I'm sure we all remember and love Enid Blurton's "Secretive Seven" series of books. of course many of us will spot the incredible parallels between Blurton's fictitious characters and the real - life bunch who make up the Secretive "Tapas" Seven.
I have been a lifelong collector of Blurton's work and after many requests I'm happy to post up cover scans of the various editions and some of the illustrations from this groundbreaking series of books.
Of course litigious purges have now removed all trace of these volumes from our public libraries and sadly all are out of print. It is still possible however to pick up copies of many of these at car boot sales.
Here is the first volume which introduced us to the Secretive Seven. Although they are not named in the title, it is the first time we find the secretive gang helping out their friends.

(No English Edition ever published - French Edition shown here)

The Secretive Seven soon began a pattern of behaviour which continued throughout the series.





(1st edition)

(2nd edition)

In those pre-AIDS, sexually liberated times Blurton's characters pushed the boundaries of acceptability on many occasions. Perhaps the trigger volume was the seminal "Seven Go Swinging Again" where David's nipple fetish first reared its swollen, ugly head.

(more from "Seven And The Imaginary Abductor" soon!)

More from "Seven And The Imaginary Abductor".

Of course, many other adventures followed with the Secretive Seven helping their friends, evading justice and telling their porkie pies!
Some accuse Enid Blurton of being repetitive and shallow. As an aficionado of her work I feel strongly that nothing could be further from the truth. The deep seated humanity, nihilism and sense of existential desperation at the wretched nature of the human condition was never more disturbinbgly explored than in the epic "Seven Dwell In The Dark Recesses Of The Soul". A classic.

Of course old Enid could churn them out! Some were more memorable than others. But all stuck to the time honoured tactics of the Secretive Seven.

Of course Enid Blurton's immense talents did not end with the Secretive Seven, she was responsible for many other books. Animal books and other childrens story books poured from her typewriter at a rate of knots.
















There were many other children's writers around at the time. Most of them wrote exclusively about goody-goody types... you know the sort who did good deeds, loved animals, helped the police, grassed up criminals and solved mysteries. Those authors loathed Enid Blurton whose Secretive Seven characters were conspiratorial, did not help the police, evaded justice, hated animals (especially police sniffer dogs which they kill in a number of adventures) etc.
Enid Blurton had a particularly vicious loathing of "National Velvet" author Enid Bagnold. Bagnold was particularly litigous about her popular horsey book and even the most minor percieved copyright infringement was seen by Bagnold as a threat to the flow of royalties. All such infringements were met with an immediate writ.
In a hilarious bout of "Bagnold baiting" Enid Blurton published "Nationally Velvetish". Bagnold sued and lost after the case collapsed. Blurton's lawyers simply pointed out that "Nationally Velvetish" was "about a pony not a horse."

Just picked up this classic in a charidee shoppe in Broughty Ferry for 10p. Classic! Back of the net! Cashback! Spiceworld!