October 25, 2007 – Ranjita says: Aren't the publishers supposed to proof read the books before publishing them? It's obvious from some of the books that Blyton made mistakes -- switched characters, had the wrong person speak, other wrong details, etc. Shouldn't the publishers be catching this? What are your thoughts? |
November 30, 2007 – Fiona says: Well, when writing at her simply phenomenal rare Enid Blyton surely wouldn't have had time to proof read them herself... so I would have expected the publisher to do that. However, a lot of the mistakes are hard to pick up on unless one is paying real attention, a proof reader could easily skim books and miss them. Also, the spelling errors, I think, are very common in older books when the printing plates were all set by hand - which would have taken a great amount of time and money to correct if an error was made. |
December 31, 2008 – Lithorite says: Agreed but I noticed that in some books that Pip and Larry tend to be switched a lot. There have been times Larry has been in two places at once. But these were in the older books I think the first 5 or so. |
July 28, 2017 – Avan N. Cooverji says: Has anyone noticed the following error in one of Enid Blyton's Find-Outers book? All fifteen books of this series were written during a span of 5 to 7 years at the most, may be even less. Now we know that Fatty came to stay in an inn during the first book, namely The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage and then by the time of the second book , his family had bought a house in Peterswood as they liked the village very much. Now, in the Mystery of the Strange Messages, Mrs. Trotteville says that she has been living in Peterswood since 19 years! That is just not possible, for how can nineteen years elapse between the Mystery of the Disappearing Cat ( that is the time when the Trottville family came to stay in Peterswood) and the Mystery of the Strange Messages? This is puzzling , so the only explanation I can think of is that an error has been committed. Can any one point out an error in my reasoning or has an error been made by Enid Blyton? |
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Daisy says: This error has been noticed before, Avan, I've even noticed this error myself. I think it's a case of Enid forgot what she had written in the first book regarding Fatty staying at the Hotel and moving to Peterswood in the second book. I don't think the publisher picked this up either. So basically it was an error that got missed I think. |
July 29, 2017 – Nigel says: Avan, the Find-Outers' series was written over a period of eighteen years, not "five to seven years at the most". I tend to agree with Daisy on this. It must be remembered that Enid wrote so many books in this period, that she sometimes forgot certain details. The Barnard/Kirrin surname mistake was another. I must say, I never noticed any of these slip-ups when reading the books as a child. |
July 29, 2017 – Avan N. Cooverji says: Never realised that the FindOuters series were written over eighteen years as Nigel has explained! To write each book of the series at an average gap of one year and a few months running throughout eighteen long years and yet to make it feel that it is written in quick succession, one after another, as the children's school holidays must be occuring every six months, for them to solve a mystery during every Summer and Xmass time, is remarkable, for she kept the tempo up without missing a step. She had the ability to make the reader feel that all this took place from the time the boys and Daisy were between the ages of 12 and 15 and Bets was between the age of 8 to 12, meaning this to be a period of four to five years. Some lapses / errors are bound to occur when writing so many books and all credit to her varied talents for keeping the interest of the readers during the long span of eighteen years and yet making them believe the mysteries took place during each holiday time. |
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Fatty says: As with many long-running series, it is best to forget about a timeline! Avan, check out the Enid Blyton Society website for more on the Find-Outers. We also have a ling near the top of our own home page. |
October 4, 2020 – Nandini says: In mystery of the strange messages book there seems to be a mistake. In the chapter "a disappointing afternoon", when Bets put her hand in the mouse trap and gets hurt, pip mocks at her saying, "It's a mouse trap isn't it! " and says about it. But he was supposed to keep a watch out for the two men. How could he know about this incident? Just after that Fatty asks Ern to take Pip's watch. Then pip enters and asks "Found anything? ". Then Fatty replies "Not a thing. Except a mouse trap". |
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Daisy says: Yes I too made a note of this mistake when I recently read this book. I can only guess that Enid made an error and said Pip's name instead of say, Ern, or someone else. Or she may have had a sudden memory loss that Pip was suppose to be outside the cottage keeping watch. Maybe there had been a pause for a day or so in Enid writing this book. But the mistake is there. |
October 5, 2020 – Nandini says: To err is human. I can understand. This novel is an ocean and it's difficult to remember stuffs. Wonder how Enid carved this so beautifully. Thanks Daisy. It can't be Ern or any other person as Pip mentions his mother in it. I'll assume that Pip comes after Ern takes his place and he mocked at bets after Fatty shows him the trap and narrates about the incident. |
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Daisy says: I think it's an error on Enid's part. |
October 5, 2020 – June Johns says: Enid did not do drafts when writing so there are quite a few slip-ups. |
October 7, 2020 – Lisa says: It's not easy to write a book I think. We won't know whether the late Enid Blyton did drafts or not. Nor do we know if she had an editor ( I stand corrected here. ) I did notice a couple of mistakes too especially in the names mentioned. But, then again, the late author had written so many adventure/mystery etc series, it is therefore possible for such mistakes to occur. |
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Daisy says: I totally agree, Lisa. Enid had many series she was writing about, a loss of memory sometimes was inevitable. |