In the last two weeks, I have seen a large number of pointless questions. I have already posted some of them and will post more in the coming days. I cannot imagine spending so much time asking questions about random listings—questions that are not necessary. As I have stated many times, buyers need to educate themselves about what the books they seek look like so that they do not have to ask so many questions. Buyers need to study formats pages so that they know what they want.
The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene Item #160298881135
This auction is for a blank endpapers edition of the first Nancy Drew book. Here is the seller's picture:
Question: please discribe endpapers and first 6 pages and how many pages it has.It was not necessary to ask what kind of endpapers the book has since the book has no silhouette on the front cover. Nancy Drew books with no silhouette on the front cover also have no silhouette on the endpapers; that is, they have blank endpapers.
Answer: The first two pages are blank. unnumbered page 4 has a full page black and white picture with the caption,"There's a clock in front of you......" unnumbered page 5 is the title page unnumbered Page 6 has two other stories listed, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery. next is page iii & iv - table of contents Story has 210 pages. The end pages have these titles per page This Isn't All The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories The Lilian Garis Books Carolyn Wells Books Amy Bell Marlowe's Books for Girls The Blythe Girls Books Buddy Books For Boys Great Sport Stories Western Stories For Boys Ted Scott Flying Stories Then 2 blank pages. One has a faded stamp of M P 50
I do not understand why the prospective buyer wanted the seller to describe the first six pages. The buyer probably thought that the description of the first six pages would reveal whether the book is the first printing, but the answer to that mystery lies in the post-text ad pages, which the seller did list.
The buyer also wanted to know how many pages the book has. The book has the original text, which is true for all Nancy Drew books from this time period. The revision process did not begin until 1959, and this book is clearly from the early 1930s. Visit my formats page to see what 1930s-era Nancy Drew books look like. The above book cannot have anything other than the original 1930 text with 210 pages.
3 comments:
Okay, this is probably a longshot. But in the flashlight "Moss-Covered Mansion", when the orange-packing house is burning, a worker won't let Nancy help because she's "just a girl". Do you happen to know if the same scene happens in the original 1941 version? I want to know if possible for my blog, which is available through my sn, Caballos Muchacha.
Moss-Covered Mansion is one of the Nancy Drew books that was completely rewritten from cover to cover. The original text story is 100% different from the revised text story. The only vague similarities between the two books are the titles and the fact that both stories contain mansions that have wild animals in or around them.
The original text story has Nancy searching for an heiress. In the meantime, an artist and a strange mansion with odd noises figure into the story.
The revised text story has Nancy trying to prove that her dad's friend is innocent of sending a shipment of oranges loaded with explosives into the Kennedy Space Center. Nancy's clues lead her to the strange house next door which has wild animals in cages.
Since the original text story is completely different from the revised text story, the scene with the fire and the worker who refers to Nancy as "just a girl" does not occur in that story.
Your question interests me and has caused me to think about how sexism manifested itself in the Nancy Drew books. The early Nancy Drew of the original text books to me seems more free to be assertive and to do as she pleases. The revised text Nancy Drew behaves in a more conventional and restrained fashion. Nancy speeds and carries a gun in some of the early books, while in the revised books, Nancy never carries a gun and is careful never to speed.
There is some sexism in the early Nancy Drew books. For instance, in the original text of the first Nancy Drew book, Carson Drew looks at Nancy and thinks that a pretty girl like her is not "one expected to indulge in serious thoughts." That statement might make one think that the book was written by a man, but it was written by a woman, Mildred Wirt Benson. It is an interesting topic.
Thanks! Yes, I was trying to see if the flashlight editions or the originals were more forward with addressing issues of sexism and female independence. I think I only read the original "Haunted Bridge" (the Applewood Facsimile). Thanks for your thorough answer!
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