Nancy Drew Format Numbers

There are some sellers and collectors who put an emphasis on the format numbers as given in Farah's Guide. I have never memorized the format numbers, so when a seller states that a book is "format 10" or "format 15," I have no idea what that means. Of course I could get out my Farah's Guide and look it up, but it is not necessary information, in my opinion. I look at a seller's picture of the book to know what it is. I can usually tell to within a few years of how old a book is by the outside of the book—the color of binding, the color of the print on the cover, and how thick the book is. The format numbers are not helpful to me. I have wondered for a long time whether I'm the only collector who pays no attention to format numbers.

I know what "format 1" is because it is the blank endpapers edition. I know what "format 2" is since I have closely examined early printings of the earliest Nancy Drew books in my quest for first printings. After the first two formats, I have no idea what the format number means. This is coming from someone who has had a Farah's Guide for 11 years. I have to believe that collectors who do not have a Farah's Guide at all have even less use for the format numbers than I do.

In fact, Farah's Guide tends to give too much information. I do not mean this in a bad way; Farah is very thorough, and this is good. However, for the practical purpose of identifying how old a book is, much of the information is irrelevant.

Sometimes the format information is very hard to understand. Here is one example:

For the first printing of The Secret in the Old Attic, Farah's Guide states, "This is one of only two known volumes produced in Format #5 but with the cover color of Format #6. See the 1944A printing of volume #20 also."

I remember once devoting around an hour of my time to figuring this one out by comparing various books. Unfortunately, I have now forgotten what exactly I determined. The first printing is supposed to be grayish blue while the third printing is aqua blue. Okay, wait. The first printing of Crumbling Wall is the same format as the third printing of Old Attic (I'm looking in Farah's Guide as I type this), so it should be a different color. I checked, and my first of Crumbling Wall is a different shade of blue than my first printing of Old Attic, so I'm okay again.

If I can get confused, I can imagine how confusing it is to people who don't have as many books to check. Part of the problem is that there are no color pictures in Farah's Guide for people to see. Of course, this is because it would raise the costs, so I'm not criticizing the guide. It is a fact, though, that the lack of color pictures is a real problem when the colors become one of the important minute details.

I scanned my first printing of Old Attic and my first printing of Crumbling Wall:


Even if Farah were able to provide color photos, it would still be a problem. The two books in the above scan look almost identical in color. I tried editing the scan to make them appear different, but I was unsuccessful. What is seen above is the original unedited scan. You can only tell the difference in person, and even at that, it is quite subtle. The third printing of Old Attic is supposed to be the same shade as the first printing of Crumbling Wall, and the above scan shows the first printing of Old Attic also looks almost just like the first printing of Crumbling Wall. For all practical purposes, the first and third printings of Old Attic are the same. I'm sure many people buy a third printing believing that it is the first printing. How would one know the exact shade of blue from a seller's picture? What about people who have some degree of color blindness? Not only it is hard to understand, but in the end it may be too much information.

Now to go back to my original point, which is that the format numbers are not important to me. Here is an auction that mentions the format number in the title of the listing:

NANCY DREW #4 Lilac Inn GOOD WS DJ Navy Sil Ends F12 Item #180261136405

It states that the book is "format 12." Great—I had to click on the listing to see what it is. I can see right off from the dust jacket that it is a late 1940s dust jacket. Now I know. Why not just state that it is from the 1940s? This is what I mean when I state that the format numbers are not helpful to me as a collector.

I do want to know whether anybody else feels this way, or do the rest of you know all of the format numbers? Does it help you for the seller to give the format number in addition to the other relevant information? Post a comment and let me know.