The A.L. Burt Company was sold to Blue Ribbon Books, Inc. in 1937. The Beverly Gray Blue Ribbon Books have "Burt" on the lower spine instead of "A.L. Burt." Some of the Blue Ribbon Books are gray like the original Burt editions, but the others have different colors of binding. I have one that is red and one that is pink.
The pink book is faded on the front cover and spine, and the back cover is a slightly darker shade.The red book has dark blue endpapers:
The pink book has very light blue endpapers that look faded:
Blue Ribbon Books, Inc. published the Beverly Gray series for a very short period of time as the series was soon sold to Grosset and Dunlap. All of the Burt books are quite scarce, but the Blue Ribbon Burt Books are even scarcer than the earlier Burt editions. Most examples that come up for sale are the earlier gray books.
16 comments:
Hey Jenn-
I have a few of the later Beverly Gray books, and I have the reprint of "World's Fair", but I have not actually read any. I'm one of those guys that wants to start at the beginning, and I am hoping to pick up some of the AL Burt copies at some point. Around here, it is very rare to run into any of this series, except for Clover copies.
Looking forward to my book- Did the copy you had of "Bagpipes" w/ the tri-fold? I wanted to grab that, but missed checking it before the auction ended. I looked in your Bonanzle store, but didn't see it-
Jack
Sorry-
Need to preview these before posting- I was wondering if the Drew Bagpipes you had with the tri-fold sold-
Thanks
I hope you are able to find some of the early Beverly Gray books sometime soon.
Bagpipes with the tri-fold did sell. The majority of my books did not, so I will be moving all of them over to Bonanzle. I listed a few last night, then decided that my time would be better spent packing the books that did sell so that they could be mailed today. Your book was mailed this morning.
Great Jenn- Thanks!!
Was "World's Fair" published by Blue Ribbon books as well?
World's Fair was probably published by Blue Ribbon Books but I can't say for certain. I have only had two different World's Fair original Burt books ever in my possession (the one I have and the one I originally had and sold).
I know I have seen some of the lower-numbered (like #1-4) in the Blue Ribbon books, so I would think that all of the Burt books would also have been published with the Blue Ribbon name.
Both the Burt books and the Blue Ribbon Burt books are so scarce that most of us have no idea what the variations are. I discussed this topic with another person who asked me what I thought. All I could do is make some speculations. We don't even know for sure how many different colors of binding there are for the Blue Ribbon books. All I know is that I have a red and a pink book. I think I may have heard of tan and other colors existing, but I could be wrong.
When A.L. Burt was sold to Blue Ribbon, I believe that their stock was included in the purchase. Thus, when Blue Ribbon began to publish the Beverly Gray books, they initially used the same gray stock that A.L. Burt had used. I have Freshman, Senior, Career and World's Fair in this format, and believe that the first eight books were published likewise. Blue Ribbon also printed dust jackets for this format, with the same illustration, different advertising, and "BURT" printed in a coloured block at the bottom of the spine (like Grosset & Dunlap would later do). I have two copies of Freshman with jacket, and have seen two copies of World's Fair (albeit just the fronts, not even the spines).
When Blue Ribbon ran out of the gray stock, they started using different, coloured boards. In addition to the red and purple books pictured, I have blue, green with black lettering and green with purple lettering. Excepting one possible anomaly (I have seen, but don't own, a copy of Sophomore with purple boards like Orient, but with "Clair Blank" printed at the very bottom of the book---I think the purple books were the first coloured ones to be printed, which could account for variation, and Sophomore was later printed in green), each book seems to have its own unique colour. I'm not sure if the remaining three books were printed with coloured boards---after Grosset & Dunlap bought the series and stock from Blue Ribbon, they printed a very few copies with gray boards (I haven't seen any, unfortunately). If Blue Ribbon did not use all of their gray stock for a given book, they may not have printed that books with coloured boards. I have not seen Blue Ribbon dust jackets on their coloured books.
Finally, and as said, Grosset & Dunlap then bought both the Beverly Gray series and stock from Blue Ribbon. As some of the stock was already imprinted with the Blue Ribbon name, there are a number of transition printings. For instance, already printed Blue Ribbon books were covered in G&D dust jackets (if memory serves, 1/16'' taller than the ones put on G&D books). Also, some G&D boards have A.L. Burt pages (perhaps held over and not used by Blue Ribbon).
Yellowback #55 quotes a letter which hints that G&D released the World's Fair copies acquired from Blue Ribbon. It is possible, although unlikely, that transition printings do exist, if G&D felt the want to use all the Blue Ribbon material (e.g. printing Grosset & Dunlap on boards bought from Blue Ribbon, or creating a dust jacket to put over a Blue Ribbon book). Possible, as they did it for others, but unlikely, as it was probably deemed uneconomical early on.
Luc
Interesting indeed Luc- You must have quite a collection!
I just finished "World's Fair". I have one of the reprint copies from AWB, and finally read it after looking here on the blog.
I enjoyed the book, though the pacing is quite different from other series books. The mystery is solved with quite a few chapters still left. It all seems to be setting up for "World Cruise", of which I don't yet have a copy. There is one on Ebay, a A.L. Burt copy with DJ, but I think the price is too steep. It was originally at a Buy It Now for 125.00, opening bid 115.00. He has lowered it to 95.00 Buy It Now, with an opening bid of 85.00. I believe it is too steep. What do you folks think? I really think if I'm patient, I can pick up a Burt copy cheaper, complete with DJ.
Jack
Here are the prices I paid for my A. L. Burt books with dust jackets:
#1 $40.00 in 2002
#2 $22.51 in 2007
#3 $54.25 in 2007
#4 $41.50 in 2003
#5 $54.25 in 2007
#6 $209.29 in 2002
#7 $79.66 in 2002
#8 $24.49 in 2001
The books purchased in 2007 were upgrades to ones I previously had, and I paid at least as much or more for the ones I previously had.
The prices for the Burt books with dust jackets used to be consistently around $100.00 or more each. It seems like years ago I tried to win some auctions and bid around $100.00 and lost.
In recent years, it has gotten easier to get the Burt books for lower prices. I feel like #1-5 in Burt jackets can be acquired easily for under $50.00.
#6 World's Fair is always difficult, and I feel like $200 to $250 is a good price for a decent dust jacket. I want to upgrade mine because it has a faded spine, but whenever I see a really nice one, the seller wants $500 to $1,000 for it. I refuse to pay that much.
#7 and #8 are not as difficult to find as #6, but they are harder to find than #1-5. I feel like $50 to $100 each for those two is probably still what they are worth.
I'm sure if you do wait you can get them for under $50. As you can see, I had to pay around $80 for #7 but was able to get #8 for around $25. It all depends upon how patient you want to be.
Well, I bit- I was becoming obsessed looking at the item page for "World Cruise", and after looking at your prices paid Jenn, I bought the book. I had to pay w/ my PayPal credit, to buy myself a month to actually pay for it, but I couldn't resist. What a sickness this book collecting is... I will take consolation from the fact that I got a Burt copy of "In the Orient" for 99 cents. It has no DJ, but I can probably pick up one from Jim Towey if I want one- Thanks for your help- When it comes, I'll let you know what I think!
You probably made the right decision. Whenever I'm obsessed with an item, I know I've got to go for it, or I'll regret it later. I still have a few regrets on books I let pass by.
I haven't been able to find much to buy for the last six months, but typically, I find more to buy than I can afford and selling extras is how I fund my collection. Right now I'm not buying or selling much. There just doesn't seem to be that much good stuff up for sale.
Which Beverly Gray books have you been able to purchase so far? Do you have the next one or two after World Cruise? Those books have the same story arc and have to be read in order.
I have "World Cruise" now, and "Orient", but I do not have "Treasure Hunt" or "Return", so when WC gets here I'll have something to read and will start looking for the others in the story arc.
I felt lucky to pick up my first Beverly Gray books today on eBay for $6--both "Freshman" and "Sophomore". Neither has a DJ, but since this is my first foray into the series I was content with what looks like decent condition copies with A.L. Burt Company on the spines.
A couple q's that I haven't found answers to yet:
1. of the Burt editions approx how many printings were begun of each book?
2. Without a DJ are there other ways to determine the printing no.?
I don't know how many printings the Burt editions had. Most titles, including World's Fair, had multiple printings. The earlier titles had more printings than the later ones.
Since the Beverly Gray Burt books do not seem to have the post-text ads, there is no way to discern most printings from each other. The only main difference is in the books that were printed under the name "A. L. Burt" and the last printings that were printed under the name "Burt" and "Blue Ribbon Books." If you acquire a book that only has "Burt" on the spine, then it is one of the very last Burt printings.
question. You list the gray ones and the red ones but what about the blue ones. My grandmother gave my almost the entire series (I have accumulated the entire series since then but they are mixed editions) and all the ones she left me the first half of the series are blue books.
It sounds like you have the blue Grosset and Dunlap edition books. Take a look at this page.
Beverly Gray Formats page.
Your books are probably either the 1947-1951 edition or the 1952-1954 edition.
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