower front flap. The jacket is fragile and rare, and dealers note whether it has been clipped. The second book, Five Go Adventuring Again (1943), has a jacket priced 5/- net.

Five on Kirrin Island Again (1947) shows why a jacket alone is not proof. Soper drew the telescope on the jacket the wrong way round. A collector's study of the jacket states finds that this jacket was used on the first three impressions before it was corrected, so the reversed telescope does not by itself mean a first printing. Check the copyright page too.

Complete sets turn up. One dealer offers all 21 first printings in jackets for £12,750, with one book in a second-issue jacket, which is a reminder that jackets were swapped and replaced over the years.

The Faraway Tree

George Newnes published The Enchanted Wood (1939), The Magic Faraway Tree (1943) and The Folk of the Faraway Tree (1946), all illustrated by Dorothy M. Wheeler:

• The Enchanted Wood is bound in green cloth lettered in black, with a colour frontispiece and a Wheeler jacket.
• The correct first jacket of The Magic Faraway Tree advertises The Enchanted Wood on its back flap and is priced 6/-.
• The Folk of the Faraway Tree is bound in red cloth with gilt titles, in a wraparound jacket. It was made to wartime paper standards, and few firsts survive.

Later editions renamed several characters, Jo to Joe, Bessie to Beth and Fanny to Frannie among them, so the names in the text are a quick way to spot a modern copy.

Malory Towers and St Clare's

Methuen published both school series:

• The Twins at St Clare's (1941), the first St Clare's book, is bound in yellow cloth with dark blue titles and eight drawings by W. Lindsay Cable. Its jacket is priced 5s net on the front flap.
• First Term at Malory Towers (1946) is bound in yellow cloth with vignettes printed in blue, with Stanley Lloyd's drawings. It was made to wartime economy standards, which makes it fragile and uncommon. The 1957 reprint keeps Lloyd's drawings inside but has a new jacket, by Lilian Buchanan.

Secret Seven and Noddy

Brockhampton Press published The Secret Seven in 1949, illustrated by George Brook, and fourteen more Blyton titles followed to 1963. A very good first in its jacket is a modest book; one dealer asks £225.

Noddy began with Noddy Goes to Toyland from Sampson Low, published in November 1949 in pictorial paper boards with a matching jacket. Harmsen van der Beek illustrated the first seven books, until his death in 1953. You Funny Little Noddy (1955), for example, is priced 3s 6d net on the lower front flap of its jacket.

What they sell for

Most Blyton prices are dealer asking prices; the early titles in good jackets lead:

• Five on a Treasure Island: £5,250 for a very good copy in an unrestored jacket, and £3,500 for one with a restored jacket.
• The Enchanted Wood: £9,500 for a near fine copy in a very good jacket.
• The Magic Faraway Tree: £4,500 for a very good copy in a chipped, taped jacket.
• The Twins at St Clare's: £2,250 in a worn jacket.

These are asking prices, not valuations of your copy. Blyton books were read to pieces, so condition and the jacket make the difference. See how much is my book worth, and our guide to what to look for in a charity shop, where Blyton books often turn up.

Check your copy

1. Read the title page: the right publisher for the series and the year of first publication.
2. Check the back of the title page for later impressions or reprint dates.
3. Find the jacket price on the front flap and compare it with the points above.
4. Look at the cloth colour and the illustrator: firsts are illustrated by the artists in the table.
5. Grade the book and jacket with our condition guide, then try Is my book valuable?.