Buyer Confusion on Nancy Drew #4

This auction has a strange question:

27 Nancy Drew Books!!! Must See!!! Item #230277459020

Nothing can be read on the spines of the books in the seller's pictures, but the books are obviously matte yellow spine Nancy Drew books. The following question and answer are posted in the listing:

Question: Hello, will you please tell me what the wording says on the spine of one of the books and also the author? Thanks. J.

Answer: The wording on the spines of all these books sas "Nancy Drew Mystery Stories" Grosset & Dunlap, written by Carolyn Keene. All these books are copyrighted late 60's early 70's. They are all yellow hardcovers and vintage. Thanks for your interest.

It sounds as though the potential buyer needed verification that the books are actually Nancy Drew books. They look like Nancy Drew books to me:


This strange question reminds me of a strange comment I received from a potential buyer from years ago. I had a Kay Tracey book up for sale. Someone contacted me through my auction and informed me that it was very hard for them to find the listing. They normally search for books by the author's name, and I did not state in my listing that the book was by Frances K. Judd. They only found my listing by doing something random that I do not recall.

Certainly, it is best to include the author's name for any book, but how many collectors of Kay Tracey books are going to search exclusively for Frances K. Judd? I don't get it. I normally search for the name of the series. This is how I find Nancy Drew books; I search for Nancy Drew. I do use other search variations such as the author's name or even the publisher's name to pull up more listings, but the most logical way to search for a series is by the series name. Now, if I were seeking books by Stephen King, I would search with the author's name. It would be less productive to use the individual book titles.

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Here is another example of a seller not answering buyer questions correctly:

46 VOLUMES NANCY DREW MYSTERIES - CAROLYN KEENE Item #250276995220

Question: Which books have the blue end papers?

Answer: They all have the multi scene blue end papers. Thanks for your interest. Good luck!

No, they don't. The seller makes it hard to know what is offered by listing what is not offered rather than what is offered, and by not including clear pictures. I am able to determine that all of #39 through #54 are in this listing. #39 through #54 were never printed with blue multi endpapers, not even in the first printings. This seller's books cannot all have blue multi endpapers.

Question: If possible can you send some clearer pictures? Also, just to make sure... These are the books published in the late 50's through the 60's. Correct.

Answer: These are the ones published in the 50's and 60's. Thanks for your interest. Good luck!

None of the books are from the 1950s since the picture cover books were not printed until 1962. #47 through #54 were originally published from 1970 through 1977, so those titles are not from the 1960s. #1-46 might be from the 1960s, but I cannot tell for certain whether all of them are since the seller's photos are not very clear.