Five go mad as Blyton book sells for £600

Published on Thursday 17 December 2009 21:25

A SCOTTISH charity shop was celebrating yesterday after selling a five shilling (25p) copy of an Enid Blyton Famous Five mystery for almost £600.

Five on a Treasure Island, published in 1942, was one of a bundle of books anonymously handed in to the Oxfam shop in Oban. Staff identified the first edition reprint as valuable put it up for sale on the eBay web auction site, with a starting price of 250. They were amazed when it sold for 568 – about half a week's takings at the town's George Street shop.

Manager Olwen Rowlands said:

"Mary Lindsay, one of our volunteers, loves books and really knows her stuff. She can always spot a gem, and came up trumps for us. She always takes a close look at the older books that come in and researches them."

Ms Rowlands, 38, said most books turned out to be worth just a few pounds, but Mrs Lindsay became excited when she undertook her research on the Blyton book and noticed that it had the same dust jacket as the original first edition. The original is worth a few thousand pounds, but a good bit more with a dust jacket.

With the auction deadline looming, Ms Rowlands, said:

"We both stayed up late and watched the bidding go up and up – it was very exciting. At the last moment, there were a flurry of bids and it finished at 568. That's more than double what we estimated."