Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished! discussion

(This is my third attempt at posting here, and each time GR erases what I wrote, so fingers crossed! EDIT: my edits are not being saved, so please bear with me if you are reading this in real time!)

Meta Mayne Reid wrote children's literature (historical fiction, time travel and fantasy), publishing 28 works between 1952 and 1980, much of it set in Northern Ireland.

She published several time travel books (I added them to the Children's Time Travel Fiction of the 1960s List myself just yesterday - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

With Angus in the Forest - The story of a girl who goes back into Irish history during the desperate times of the 10th century Danish raids and finds there an answer to her own problems.
The Glen Beyond the Door
The McNeills at Rathcapple & Sandy and the Hollow Book (there isn't much information on either of these books sadly, but they constitute a series)

She wrote a series about a family and their pet jackdaw as well:
All Because of Dawks
Dawks Does It Again
Dawks and the Duchess
Dawks on Robbers' Mountain
(these I added to the Lesser-Known Vintage Children's Family Series Listopia list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... )

Other books I thought looked particularly interesting are:
Phelim and the Creatures - her first book. Magical!
The House at Spaniard's Bay - it's already in my shopping cart......!
The Tinkers' Summer
The Noguls and the Horse - a girl narrowly survives a car bomb, but her kitten doesn't. This is listed on Jane Badger Books as a rare and forgotten horse book.
The Silver Fighting Cocks

But the series I am most interested in, and the one I think should be immediately republished is the one featuring Tiffany the magic cat and Hazel leaf magic:
Carrigmore Castle
Tiffany and the Swallow Rhyme
Strangers in Carrigmore
The Cuckoo at Coolnean
The Tobermillin Oracle
I'm not sure of the order here. Will update - I did splurge and order these secondhand. It was not cheap, and some of the books aren't in terrific condition, either.
EDIT: courtesy Wikipedia:
Carrigmore Castle, 1954
The Cuckoo at Coolnean, 1956
Tiffany and the Swallow Rhyme, 1956
Strangers in Carrigmore, 1958
The Tobermillin Oracle, 1962
FURTHER EDIT I've read them now, and the correct sequence is:
1. Carrigmore Castle
2. Tiffany and the Swallow Rhyme
3. The Cuckoo at Coolnean
4. Strangers in Carrigmore
5. The Tobermillin Oracle

I would like to thank Len Hayter for once again putting me onto an author I was unlikely to ever stumble across myself, and to the lovely Sem for uploading missing Meta Mayne Reid titles to Goodreads and providing further information on this criminally underrepresented vintage author. <3

So I read The House at Spaniard's Bay. It was excellent!! :D

link to my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have a question, though. What does this mean?
"Originally published by Faber at 18s. 0d."

The back cover has more of this nomenclature:
RECENT AND FORTHCOMING CHILDREN'S BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS
Biggles Scores a Bull
Capt. W. E. Johns
Published at 10s. 6d.
*
The Snowstorm
Beryl Netherclift
Published at 15s. 0d.
*
Lion Adventure
Willard Price
Published at 16s. 0d.
*
Space Winners
Gordon Dickson
Published at 16s. 0d.
*
Welsh Adventure
Viola Bayley
Published at 16s. 0d.

I thought perhaps a price at first? But 'd' is throwing me. Then I thought something about format or typeset? If anyone knows, I'd be grateful - I found a Wikipedia article about Hogarth press that uses this nomenclature for profits...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogarth...
This just confuses me further. Are they showing the net sales of that book, as modern publishers would cite the number sold (i.e. 'over one million copies in print!')? :S

Really looking forward to the other ones of hers! Because of the not insignficant cost of buying the Carrigmore Castle series, I have put it aside for my family to gift to me at Christmas. XD I think this is the only time I've ever bought myself a Christmas gift, but there it is. Really looking forward to unwrapping them Christmas morning!!! :D

Oh, is it just the book's retail price at time of release? 16 shillings; 10 shillings and sixpence?

I wonder why it's worded so. I've never thought of the printed recommended retail prices changing much, nor much cared...

So I should say that part of the confusion for me is no sense of the value of a shilling at this time, because the girls had to shell out 2 shillings each for entrance to the Ceilidhe and thought it was a waste of money. So 16 shillings for a book versus 2 for a dance...?! Is that right?

It is the retail price. There were 20 shillings in a pound sterling. A shilling now is 5 pence, so the book cost 80 pence, but then you have to factor in inflation and that's when it gets too complicated for me. However, 2 shillings for a ceilidhe (10 pence) - if that included drinks I wouldn't be complaining.

It didn't and it didn't - to tell would be a spoiler. XD But no, just entry price for the girls.

Thanks Len. :) And thanks again for putting me onto Meta Mayne Reid to begin with! :D

Currently reading Carrigmore Castle - Meta Mayne Reid is awesome!!! :D Very happy, and looking forward to reading the entirety of this series.

Beyond the Wide World's End
&
All Because of Dawks are available on OpenLibrary, bless it!

https://openlibrary.org/search?q=meta...

In 1967, puffin books cost 3/6 (three shillings and sixpence) . The slightly downmarket Armada paperbacks cost 2/6. Those were what I mostly bought, I didn’t buy many hardbacks, though I did buy the cheap (for hardbacks) Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge, with wonderful illustrations by Mays, which were 9/6 at that time.

Children's books

Phelim and the Creatures, 1952
Carrigmore Castle, 1954
All Because of Dawks, 1955
Dawks Does It Again, 1956
The Cuckoo at Coolnean, 1956
Tiffany and the Swallow Rhyme, 1956
Dawks on Robbers' Mountain, 1957
Dawks and the Duchesss, 1958
Strangers in Carrigmore, 1958
The McNeills at Rathcapple, 1959
Storm on Kildoney, 1961
Sandy and the Hollow Book, 1961
The Tobermillin Oracle, 1962
With Angus in the Forest, 1963
The Tinkers' Summer, 1965
The Silver Fighting Cocks, 1966
The House at Spaniard's Bay, 1967
The Glen Beyond the Door, 1968
The Two Rebels, 1969
Beyond the Wide World's End, 1972
The Plotters of Pollnashee, 1973
Snowbound by the Whitewater, 1975
The Noguls and the Horse, 1976
A Dog Called Scampi, 1980

Louise wrote: "In 1967, puffin books cost 3/6 (three shillings and sixpence) . The slightly downmarket Armada paperbacks cost 2/6. Those were what I mostly bought, I didn’t buy many hardbacks, though I did buy th..."

Eventually I'll get a handle on the old money. XD I had to sort out a lot of pricing for snapshot film development and bus and tram fare in this past one. It even had florins mixed in... and a lucky threepenny piece with a hole through the thistle. :)

Capn wrote: "Louise wrote: "In 1967, puffin books cost 3/6 (three shillings and sixpence) . The slightly downmarket Armada paperbacks cost 2/6. Those were what I mostly bought, I didn’t buy many hardbacks, thou..."

Well, at 2 shillings entry that was a bit cheaper than the cost of a Armada paperback, and about half the cost of a cinema ticket (4 shillings) so that’s not bad really.)

That's a useful metric! :D Thanks!

NOW is the time to reprint some Meta Mayne Reid!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe...
Irish Traveller culture to be promoted through school curriculum

I think nearly all of her books have (positive representations of) Irish tinkers in them! Notably The Tinkers' Summer, The House at Spaniard's Bay, and Carrigmore Castle