The Chalet School Series is a well-known series in the United Kingdom and is very popular with collectors. Many of the books are very scarce and are very expensive. The series is practically unknown in the United States, as it has never been published here. I became aware of this series during 2007, in a roundabout fashion, and wondered about it—but just a little bit. At first, I was not very concerned about learning about it. I would say that this was primarily because I had never heard of it and did not feel that there was any reason to learn about it. The Chalet School series never gets mentioned in the different U.S. forums for series book enthusiasts. Since nobody ever mentions it, I decided not to give it much thought. I am like many other collectors in that I am more drawn to books that I have heard of or that others have discussed as prized.
However, in spite of my lack of concern about the Chalet School series, I continued to have this gnawing feeling that I needed to learn about the series. I reasoned that a series originally published over the course of 45 years and for nearly 60 volumes that is very popular with collectors must be worth investigating. Over the course of several weeks, I tried to find out a few things by visiting a few Chalet School series sites, but I still could not make any determination about it.
I was completely lost as to what the series is like and how it compares to all of the American series books. Unfortunately, international postage is very expensive, and the U.S. dollar is very weak against the British pound, so the cost of these books is very formidable for a U.S. collector, even for the softcover books. In fact, the prices are downright scary. Even the very easiest to find books cost at least 5 pounds and postage runs around 7 pounds. So the cheapest books are at least 12 pounds, which coverts to around US $25.00. Generally, this would be for a softcover book. There is a problem with the softcover Chalet School books; many of them contain edited versions of the stories. I cannot justify paying $25.00 for an edited softcover book when I would prefer to obtain the original story. Now the hardcover Chalet School books can sometimes be had for around $25.00, but as a general rule, they will usually cost at least $40.00—and $60.00 and up is more realistic. These prices are for the easiest to find titles. The scarce titles cost in the hundreds of dollars.
I mention the prices because I finally decided that the only way to figure out whether this series is worth collecting is to buy few books and read them. Since I knew that I would ultimately only be satisfied with the hardcover books, I managed to acquire the first two titles in the series in hardcover with dust jacket. Each book ended up costing me around $50.00 or so. I have never had to invest so much in order to "try out" a series. So, was it worth it?
I read the first book, The School at the Chalet, and loved it. I am nearly done with the second book, Jo of the Chalet School, and have greatly enjoyed it. I have already begun to purchase additional titles, and I cringe to think of what the entire set will ultimately cost me. My plan right now is to purchase whichever books I can in hardcover with dust jacket. I have set a limit on what I will pay per book, so right now, most of the books are out of reach for me. After I have bought all of the books that I can from within my self-imposed limit, I will then proceed with either paying more for some of them or may settle for hardcover books that are missing their jackets. In the end, I may have to settle for softcover editions of some of the books. It will be awhile before I have to make that decision.
I am beginning to set up a Chalet School cover art gallery and information page for my site. Once I am satisfied with what I have composed, I will put it up for others to view.
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