UPDATED: Told in Pictures by Dudley D Watkins

The research on the 'Told in Pictures' stories (illustrated by Dudley D Watkins) is comprehensively told by friend of the blog Jeremy Briggs in Eagle Times autumn 2020 (volume 33, issue 3) - available via their blog here.

As well as researching the histories of the stories reprinted in these books Jeremy identified the differences between the first and second editions that exist. I've finally completed my collection of these books - previously I was missing a first edition Crusoe - but my collection is now complete so I'll update the notes below with some differences between the 2 different Crusoe volumes.

Robinson Crusoe

2 editions

First edition priced at 5/- and a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Note also the following differences...

a). in the first edition (red lion) the endpaper illustrations are green on a grey background; whereas in the second edition (grey lion) are black on a green background

1st edition

2nd edition

b). in the first edition (red lion) the front cover illustration of Crusoe you can't see a patch of bare (!) skin just above his pistol; whereas in the second edition (grey lion) the illustration is printed slightly better and the patch of skin is clearly visible. It's therefore also clear that in the first edition (red lion) that the skin has been hidden with some rather basic 'scribbles'.

The story of treasure island

2 editions

First edition priced at 4/- and a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

The story of Oliver Twist

2 editions

First edition priced at 4/- & a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page. Also the Dudley D Watkins signature is on the bottom left of the book cover...

...and the front endpapers are in a very light red (and are different to those in the 2nd edition)

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page. Note also the Dudley D Watkins signature in the bottom centre of the image below...

..and the front endpapers are in green and different from those in the first edition

The story of Kidnapped

2 editions

First edition priced at 4/- and a red lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.

Second edition priced at 5/- and a grey lion on the Famous books in pictures title page.