Thursday, October 25, 2012

Nancy Drew 1940s Style Library Binding

The Nancy Drew 1940s Style Library Binding is the most difficult to find of the different Nancy Drew library editions.  I have been searching for them for ten years and have only managed to acquire #1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11.  I once lost an auction for #15.

When Megan Washburn contacted me wanting to know if I wished to see pictures of her books that I do not have in the 1940s Style Library Binding, I was extremely excited.

All books seen here were photographed by Megan Washburn and are owned by Megan Washburn.  Megan granted permission for me to share her photographs.

First, I want to show you Megan's photograph of all of her Nancy Drew books.  This is quite a handsome set of library editions.  Remember that you can always click on a photo to see a larger version.


Now, here are Megan's 1940s Style Nancy Drew library editions.









When I wrote about Nancy's Mysterious Letter, I commented that the books do not show Nancy on the spine.  The Hidden Staircase does show Nancy on the spine, so that statement is false.  The Clue of the Tapping Heels might show Nancy on the spine, but the image is more likely young Gussie Woonton.  The rest of the books stick to the theme of showing an important symbol from the mystery on the spine of the book. 

The Sign of the Twisted Candles has a twisted candle.  The Password to Larkspur Lane has larkspur.  The Mystery of the Ivory Charm has an ivory charm.  The Haunted Bridge has a ghost.  I love the unique spine symbols that each book uses.

Thanks for Megan, we now know that the 1940s Style Library Binding exists for Nancy Drew #1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, and 16.  At this point, I consider it likely that #4, 12, and 14 probably exist as well, although I cannot be certain.  The binderies rebound whichever random books were sent to them, so we have no guarantee that every consecutive title was rebound in this particular binding.  Furthermore, we do not know if any titles past #16 were rebound in this binding.

I am excited to know for certain that more books exist in this binding than the ones I have managed to acquire so far.  I am also encouraged by the knowledge that Megan has duplicates of some titles, which gives me hope that more of these books exist out there and that I may someday find them.

4 comments:

Miranda James said...

Are these editions one that were sold by the publisher in this binding? Or are they books that a library sent to a bindery to have rebound into a more durable binding? Some of this group look like they could have been done by the publisher, but the ones in the earlier posting look to me more like ones that an individual library had done.

Jenn Fisher said...

Love seeing these :) Wish more would come up for sale at eBay!

They are so neat :)

Jenn:)

Jennifer White said...

None of these books were done by the publisher. They do mimic the regular editions due to the line drawings based on the Tandy jackets.

The lavender spine Grosset and Dunlap library binding is the only kind that was done by the publisher. All others feature cover art created by the binderies and were used on rebound books.

Love seeing these :) Wish more would come up for sale at eBay!

You and me both!

Daniel said...

SOOOO jealous =) Hope to someday find some of these!