Thursday, November 24, 2011

A Dana Girls Book with a Different Color of Ink

I bought a large lot of Dana Girls picture cover books, which I received on Wednesday. The books were in very high grade condition, and I upgraded around 18 of the books in my set. In some cases, I chose to keep the book I already had if it was an earlier printing, with the drawback being that I was keeping a book in lesser condition.

In a couple of cases, I ended up keeping both books due to printing anomalies. The Secret at the Gatehouse is unusual because the ink on the top edge appears to be lavender rather than the usual green or uncommon blue that was mentioned in this post.


I wondered if the color would match any of the Judy Bolton or Connie Blair picture cover books.


The ink does not match at all. I then considered whether the ink could have been blue that has faded. Below, I have photographed the book next to a book with the blue ink on the top edge.


The ink does look like it could have been blue originally. The reason why I tend to be skeptical is because of the high grade of the lot in which this book was found. The rest of the books all have the green on the top edge, and the green is not faded like often seen with these books. Since the other books do not have faded ink, I feel like the ink on this book is probably not faded.

I also found a Stone Tiger in this lot which is of interest. In my post about the Stone Tiger I found with the blue on the top edge, I stated that I believed that it was the first printing. Pictured here is the book I just found along with the book with the blue on the top edge that was the subject of that post.


The book with the blue on the top edge lists to Stone Tiger on the back cover. On the inside, it lists Nancy Drew to Moonstone Castle and Dana Girls to Stone Tiger. The book that I just purchased also lists to Stone Tiger on the back cover. However, on the inside, it lists Nancy Drew to Moonstone Castle and Dana Girls to Lost Lake. I now believe that the book that lists to Lost Lake on the inside is the actual first printing.

With a series like the Dana Girls, we do not have a detailed price guide. In fact, we do not have a guide at all. With Nancy Drew, we know about all of the printing variations, but with other series, we have very little idea. I have seen many Stone Tigers that list to Stone Tiger on the back cover and inside. I have always assumed that they were the first printing. It appears that the true first printing lists to Lost Lake on the inside and is quite scarce by comparison.

Also of interest is the great difference in colors of the artwork from my two Stone Tiger books.


I like to find books which have variations in the cover colors and will often keep examples of these different variations.

5 comments:

Mike G said...

Jennifer,
Happy Thanksgiving! I just read this post and dragged myself away from the football game to check my Dana Girls collection. I found two books that I'm sure you will find interesting. The first is my copy of The Secret of the Gatehouse, which lists on the back to Sierra Gold Mystery and on the inside list to Lost Lake. It has an identical "lavender" color as yours, and doesn't seem to be faded down to this color.

The second interesting book is my copy of Mystery at the Crossroads. It has a dark blue top just like your Mystery of the Stone Tiger does. It lists to Sierra Gold on the back cover and Lost Lake on the inside listing (with the Nancy Drew list to Moonstone Castle). Have you found or heard of any other Dana Girls books which have the dark blue top other than Stone Tiger and my Crossroads book? My Crossroads book certainly appears to be a first printing of the picture cover, and the spine similarly reminds me of some of the first printings of the Hardy Boys picture cover books (where the spine appears more flattened rather than rounded, if that makes sense to you.).

Mike

Jennifer White said...

I couldn't remember one that I had found awhile back, but I was pretty sure I had a blog post on it. I found it.

Dana Girls Picture Cover Editions

I showed a picture of a Mysterious Fireplace that I had found with the blue ink. Take a look at the comments as well. I notice that someone else has also found a Crossroads with the blue ink.

I also have a Circle of Footprints with the blue ink on the top. It lists to Sierra Gold on the back cover. It lists Nancy Drew to Moonstone Castle and Dana Girls to Lost Lake on the inside.

It sounds like the books that have different colors on the top tend to be very early PCs rather than first PCs. According to the Hardy Boys guide, a different bindery was used for some of the very early PCs, and I assume that this information holds true for all Grosset and Dunlap PCs.

If so, perhaps the other bindery wasn't as careful with the colors of ink for the Dana Girls books.

If anyone can think of a Grosset and Dunlap picture cover edition that has lavender ink on the top edge, let me know. I know that Judy Bolton, Connie Blair, Biff Brewster, and Tom Swift do not have lavender ink. If I remember right, I'm pretty sure that Rick Brant has red ink. Peggy Lane has pink. Vicki Barr has blue.

A Candle to Read By said...

Jennifer, I would like to start a real collection of Dana Girls books. I have the first and a couple of others. I think I will try to purchase from your Bonanza site; do you have any recommendations about the best way to get started? Thanks. Janis Justus
www.athometogether.blogspot.com

Jennifer White said...

One great thing about the Dana Girls series is that you don't have to worry much about original text versus revised text. The only book that was revised down from 25 chapters to 20 chapters is The Ghost in the Gallery. Otherwise, you don't have to worry about it.

There are some very minor edits with the white spine books, explained better in this post.

As to what to collect, decide on a format and run with it. Or, you could go with a mismatched set if you don't care if they all match. I really like the beige spine picture cover books from the 1960s. The tweed books with jackets are also very nice. Both of these formats look very nice and have good quality paper, unlike some of the older books from the 1940s.

A Candle to Read By said...

Thanks, you have given me some great starting points.