Griffin Pirate Books
Anyone remember those? God, I loved them when I was a kid. The adventures of Roderick the Red, Gregory the Green and Benjamin the Blue. A little bit exciting, a little bit wistful, a little bit sad. The illustrations were absolutely amazing, rivalling the best of Pauline Baynes (the original illustrator for Narnia).
This is is an example of one of these books, the Island of the Mer People in it's original edition (not interested in any of the re-releases with all their marketing 'modernized for contemporary children' bullshit), written by Sheila McCullagh.
I'll post more of the original covers, as I find them. Incidentally, if anyone has them (1st Editions only!) and wants to sell them, get in touch with me please.
This is is an example of one of these books, the Island of the Mer People in it's original edition (not interested in any of the re-releases with all their marketing 'modernized for contemporary children' bullshit), written by Sheila McCullagh.
I'll post more of the original covers, as I find them. Incidentally, if anyone has them (1st Editions only!) and wants to sell them, get in touch with me please.
posted by Basil Epicurus at 9:41 AM
21 Comments:
I loved them too. The stories and the art haunt me.
I'd do anything to have the collection.
I am in the middle of trying to collect The Griffin Pirate Series books for my daughter.
She read these at infant school and is now 28 and would like them for her own children when they arrive. If anyone has some for sale at a reasonable price can you please contact me on sue@tottenhamsuck.com
Many thanks, Sue
I've been searching for these books too but the original editions are rare, pricey and often in very poor condition. Perhaps if we all email the new service by Faber (lostandfound@faber.co.uk) which re-prints old books they will do another print run. They need 50 different people to email them before they take the request seriously so spread the word.
I put the request in for a reprint. These were the first books that got me interested in reading and I would love to have them for my two young girls.
I'm looking for the full set as you need them all as the level of difficulty slowly increases from one book to the next at the end of the series you can read. Perfect!
Ryan
I absolutely love these books as well and have been searching for them for years. I tried to bid for a few of them on e-bay but it got too pricey and I've bought some of the recently published 'Three Pirates' series and they're just not the same, especially with the art being so different.
I'd love to have the collection and will put in a request as suggested.
Bets
I loved those books too. I agree the original illustrations were a billion times better than the zany "Quentin Blakified" versions they later put out. (Not that I don't enjoy Quentin Blake's artwork. He's cool, but I don't like seeing those wonderful Pirate books profaned by some Quentin Blake wannabe's efforts.)
Hi, I Don't know if this thread is current or not. I have odd ones of various Sheila McCullagh reading schemes as I begged and finally inherited some sets from an aunt who was a teacher. I have a few duplicates. Some pre-readers, some Dragon and Griffin Pirates, a few Flightpath to Learning and one or two Buccaneers.
I do have this set, and may be willing to part with it when my youngest is finished reading them.
My book covers don't say who illustrated it. I believe they are first edition as they don't even say when they were printed and the paper is so gorgeous. I am in Canada. My Grandmother has written her name in the books...M.J. Witherspoon.
I loved these books too & read them at primary school in Zambia, Africa as a 8 year old girl in the 1980s. The names of those pirates have always stayed with me, they were iconic! I'm so glad to find some other like minded nostalgic individuals who loved them as much as I did. X
I have quite a few copies of a lot of these books - both dragon Pirate and Griffin Pirate.
I have the full site on ebay
Sorry full set
I still have about 5 originals..the reprint campaign sounds a great idea!
I have a few that I found at a few different 2nd bookstores last time I was in london. I have since taken some of the images and re painted them and wrote some short stories for my grand children using their names instead if anyone is interesed please contact me and I will send you it in PDF. Also the copies I have I can scan them and send them as a pdf that you can get printed (or print yoursels
These were the books that started me on my love of reading that has continued through my life. I started reading them in my first year of primary school in 1962.
I also loved these books as a child. Infact they helped me to read as i was a bit of a slow reader at school.
I do have a few of these book which i bought off Ebay but the prices are just getting higher.
I have put a request to have them reprinted so fingers crossed x
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Dear Carly, Do you still have these books as a set in Canada? Has your child finished reading them? I would love to buy them if they're available (I also grew up reading them and would like a copy for the younger generation!). Please do reply to this post and let me know if possible.
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I read these books back in the 60's. I was lucky, or unlucky if you look at it another way, that my teacher was my dad. So i had my own personal set of the series
Hello , how can you tell it is a first exition? I found a number of books in an old school .
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