Yvonne
As happens from time to time, I am making a short diversion away from the ‘bookish’ posts you will usually find here, to share one of my other pastimes with you.
Yes! I am a not so secret dissectologist – or someone who enjoys jigsaw puzzle assembly.
Clicking on this Amazon link will allow you to magnify individual montages, for a closer look at this selection of 18 Famous Five book covers from the original series.
Once again, it was all those pesky same coloured edge pieces and book dividers which had me scratching my head, especially as so many of the individual book covers were also so similar in colouring. Something I never gave much thought to when I avidly devoured the series as a child, although I suppose on looking back, there just weren’t the graphics around to improve the image definition and colour saturation, in the way which we take for granted when we choose our book covers today! In that respect, the jigsaw offers a realistic and true to the times representation of the books as they actually were.
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ENID BLYTON’S ‘THE FAMOUS FIVE‘
1,000 PIECES by GIBSONS PUZZLES
Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children’s writer whose books have been among the world’s best-sellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular, and have been translated into 90 languages, being translated more often than any other children’s author. She wrote over 600 books and hundreds of short stories, covering a vast variety of subjects, that have delighted children for generations.
The Famous Five stories, now more than 75 years old, are perhaps the most popular of her books and celebrate the timeless themes of adventure, heroism and friendship.
This 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle commemorates The Famous Five series by featuring some of the iconic original cover illustrations by Eileen Soper.
Join Julian, George, Dick, Anne and Timmy the dog, to relive your favourite adventures as you complete this tricky puzzle.
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GIBSONS
Gibsons Games is an independent, family-owned British board game and jigsaw puzzle manufacturer, and the oldest of its kind in the United Kingdom.
In 1903, Harry Gibson managed to obtain an unsecured loan of £500 from the Royal Bank of Scotland in Bishopsgate, London. This generous sum enabled him to start a business, which at that time was called The International Card Co. Trading from offices in Aldersgate Street, he supplied retailers with a range of products including card games and postcards; an unlikely combination these days, but back then, most towns would have a number of stationers in the High Street and they became Harry Percy’s first customers.
The International Card business was sold to the De La Rue Company and H. P. Gibson & Sons Limited was formed in 1919. The International Series brand continued to be used on some products right up to the early 1980s, but H P Gibson & Sons Ltd made its name with the ‘HPG’ brand of indoor games, with old favourites such as L’Attaque and Dover Patrol; huge sellers before and after the Second World War. Sadly the company’s premises, along with all its manufacturing equipment were destroyed during the Blitz in 1940 and when the war ended, it was almost a case of starting from scratch.
Robert and Harry Gibson, sons of the founder, re-established trading from Barrett Street in London’s West End. The company continued to sell its own family games and pastimes, alongside ranges from other established names, including Waddingtons and Chad Valley. 1966 Harry Percy’s grandson, Michael Gibson joined the family business. He remembers his father paying him £11.00 a week out of which he had to pay his mother living expenses. In the late 70s H P Gibson & Sons shortened its name to ‘Gibsons’, and shortly after, in the early 80s, Gibsons introduced their first jigsaw puzzles.
Visit Gibsons at their website
Follow Gibsons on Twitter
Connect with Gibsons on Facebook
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Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, like so many of my jigsaws, was a charity shop purchase, from Dorothy House Hospice shop in Warminster, Wiltshire, where I volunteer.
Any thoughts or comments are my own personal opinion and I am in no way being monetarily compensated for this, or any other article promoting Gibson’s puzzles.
I personally do not agree with ‘rating’ a purchase, as the overall experience is all a matter of personal taste, which varies from person to person. However some review sites do demand a rating value, so when this review is posted to such a site, it will attract 5 out of 5 stars.
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I’ve only heard of Enid Blyton via my British blogging buddies and don’t recall seeing any of her books over here. I bet it was a really fun puzzle to assemble and must have brought back some nice memories for you. I can imagine doing something like this with some of the popular series I read, such as Nancy Drew mysteries.
Hi Kelly,
Enid Blyton wrote so many books and was probably the best known children’s author of my generation, although Cath can remember her own daughters still reading them in the 1980s!
‘The Famous Five’ and ‘The Secret Seven’, were both mixed sex series, so I guess for you would have been like having ‘Nancy Drew’ and ‘The Hardy Boys’ featuring in the same books.
The Enid Blyton series I can remember enjoying the most was ‘Malory Towers’, about a girls boarding school..
https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/malory-towers.php
Definitely a fun to do jigsaw 🙂
Thanks for the link, Yvonne. If I had grown up there, I’m sure I would have read many of her books. Perhaps Enid Blyton’s books were somewhat like The Bobbsey Twins series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbsey_Twins
I never read any of them, but I know my older sister and my mother did. They also read Nancy Drew mysteries and I still have their copies, both of which are very different in appearance from the ones I read. I think they were even updated and published after my generation, but my girls were more interested in other, more current book series.
Thanks for the link. I would most certainly have enjoyed catching up with the end of the ‘Bobbsey Twins’ series, they sound exactly like the slightly middle class cast in the ‘Secret Seven’ series!
My nieces were girls of the 1980s and 1990s and I can’t remember either of them really being interested in a particular series of books or author. In fact, neither of them really read much at all.
Dave’s family are the readers, especially his mum and sister. His mum is addicted to her Kindle books and his sister really enjoys a good browse around her local library!
I treated myself to this one last year and had a lovely time doing it. It brought backs so many memories of escaping into Enid Blyton’s wonderful adventure stories. I lent it to both my daughters and they loved doing it too as they too were hooked on her books in the early 1980s. I don’t know whether they’re still read as much, probably not with the advent of phones and social media.
Hi Cath
Apparently this is quite a difficult jigsaw to get hold of now, so you were lucky to find a new copy. My jigsaws tend to come from charity shops, so I fairly regularly come across discontinued images, which makes leaving links a problem, but does throw up a real gem from time to time.
As a child, I can remember birthdays and Christmas being times of great excitement, as I would always get a new book and jigsaw to add to my collection. I had the full set of all Enid Blyton books, although whatever happened to them all during our various house moves, I have no idea, which is a bit of a shame!
Thanks for stopping by and I am pleased that you had as much fun with this jigsaw as I did 🙂
What a nostalgic bookish puzzle! I’ve never read Enid Blyton but I have heard of her books. Enjoy your week ahead 🙂
Hi Naida,
I enjoy all these nostalgic type jigsaws. They bring back plenty of memories and they are generally more fun to make up than the traditional ‘chocolate box cottage’ style pictures!
I hope that you are well and enjoyed your summer ‘staycation’ time. It is good to have you back online 🙂