How much would you pay, just for the memory of a childhood book?

[JenniferYellowShat]

£25-£30 for What-a-mess the original?

Everyone must have their childhood favourite that they'd love to read to their children?

Can't seem to link properly from phone but I've lost hours on this Oxfam page going through the children's books, some amazing finds:

www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/books/childrens-books?i=1;page=40;q=*;q1=Books;q2=Children's+books;show_all=products;sp_s=productcreationdate;x1=secondary_cat_1;x2=secondary_cat_2&gid=&owner=

Apple Pigs was mine, it was going for £50 on eBay. It has now been reprinted and is about £10 in National Trust gift shops.

Love Phoebe and the hot water bottles!
I have my originals of both though

Thank you witch end i loved that book too and forgoitten its name (rushes off to order the hot water book from amazon)

£910!, are they mad. (Cries) www.amazon.co.uk/Phoebe-Water-Bottles-Picture-Paperback/dp/B010EULC7K/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461389652&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=Phobe+and+the+hot+water+bottles

I wanted "The Adventures of Pip", Enid Blyton, I wanted a specific edition/cover that is available for about £60. Ive bought the Kindle version and may get round to buying the book I want at some point.
I also bought a tatty copy of "Tammy" annual 1978 as I wanted to re read a story in there I kept remembering, it was about £5, which was reasonable.

My sisters longs for a copy of Chilly Billy from our childhoods but it's always £££ when I find it.

There's a book I loved as a child but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called. It featured a fox and a railway track and some night time adventure with the fox running. The illustrations had trees and hills iirc. I might have been 3 or 4 when I had it. My mother looked at me as if I had lost my marbles when I tried to jog her memory of it.

I looked up a few of the books the DCs had as toddlers and small children. 'What Do Babies Do?' was one they all loved. It is going for $74.50 used and $491 new.

OP thank you for starting this thread, it reminded me of some books I had when I was little and they are on eBay for a few pounds! I am almost in tears seeing the covers again. The DC obviously think I've lost my marbles though.

Rat that was my absolute favourite childhood book as well

I paid about £20 for my favourite childhood book on eBay. 'Theodore the mouse who wanted to own a frying pan.' I was really glad to have it again; it brings back such vivid memories.

I'd love to own 'Home Is The Sailor' Rumer Godden again, my mum threw my copy away when we moved home

Not particularly expensive, but can't justify spending on it atm
I look in second hand book/charity shops all the time
Quite a hard book to come by though

Here is mine, Plain Brown bear who lived in a Swiss zoo. I do have a copy, Think it cost me about £10 twenty years ago when I bought it to read to my own DD.
I still have my own copies of my other favourites, Winnie the Pooh and the Wind in the Willows.

That should say Mary Plain.

Wow, I have A Candle In Her Room. Had no idea it was worth that.

DH paid a tenner on eBay to get me The Gnomids by William Chalk as an anniversary present 11 years ago. We've never seen another copy for sale anywhere since.

There's a short story collection in the same series (Booster Readers, 1965 - reprinted around 1970) that I'd give my eye-teeth to have. I can't remember the title but one story involved a young boy who bought a sentient typewriter from a second-hand shop. Sigh...

Thanks Trumpton. I loved it, and I don't know whether ot was ours ( on which case it probably is still at dp, or the library). Lovely book.

Zen. I have all the Lone Pine books (and many others by Malcolm Saville). A good first edition is much more than £20 now. They rose very sharply, in fact at one point a magazine on finance recommended them as an investment. Some of them are worth around £100 now in good condition.
I have a couple of books worth over £100, although neither I paid anything like that. One is a first edition Chalet School. Last time I checked it was going for around £175. I paid £2, didn't realise it was a first edition until I got home. Other one is the last Monica Edwards. I did pay £30 for it, but I think people pay round about £100 for it. I wouldn't sell so that's irrelevant really.

I remember Mary Plain (from the bear pits in Berne?) and the Owl Man !
I'd have loved a copy of one of those but the last time I looked they cost £14 to £35 on ebay.
Instead I bought a book called The Madcap Brownie for 99p plus postage as I'd read it about twenty times as a child and just loved it.

I loved this one - Daddy read me a bedtime story
www.amazon.co.uk/Daddy-Read-Me-Bedtime-Story/dp/0723505667
When I first looked I thought it was too much at £30 - thought I'd see if I could get it cheaper - wish I'd bought it then as it is now £71.50!
If you want old books have a look at www.abebooks.co.uk/ -
lots of expensive first editions but there are also some cheap ones ...and worth checking back as if more copies turn up / become available the price may come down...

bertsdinner do you have a pic or link to the version you want? I'm sure I've got a copy of this somewhere and I thought there might be a tiny chance it matches. If it did you'd be welcome to have it but I don't want to get your hopes up as I'm guessing it might not be right. Thought it was worth a shot though.

My favourite out of print books are Tim and Tobias. There is a whole series and they are at least £70 for one book on eBay! Mostly they were used as school reading schemes so most got thrown in a skip when schools moved on to new schemes.

I have been buying the gold and silver level Through The Rainbow books that we had as reading books when I was at infant school. I always found them mysterious and enchanting because they had names like Elflight and Taperlight. There's a particular one I am trying to find with the story of the violets/ strawberries in the snow in, but I haven't found it yet! They are going for about £8.99 each which isn't too bad I suppose but there's quite a lot of them...

Don't get too excited about how much the books you have are worth (I used to work for a book dealer) - condition is everything.
Thing like being ex library, writing inside (To Jim, Happy birthday from Uncle Bob - not signed by the author ), not being a first edition - not being the right first edition etc
But if you find one of these in your attic ...even not in such good condition
www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jun/04/ulysses-sells-record-price

get really excited ...

I paid £40 for A Circling Star by Mara Kay about 6 years ago. Fabulous book, must have read it 10 times as a kid.

And, if it's hardback you need a good dust wrap for the book for a good price.

I've just ordered "Grump and the Hairy Mammoth" for DD3 for less than £3 (2nd hand HB). Thinking of ordering "Miss Happiness and Miss Flower" on Kindle for £3.79.