Beverly Gray Series - Titles and Collecting Information

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The Beverly Gray series is a 26 volume series that was printed from 1934 until around 1955.  The series was written by Clair Blank, whose full name was Clarissa Mabel Blank Moyer.  The original title of the series was the Beverly Gray College Mystery Series, and by the 1950s the title of the series was shortened to the Beverly Gray Mystery Stories and sometimes the Beverly Gray Series.

The series was originally published by the A.L. Burt Company, and the Burt printings are rather difficult to acquire, especially in dust jacket.  Volumes 1 through 8 were published by A.L. Burt.  Grosset and Dunlap began publishing the series beginning with Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt.  One A.L. Burt title, volume 6, Beverly Gray at the World's Fair, went out of print when the series went to Grosset and Dunlap, because it was thought that the World's Fair setting dated the volume too greatly.  As a result, Beverly Gray on a World Cruise became volume 6 in the series, and it was as though Beverly Gray at the World's Fair had never existed.

The omission of Beverly Gray at the World's Fair from the Grosset and Dunlap catalog is regrettable, because it made World's Fair a very scarce book.  The events that occur during World's Fair are crucial to the series and should never have been omitted from the series.  Clair Blank even tried to get Grosset and Dunlap to either reprint the title or allow her to write another volume to put in its place.  Clair Blank knew that the missing volume left quite a gap in the series, but Grosset and Dunlap would not listen.  Fortunately, Beverly Gray at the World's Fair has been reprinted by American Web Books in the last few years, so getting a copy of the story is not as impossible at it once was.

The Beverly Gray series is a series which should best be read in order.  The series is like a soap opera with exciting events occurring constantly, and Beverly's adventures flow from one volume into the next.  The Beverly Gray series is one of my favorite series, second only to Nancy Drew.  This series appeals to my sense of adventure, even more than the Nancy Drew series does.

List of titles in the Beverly Gray series:

   1. Beverly Gray, Freshman, 1934
   2. Beverly Gray, Sophomore, 1934
   3. Beverly Gray, Junior, 1934
   4. Beverly Gray, Senior, 1934
   5. Beverly Gray's Career, 1935
   6. Beverly Gray at the World's Fair, 1935
7/6. Beverly Gray on a World Cruise, 1936
8/7. Beverly Gray in the Orient, 1937
   8. Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt, 1938
   9. Beverly Gray's Return, 1939
 10. Beverly Gray, Reporter, 1940
 11. Beverly Gray's Romance, 1941
 12. Beverly Gray's Quest, 1942
 13. Beverly Gray's Problem, 1943
 14. Beverly Gray's Adventure, 1944
 15. Beverly Gray's Challenge, 1945
 16. Beverly Gray's Journey, 1946
 17. Beverly Gray's Assignment, 1947
 18. Beverly Gray's Mystery, 1948
 19. Beverly Gray's Vacation, 1949
 20. Beverly Gray's Fortune, 1950
 21. Beverly Gray's Secret, 1951
 22. Beverly Gray's Island Mystery, 1952
 23. Beverly Gray's Discovery, 1953
 24. Beverly Gray's Scoop, 1954
 25. Beverly Gray's Surprise, 1955

Formats:

Volumes 1 through 8, meaning Freshman through Orient, were originally published by the A.L. Burt Company.  These books are 8 1/8 inches high and about 1 1/3 inches thick.  The books have a glossy frontispiece illustration, which features the same illustration as the front panel of the dust jacket.

Volume 6 went out of print when the series changed to Grosset and Dunlap, so the original volumes 7 and 8 became volumes 6 and 7.  The earliest Grosset and Dunlap printings are slightly more than 8 inches high and are about 1 1/3 inches thick, thus about the same size as the A.L. Burt books.  At least volumes 1 through 11 were printed in this tall, thick format by Grosset and Dunlap.  The early Grosset and Dunlap books up through volume 9 have glossy frontispiece illustrations that are the same illustrations as the front panel of the dust jackets.  By volume 11, the series had switched to plain paper frontispiece illustrations that depict a different illustration than the dust jacket.

The books became less thick through the early 1940s and by 1950 had changed to the tweed format like the other Grosset and Dunlap series books of that era.  Volume 24 was the last title that was issued in dust jacket.  Volume 25 was only printed in picture cover under the Clover Books division of Grosset and Dunlap.  Volumes 16 through 24 were also printed by Clover Books.

I have more information available about the Beverly Gray series on my website.