Collecting Graham Oakley

(notes in progress!)

Try Amazon.co.uk - they often have a better selection available than Amazon.com. (If you use an Amazon link through my site and buy something, I earn a small commission)

ABEbooks is a neat site that you can use to search independent secondhand booksellers.

eBay is always worth a try. Just don't get into mad bidding wars that drive the price too high. ← voice of experience…

NB: there's another Graham Oakley who's now writing cute children's books - this is not the same person.

Picturemacs had a full, wrap-around illustrated cover. The print quality was a little smudgy, esp. for The Church Mouse.
Macmillan reprinted the complete series in the 90s with fresh plates (nice, delicate pictures). These had a coloured band down the spine.
Templar Modern Classics hardcover version of The Church Mouse (2008) has better paper quality but doesn't include its “The End” cartoon. Otherwise it's very attractive and well made.

When I started hunting for Graham Oakley's books in the 90s, the most expensive one was Graham Oakley's Magical Changes aka Magical Changes - the wordless turn-the-flap book which changes very surreal pictures into other, very surreal pictures (512 in total). However, the premium prices seem to have settled down - probably because of the availability of 512, the “French” version of the book which was re-released in paperback.

In 2009, the most expensive ones out there were the final two Church Mice books - Humphrey Hits the Jackpot and The Church Mice Take a Break - which have far fewer copies in circulation than the earlier books which had gone through at least a couple of reprints. The prices seem to have calmed a bit now, though. Last time I looked at this Amazon page, the hardcover of Humphrey Hits the Jackpot was going for 'only' 88 pounds.

The two Church Mice omnibuses can attract a premium.

The Living House can sometimes go for a lot but usually doesn't - this isn't a children's book, but the history of the creatures (insects, etc) which lived in an English country house over hundreds of years.

Set of picture cards featuring pictures from the Church Mice books and an original picture.

American children's magazine Cricket (1984 vol 12 (4)) includes a reprint of the entire Church Mice at Christmas in black and white, with margin notes explaining what things like Trifle and Parsons are.

Very rarely, Church Mice illustrations go up for sale on eBay. I can't afford them.

Is your cat too fat? is full of Oakley's realistic but comical cat illustrations, and features a cameo appearance by what looks very much like Sampson on the endpapers - before and after having a nice dinner.

Hetty and Harriet are just as cute as the Mice books, but they don't have as much of a following.