Enid Blyton

Still one of the most read children's authors:

Enid Blyton is still one of the most read children's authors. Although her heyday was 50 or more years ago, children still lap up her books. More significantly, adults are still collecting firsts of her titles, which have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide and have (according to one source) been made available in 3,544 translations. So, Blyton has answered her critics, at least in terms of sales, even J.K. Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson Helen Cresswell and Roald Dahl have some way to go.

Born in 1897 above a shop in Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, London (blue plaque), the daughter of a cutlery salesman, Blyton trained as a teacher and it was during this period that she published her first story in Teacher's World aged 20.

Blyton's middle name was versatility. She began with poetry, then in the late thirties turned to adventure stories that catered for all age groups.

At the same time she produced countless fairy stories, pop-up books and other material for pre-school and early school-aged children, including her best known creation, Noddy. Much of her output is not well known. It suggests that the woman just couldn't stop writing, which may explain why she never had time for her own children.

Going against the trend a little, the earliest Blyton titles can be cheaper than firsts of the middle period , rare editions of which in good condition are breathtakingly expensive.

Blyton's greatest creations were of course, The Famous Five, the Secret Seven and Noddy.

Most of these adventures were actually published during the last world war, when children liked to be thrilled by rumours of spies and tunnels to caves and double agents posing as shopkeepers, and mad scientists.

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