I-Spy with my little eye... a book worth £20 that first cost sixpence

LONG car journeys used to be a major part of the holiday experience – and the series of I-Spy books helped to keep youngsters alert looking out of the window.

They started in 1948 as Spotterbooks. Costing a shilling each, the first edition was Spotting Famous Cars – with an autographed photo by comedian Tommy Handley given to the first 25 people who wrote in with proof they had spotted cars such as the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith. The books now fetch up to £20.

The I-Spy series was originally self-published by former head teacher Charles Warrell and was a derivation of the game known as ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with…’ In 1952, using the pseudonym Big Chief I-Spy, he brought out a series of pocket-sized I-Spy books at 6 old pence (2½p) published by The New Chronicle. Among the first titles were I-Spy At The Seaside, I-Spy on the Farm and I-Spy on a Train Journey. In good condition they sell for more than £10 each but if you have anything related to the I-Spy Club that enthusiasts sometimes signed up to, it can be worth far more.

David Neill, 66, from Bushby in Leicestershire, has been an I-Spy fan since a child when travelling in the back of his father’s early Hillman Minx. He now trades vintage ephemera through his website Paper & Plastics. David says: ‘The early ISpy books still represent great value. The illustrations are fabulous to look at.’

He adds: ‘Those that joined the I-Spy Club received a feather if they could prove they had seen everything mentioned in a book. Spot everything in all the books and you would have built a Red Indian head dress now worth £100.’

David says early I-Spy books that are unmarked can still be bought for under £5. He does not believe later editions made after the Dickens Press imprints of the 1960s are worth collecting.