Hardy Boys Wanderer Books and Judy Bolton Picture Covers

I really enjoyed reading the Hardy Boys Wanderer books early this year, so much so that I decided that I wouldn't mind having them in hardcover with dust jacket.  However, I didn't want to invest the time and money to try to find them.  I have made no effort in trying to acquire any and figured that I would probably never own any of them.

This is because I know all too well how very difficult it is to acquire the complete set of Nancy Drew Wanderer books in hardcover with dust jacket in any type of decent condition.  I have been working on my Nancy Drew set since the early 2000s.  I do have all Nancy Drew titles from #57 through #78 in hardcover with dust jacket, but a few could still be upgraded.  While I enjoyed reading the Hardy Boys Wanderer books, I am not interested in spending years and a lot of money building a set of them in hardcover.

I spotted a small bulk lot of Hardy Boys books in which some books appeared to be hardcover books.  In my recent post about the hardcover Nancy Drew digest books, I stated that you should always "be observant" when looking for books.  That's how I find good books.

I clicked on the listing and examined the photos.  I saw a mixture of hardcover and softcover books, and I determined that the hardcover books all had dust jackets.  I purchased the lot and ended up receiving 11 Hardy Boys Wanderer books in hardcover with dust jacket and a Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Sleuths book in hardcover with dust jacket.

None of the books are library discards, which makes the purchase simply outstanding. The cost was also very inexpensive.

I will end up selling the extra copies of #78 and #79 as well as the Super Sleuths book which is in worse shape than the one already in my collection.

By the way, I still don't intend to seek out the remaining Hardy Boys Wanderer books in hardcover with dust jacket, but I wouldn't mind for more of them to fall into my hands.  I am very happy with the ones that I now have.

These books are like other items in my collection that I own due only to sheer luck. That's why I have owned the scarce Tom Swift game since 1998, and I don't even collect Tom Swift.  I just can't make myself part with the Tom Swift game.

I also happened upon a bulk Nancy Drew lot that contained four Judy Bolton picture cover books, #35, 36, 37, and 38.  I purchased the lot.  The lot was priced fairly for what it contained.  I received that lot today and was astonished about the excellent condition of the Judy Bolton picture cover books.  I knew immediately that all four are in better condition than the copies in my collection.

Here is a photo of the new books on the left and the four from my collection on the right.

I have owned the four on the right since 2002.  Prices for the high-numbered Judy Bolton picture covers were still quite steep back then.  Those four books cost me a total of $370.93 in 2002.  It is sickening to think that they cost that much and are worth just a fraction of that amount now.  The most sickening part is that I will be selling them and will likely get no more than half that amount, if even that much.

The upgrades only cost me around $20 each.  There is a law about collecting that holds true most all of the time:  The upgrade will cost less.  There are exceptions, but in my collecting history, the upgrades have almost always been much less expensive than the first copies purchased.