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Usborne's 'Unexplained' Series & Other Children's Supernatural Books

hospitaller said:
I'm not sure if I've posted here already (and too lazy to check!), but I have the great fortune of living near the best secondhand bookshop this side of Enniskillen, where I purchased the bound volumes of the Unexplained 1-9. How many am I missing? I know there's also an index. The lot cost me IR£18(UK£16) at the time.

not sure if that's a rhetorical question or not, but there's at least 18 volumes (my local library has the entire set:D)
UK£16 for the lot?! I don't think you could get even a single one for that here...
 
UK£16 for the lot?! I don't think you could get even a single one for that here...

You gotta be suckin' me in!*
The volumes I refer to are blue bound imitation-leather-cum-vinyl and numbered on the spine, being about an inch or so thick and containing coverless (presumably compiled by the collector) slotted in issues of the Unexplained.
And the question wasn't rhetorical! Being a bibliophile I would dearly love to complete this collection - will it really cost me that much!? :(

* the first person to identify the film from which this quote comes wins a 17th century French book P&P paid!
 
16 quid UK comes to around 30-something dollars here, hardcover books about that size sell for around $36 each second-hand, and for a series as venerable and rare as the Unexplained (at least in this far-flung outpost of civilisation) you could expect to pay a fair bit more :( I'll have a look tomorrow, at any rate.
Although, you being in a more literarily(?) sensible area of the world, I suspect you could get away with paying a lot less, in which case I shall quickly invest in a black balaclava and crowbar.
But can't you get the set by mail-order these days? I seem to recall seeing an ad somewhere (FT?) I had a poke around amazon, but got bored after the first 400 results, although I did find this...
And, er, i'm probably going to regret saying this, but your quote wasn't from some cheap porn film was it..?:D
 
your quote wasn't from some cheap porn film was it..?

By no means! Although I could see how one could envision such a quote emanating from the moustachioed lips of a guy called Stavros... :D
It's from a great war movie actually!
 
I certainly think that an Announcement would be useful!

Frides :)
 
It's cheering that Usborne are still going. I craved the UFO book but never saw it to buy it, and the library didn't stock it. The dinosaurs one was cherished, I did have that one.
 
Hopefully they'll reissue these?

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We should all but the reissue and flood their contacts with how much we want to buy the others!
 
I agree there - polite letters and emails saying how much we want to see the others would be great!
 
My kids' copies are probably in my loft. They were enjoyed almost to destruction so probably aren't worth much!
 
I had that ghost book....what memories!
The Borley Rectory page was especially memorable.

I loved those Usborne books....somehow I still have the UFO one...but these three which I also had are now lost.

I reckon that people who read these as kids are more likely to have Fortean interests as adults than those who did not read them.


Detective.jpg


Spy.jpg




Future.jpg
 
The Book of the Future cover implies that war will be continued far into the coming centuries. Either that or Star Wars continues to be an influence on culture. I think the contents were more optimistic.
 
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