The books are generally in nice shape, although some are in rough condition. The books smell like new books. They smell quite nice, so they must have been kept somewhere that prevented the books from taking on an old book smell. This is quite unusual for books that are 45 to 55 years old.
I love purchasing bulk lots, because this is how I have acquired most of my printing anomalies. As I pull the books from the box, I always check each book for anything that appears different. One copy of Blackwood Hall has the Tandy art matched with the revised text. I already have one, but this one is much nicer. I will have to keep both my copy and the new one, since my copy is an earlier printing even though in worse shape.
The lot also contains a Ski Jump PC where the red on the front cover doesn't look right, similar to the one pictured in this post. I will have to compare the two books to see how different they are.
The lot contains quite a few of the Nancy Drew book club edition picture cover books. Most of them are in pretty nice shape. I will have to make certain that none of them are better than my copies. I still have just a few that need to be upgraded.
As I looked at the book club editions, I suddenly realized that four of them have ink on the top edge. This is quite strange.
As I looked at the book club editions, I suddenly realized that four of them have ink on the top edge. This is quite strange.
My first thought was that some text blocks for the regular edition were bound in the book club edition bindings. However, all four state "Book Club Edition" on the title page, so that doesn't explain it.
My next thought, which is the most likely explanation, is that the original owner colored the top page edges with marker. I set out to prove that this is the case, since it just about has to be the explanation.
I found my Nancy Drew book where I know that someone colored the top page edges with marker. That book has smudges all through the book near the top edge that were caused from the marker application.
The above book is the book from this post. By the way, the seller of the above book always uses marker on the books she sells. I wish she didn't do that.
Back to today's book club editions. The four books show no sign of smudging like the above book. I then looked at the top edge of each fore edge to see how much ink has bled down. They have a small amount. I decided to compare them to other early picture cover books in my possession that did not come from this lot. In the below picture, the four book club editions with ink on the top edge are the four books at the left. The remaining six books are regular editions that are early picture cover books. Hollow Oak was placed on top to force the camera to focus.
Back to today's book club editions. The four books show no sign of smudging like the above book. I then looked at the top edge of each fore edge to see how much ink has bled down. They have a small amount. I decided to compare them to other early picture cover books in my possession that did not come from this lot. In the below picture, the four book club editions with ink on the top edge are the four books at the left. The remaining six books are regular editions that are early picture cover books. Hollow Oak was placed on top to force the camera to focus.
Some of the six books to the right actually have slightly more ink bleeding down than the four book club editions do.
My results are inconclusive, but I found no evidence to indicate that the owner used marker on those four books. On the other hand, I have to assume that marker was carefully applied even though the top edges look identical to the regular editions with ink on them. However, if marker was applied, the person who did it managed to match the color exactly.
Here is one last photo, showing the four book club editions to the left and four regular editions to the right. If the ones on the left were colored on top by hand by someone, they did an awful good job of making the books look like they came from the bindery that way.
Have any of you ever found Nancy Drew book club edition picture cover books that have ink on the top edge?
Here is one last photo, showing the four book club editions to the left and four regular editions to the right. If the ones on the left were colored on top by hand by someone, they did an awful good job of making the books look like they came from the bindery that way.
Have any of you ever found Nancy Drew book club edition picture cover books that have ink on the top edge?
9 comments:
Yes, though not Nancy Drew.
But I will add that I've never seen a top stain (or edge stain if all edges are treated) in black.
Olive, red, crimson, yellow, a medium green, aqua and other similar shades of blue (some of which are most certainly from fading). Even Navy from time to time. And of couree "gold" which is usually not unless it's a fine press like Easton or Franklin Mint.
Often these stains will be a printing point. Grosset did use stains from time to time, earlier more often than later.
I've also see "bleeding" from the staining process. Especially with cheap pulp papers.
Usually the text block is sanded along the edge(s) before staining and then passed under the marking brush on the production line. The light sanding allows for faster and more uniform pickup (application) of the dye.
Stains were applied to give the book a better chance of escaping dust stains as it sat on a shelf for years.
I offer no opinion on the four books shown here.
I will only add that the red in the linked photo appears much like uranium oxide reds in ceramics. Whether it was used as a pigment in inks is a question requiring research.
I also have a box full of these old Nancy Drew books and they have the top of the page stain too. Have you figured out what that means? I don't want to keep these books anymore so I'm trying to find out if there is any value to them.
This post concerns yellow books that do not have numbers on the spine. Additionally, the books have plain yellow back covers with no print on them and usually do not have the top stain.
Your books are almost certainly the regular editions, all of which have the top stain. The regular editions have the volume numbers printed on the spine. The top stain is not of any significance for the regular editions.
Go to eBay.com and run a search for "Nancy Drew." Click on "sold" in the left sidebar. Take a look at the results to get an idea of what books sell for that are similar to yours.
I was an avid Nancy Drew collector in early 70's when I was a child. Cleaning our basement today, I came across my collection.
I have a Sign of the Twisted Candles with no number on the spine (I wrote in #9). It does say Book Club Edition on the inside. Plain yellow back. The top edges are white.
I have a "The Quest of the Missing Map" copywrite 1942 that I got in 1978. The number is on the spine and it does not say book club edition. The top of the pages on this are blue. I did not color them.
I hope that helps.
LAdams9221@aol.com
Lori
I remember that back in the mid-2000s, the library I used to go to still had these older editions of the yellow ND books. This is actually quite odd because even back then, they had generally been replaced by the newer glossy yellow versions.
Anyway, all of the books had that black stain on top, which I guess was done to hide yellowing pages?
Hi, I inherited my mother's ND collection so I'm just learning about all this, and I have approximately 4,000 questions, but I will start here.
I'm a printer; when we do cards sometimes they get this finishing which we would call edge painting (perhaps in books it's different). It varies in amount of bleeding based on type of ink, paper, and skill of the person applying it. It's exactly the same idea as gold on Bibles.
Anyway. I have 10 that have black, one blue, and three that are olive greenish edges. They are almost all (i think?) the blue tweed covers. They do not say book club anywhere that I could tell. I wish I could attach a photo, feel free to email me if you'd like to see it.
Thank you for all this information it's been extremely helpful. Because of you I think I have a first edition in my pile!!! (Clue of the Tapping Heels)
Alex
I purchased a box of 50 vintage Nancy Drew books a few years ago from my library book sale and every single one of them has black edges on the top. So weird!
I have 2 Book Club editions - #13 and #27. One is the original 25 Chapters and one is the revised 20 Chapters. Both of these have white paper tops - no black ink. I think the black ink on the top of the Book Club Editions does not exist and may have been put on the books that you have.
I have 2 Book Club editions - #13 and #27. One is the original 25 Chapters and one is the revised 20 Chapters. Both of these have white paper tops - no black ink. I think the black ink on the top of the Book Club Editions does not exist and may have been put on the books that you have.
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