How to Collect Enid Blyton Books
Enid Blyton was a successful children's author who was popular in the first half of the 20th century. A prolific writer, Blyton wrote over 800 books in total, many of them in juvenile series with recurring characters. People around the world collect Enid Blyton's books, both at the high end and in the more affordable ranges. Her books can be both extremely valuable and rare or accessible for beginning collectors.
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Instructions
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First, research Enid Blyton's books. Her career spanned over 50 years with varying degrees of popularity, and there is a lot to learn about her literature. Many of the series books she wrote can be extremely valuable and expensive, but there are other works of hers that someone just starting out can acquire without too much of an investment.
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Learn about a book's condition before you purchase anything. The value of a book depends on its rarity and the desire the public has to own it, but also its condition. An extremely rare book in poor condition can be worth much less than a lesser-known book in excellent condition. The Independent Online Booksellers Association, as well as other sites, maintains a page on book condition.
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Decide which series of books or type of books you want to collect. No one can collect all of Blyton's books without spending literally years and hundreds of thousands of dollars, but anyone can start by picking a niche.
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Search for the books in many places. You can purchase books from Abebooks.com, Alibris.com or on eBay, plus from some independent bookstores. Many collectors, though, love the search for books as much as the collecting itself. A book search becomes a treasure hunt. Search estate sales, yard sales, sales in private homes and library sales. Treasures come up in odd places, and you may be surprised to discover a very nice collectible one day for pennies on the dollar.
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Store your book collection carefully. Of course you want to show it off, but protect the volumes as well. Keep them dust-free and out of the sunlight. Never stack books with anything else on them, and keep them away from small children and errant liquids of all kinds. Purchase Mylar covers to cover the book and further protect its dust jacket.
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Tips & Warnings
Always purchase the dust jacket with the book, if at all possible. If you can't, try to find a bad book with a good dust jacket, and "marry" the two good items together to increase your book value.
Do not spend a lot of money at first before doing much research. The book business is very complicated and a large number of variables can cause variations in price.
