bettyb

Hello Bettyb and welcome to the Forum!  I hope we'll hear more from you.

Thanks for the welcome, I am enjoying looking around the site.

Bettyb  I have been looking for high quality photos for the covers of Drina Ballerina and also Drina Ballerina, as I had lost me copy and bought a used book, but with damage to the front and back covers and I was hoping to print out a 'repaired' version, but so far the only places people have uploaded images are low quality and would not print.

 

 

Hi Bettyb Always good to hear from another Drina fan! I'm currently starting the Drina series for the 688th time (approx.!) and still enjoying them. I think the early titles were originally published in hardback by Hodder, starting in the late 1950s and going up to 1965 with Drina goes on Tour (published by Brockhampton) when the series ended. Jean Estoril (Mabel Esther Allan) then published Drina Ballerina in 1991. I think it was only published as a paperback as, by then, children's hardbacks weren't too plentiful unless you were a major author like Roald Dahl. My (almost falling to bits copy) is a large paperback pub. by Simon and Schuster edged in a sort of dark lavender colour with a picture of Drina and Igor dancing in The Breton Wedding. There was another series of small paperbacks also pub. by Simon and Schuster in1992 with red spines with the series No. on them. The are not very attractive looking. Also they do slightly edit words and phrases to make them more 'up-to-date'. Also, for some bizarre reason in Drina dances in New York they change the order at the start of the book and have Drina agreeing to go to new York before she hears about Jenny's father's bankruptcy. I don't see the point in this at all.

 

When you say you're looking for high quality photos for Drina ballerina (and which other title?) you don't mean copies of the original covers do you? I may be able to do a scan of my large p/b Drina ballerina if you're interested. it's not that large; 7 and three quarters by 5'' just larger than the smaller, newer versions. My other copies are a mixture of hardbacks with 1 or 2 of the large paperbacks. I've also got Drina's Dancing year in a Collins Ballet Library hardback, 1975. Some other Drina titles are listed so they may have published more of them. it seems to be an original text, not updated. I bought quite a few of the small paperbacks years ago when the Works was selling them for 99p each. Being so small they're good to pack away for holidays. Joan

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.The books do go back a long way yes, I actually saw a picture of one that was published in America in 1958 recently and it was the first book. It was hardback, light blue and had a what would appear to be a hand embroidered image of Drina on it - it was really nice.

I was surprised they had changed the stories slightly in the later publications - all of mine are the larger colourful ones that were published in the late eighties and early nineties. They are either Simon and Schuster or MacDonald.

I have only recently decided to re-read them having read them such a lot as a child, but then not for 20 years. I was really pleased that I still loved them, I would've been upset if I had spoilt such treasured childhood memories of them by reading them again and finding I no longer thought they were wonderful, this did not happen however and I still found them highly readable.

It is kind of you to offer to scan in the covers of your copy of Drina Ballerina, that would be much appreciated. I had copies of all the books, and I do not remember ever giving them away, but as I can not find them I decided to buy used copies to fill in the gaps in my set. The Drina Ballerina one has got damage on it, a label has been peeled off and damaged Drinas face, which might not bother some people, but I thought I could try to repair it if  I  got a good quality image and printed it out - the front and back - to make a dust jacket sort of cover. The only one that I could get that wasn't a completely stupid price was this one, so I bought it - and even with the damage I still prefer it to the later HodderWayland covers as they are very dark and not how I picture the character.

The other book cover, that for similar reasons I was looking for is Drina goes on Tour

I just came across this topic, and it was nice to read of other Drina fans.

The Drina series of books were my absolute favourite series as a child.

I loved these books and thought that they were such lovely looking books as well as being good to read, with slightly larger format books and different pastel colours for the covers. I remember seeing that they had been republished in the nineties, but were smaller and darker covers, with Drina looking more grown up on the the front covers. They did not look as appealing to me, but I am sure the stories were the same and just as good to read.

I have been looking for high quality photos for the covers of Drina Ballerina and also Drina Ballerina, as I had lost me copy and bought a used book, but with damage to the front and back covers and I was hoping to print out a 'repaired' version, but so far the only places people have uploaded images are low quality and would not print.

I have recently begun to read them again, and have been pleasantly surprised how well they've stood the test of time. There are obviously parts of the stories that 'date' them, but all the same I am loving reading them again and still find the books very addictive.