A First Edition of ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ – signed by the author – goes for £201 in an auction held in aid of BBC Children in Need

Bidding mounted steadily for a hardback first edition copy of ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’, signed by the author.

After 64 bids and it sold for £201

– I am quite blown away. Very many thanks to all our supporters –

100% of the money will be donated to BBC Children in Need – under the auspices of ‘Children in Read’ via the Jumblebee auction site where this illustrated book was listed under the categories of both ‘Autobiography’ and ‘Film & Television’.

To read a free sample of the first section of the 2nd edition – available as an ebook  – click here – then click on ‘Look inside’.

To read reviews on the 2nd edition of this book, please click here

To see more on the second edition of the ebook – click here

‘highly amusing and thoroughly enjoyable’ David Butters

Since the bidding ran so high, I will include a signed copy of the 2nd edition, entitled ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)’, published by The Lutterworth Press. This contains colour plates with more photos and additional stories that flowed down from the Lake District after the first edition came out.

I’m also including a hardback First Edition of my memoir ‘Funnily Enough’, which has a few pages on ‘Swallows and Amazons’ and a signed copy of ‘Ride the Wings of Morning’, which has noting about the making of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ but is all about living out the adventurous outdoor lifestyle advocated by Arthur Ransome, so there are four books in the bundle.

Although surpassed by Phillip Pullman and JK Rowling, I gained far more than authors such as Bernard Cornwall, Jeffery Archer, Sophie Kinsella and Maggie O’Farrell.

Being a filmography, ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons’ sat alongside the bestsellers, ‘Killing Eve’ by Luke Jennings and ‘Kay’s Anatomy’ by Adam Kay, which you can see by clicking here.

This auction of books has already raised £21,841 for BBC Children in Need, which is fantastic. It closed on Friday 13th November at 11.00pm.

If you need to know more about the auction, please contact Paddy Heron at Children in Read: childreninread@yahoo.com

This is the 7th Authors’ & Illustrators’ Auction in support of the 2021 BBC Children in Need Appeal. Charity Ref: 802052