Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Cherry Ames Nurse Stories Series Information

This is the text of an eBay guide that I created in 2006.  The guides are now orphaned pages that can only be found through an Internet search.  eBay plans to delete the guides in April 2018.

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The Cherry Ames Nurse Stories were published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1943 to 1968.  The series was written by Helen Wells and Julie Campbell Tatham.  Both Wells and Tatham also wrote the Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess series.

List of titles:

  1. Student Nurse, 1943
  2. Senior Nurse, 1944
  3. Army Nurse, 1944
  4. Chief Nurse, 1944
  5. Flight Nurse, 1945
  6. Veterans' Nurse, 1946
  7. Private Duty Nurse, 1946
  8. Visiting Nurse, 1947
  9. Cruise Nurse, 1948
10. At Spencer, 1949
11. Night Supervisor, 1950
12. Mountaineer Nurse, 1951
13. Clinic Nurse, 1952
14. Dude Ranch Nurse, 1953
15. Rest Home Nurse, 1954
16. Country Doctor's Nurse, 1955
17. Boarding School Nurse, 1955
18. Department Store Nurse, 1956
19. Camp Nurse, 1957
20. At Hilton Hospital, 1959
21. Island Nurse, 1960
22. Rural Nurse, 1961
23. Staff Nurse, 1962
24. Companion Nurse, 1964
25. Jungle Nurse, 1965
26. Mystery in the Doctor's Office, 1966
27. Ski Nurse Mystery, 1968

Formats:

Volumes 1 through 22 were originally issued in hardcover with dust jacket.  The first printings of volumes 3 and 4 have dust jackets and frontispiece illustrations featuring pictures of Cherry in a military uniform.  The dust jackets and frontispiece illustrations of these two volumes were quickly changed to pictures that do not show Cherry in a military uniform.

In 1961, the series changed to the picture cover format, and volumes 1 through 22 were issued in picture covers with yellow spines.  The spines were soon changed to green, and volumes 1 through 27 were printed in green spine picture covers during 1961 to 1968.

Volumes 19 through 22 were reprinted in paperback by Grosset and Dunlap in 1972 and are renumbered as volumes 1 through 4.  Volumes 20 through 22 were reprinted again in paperback in 1978.

Availability:

The higher-numbered titles are more scarce than the earlier titles since each higher-numbered title went through far fewer printings than the earlier titles in the series.  Volume 27 is the most difficult volume to acquire.  There is also a volume entitled Cherry Ames' Book of First Aid and Home Nursing that was printed in hardcover with dust jacket in 1959 and was reprinted later in picture cover.  Cherry Ames' Book of First Aid and Home Nursing is also a more difficult to acquire volume.

Printings:

As with all other series books published by Grosset and Dunlap, the copyright page is the last place to look in order to date a book.  All printings of each book have the identical copyright page.  For instance, all printings of Cherry Ames, Student Nurse printed from 1943 until 1968 have the copyright page stating 1943 with no other dates or printings indicated.  One of the many ways that Grosset and Dunlap saved money was by never updating the copyright pages.

In order to determine the age of a book, find a list of titles present somewhere on the dust jacket or inside the book.  Do not use any list that may appear on the copyright page.  Since the copyright page was never updated, a list that appears on the copyright page will almost always be wrong.  The dust jackets will have a list Cherry Ames titles, usually on the front flap, and the inside of the book may have a list of Cherry Ames titles on a pre-text page in the front of the book.  Again, do not use a list that may appear on the copyright page.

Once a list has been found, make note of the last title on the list; this title will reveal the age of the book.  For instance, if the dust jacket or a pre-text page lists to Cherry Ames, Night Supervisor, then the book was printed in 1950, which was the year of publication of Cherry Ames, Night Supervisor.  Or, if the dust jacket or a pre-text page lists to Cherry Ames, Island Nurse, then the book was printed in 1960, the year of publication of Cherry Ames, Island Nurse.

For the picture cover editions, there will be a list of titles on the back cover of the book and another list that will appear on a pre-text list inside the book.  Refer to these two lists to date the picture cover editions.   

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