Thursday, March 18, 2010

Dana Girls Stone Tiger First Printing

I upgraded a significant number of my Dana Girls books in a recent purchase. I was going through the books tonight, comparing my new ones to my old ones in order to decide which ones to keep. When I got to Stone Tiger, I noticed something that had never registered before.

The Dana Girls picture cover books from the 1960s are supposed to all have green ink on the top page edges. Both my old and new Stone Tiger books have dark blue ink on the top page edges. The ink is the identical shade used on the Nancy Drew books.

Both books list to Stone Tiger on the back cover. On the inside, both books list Nancy Drew to Moonstone Castle and Dana Girls to Stone Tiger. I presume that both books meet the points for the first printing.

I have had my old first printing of Stone Tiger for years, but I had never noticed the color of ink, at least not that I can recall. When I saw the color of ink on my new Stone Tiger tonight, I checked my old one, and both books have the blue ink. I know that I have had later printings of Stone Tiger in my possession in recent years, but I no longer have those books. It seems like I would have noticed if the ink were not green.

My assumption is that all first printing copies of Stone Tiger have blue ink on the top page edges. This is where you can help. I am curious as to whether I am right, but I have no books with which to compare. If you have a first printing of Stone Tiger, does it have blue ink on the top page edges?

If you have a later printing of Stone Tiger, does it have green ink on the top page edges? I want to clarify that I am only asking about the books that have the cover art pictured above. The white spine Dana Girls books from the 1970s have blue ink on the top page edges, and I am not asking about those books.

3 comments:

Lian said...

My only copy of Stone Tiger is not a first printing but lists to Silver Dolphin on inside page. It has green ink on top.

Paula said...

I have what I believe is a first printing Stone Tiger - lists to self inside and out and to ND Moonstone Castle printed the same year. It has blue ink on top.

Kansas Mad Man said...

Mine should be a first, as it does not list to self internally and lists to Moonstone Castle. It is blue-inked on the top.