Saturday, September 12, 2009

More on Cover Art Anomalies

I recently mentioned that sometimes the cover design gets shifted up, down, left, or right from the normal position. An excellent example of this anomaly appeared in a recent eBay auction.

#1 NANCY DREW SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK RARE PRINT ERROR Item #330356386552


In this example, the cover was shifted significantly to the left. This caused part of the back cover to appear on the spine and part of the spine to appear on the front cover.

The book sold for $8.50, and the auction had two bidders. It is not easy to sell an ordinary copy of the first Nancy Drew book, so the bidders were probably interested in obtaining this particular copy.

3 comments:

Paula said...

Hi, Jennifer, I decided to put this comment here to try to stay on topic. Have you ever seen a Nancy Drew picture cover book with red ink on the top of the pages instead of blue? In a lot that I bought recently, I received a copy of Bungalow (latest cover art) like this. It lists to Cookbook and Double Jinx on the back, so it must be a 70's printing. No internal lists. This was a first for me and I haven't been able to find any reference to this abnormality anywhere. I wonder if it's "RARE"? ;)

Jennifer White said...

I think it is just volumes 1, 2, and that had the red ink on the top page edges for perhaps one printing in the 1970s. There are some special boxed sets from the 1970s that have a purple Halloween-type design one them, and I think the books came from those boxed sets. Here are some pictures from the Nancy Drew Sleuth website:

Boxed Set

Another Boxed Set

I own a copy of the second boxed set, and the books have the red ink on the top page edges. This is why I think the books with the red ink originally came from these boxed sets. I have once or twice found one of the books mixed in with regular editions like you did.

Since the books probably had just one printing, they are definitely scarce. People do collect them. I don't think the books alone are worth much more than an ordinary copy, unless they are still with the original boxed set. The boxed sets have sometimes sold for $50 or more each. It is possible to get a bargain for one of the boxed sets by searching carefully.

Now if you were going to sell them on eBay, you would say that they are "extremely, unbelievably RARE" and "never before seen by anyone." ;)

Paula said...

Thanks, Jennifer! You are so knowledgeable! I continue to find collecting Nancy Drews very interesting - there is always something new!