Sunday, April 29, 2018

Rick Brant Science Adventure Series by John Blaine

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.

This eBay guide was viewed approximately 9,200 times.

The Rick Brant Science Adventure series was published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1947 through 1968.  The series is also known as the Rick Brant Electronic Adventures and the Rick Brant Science-Adventure Stories.  The series was written by Peter J. Harkins and Harold Goodwin under the pseudonym of John Blaine.  Harkins and Goodwin co-wrote the first three titles, and Goodwin wrote the rest of the series himself.

List of Titles:

  1. The Rocket's Shadow, 1947
  2. The Lost City, 1947
  3. Sea Gold, 1947
  4. 100 Fathoms Under, 1947
  5. The Whispering Box Mystery, 1948
  6. The Phantom Shark, 1949
  7. Smugglers' Reef, 1950
  8. The Caves of Fear, 1951
  9. Stairway to Danger, 1952
10. The Golden Skull, 1954
11. The Wailing Octopus, 1956
12. The Electronic Mind Reader, 1957
13. The Scarlet Lake Mystery, 1958
14. The Pirates of Shan, 1958
15. The Blue Ghost Mystery, 1960
16. The Egyptian Cat Mystery, 1961
17. The Flaming Mountain, 1962
18. The Flying Stingaree, 1963
19. The Ruby Ray Mystery, 1964
20. The Veiled Raiders, 1965
21. The Rocket Jumper, 1966
22. The Deadly Dutchman, 1967
23. Danger Below!, 1968
24. The Magic Talisman, 1990
Rick Brant's Science Projects, 1960

Prices:

The purpose of this guide is to provide a starting place for buyers and sellers who are interested in the Rick Brant series.  This guide does not attempt to give the value of the different Rick Brant books.  The values are constantly changing based on supply and demand.  If I were to attempt to give values, they would soon be meaningless.  There are way too many factors to consider.  The only statement that can be made with certainty is that the last few titles in the series are much more difficult to acquire and do consistently sell for high prices.

If you are planning to sell some Rick Brant books and need to get an idea of the current pricing, search the recently completed Rick Brant auctions on eBay to get an idea of the selling prices.  If you are planning to buy Rick Brant books, you should also search the completed auctions to see what the selling prices are.

Formats:

Books 1 through 16  as well as Rick Brant's Science Projects were originally printed in hardcover with dust jackets.  Volumes 1 through 16 were also printed in picture cover during the 1960s.  The picture cover editions are books that have the picture printed directly on the front cover of the book.  Volumes 17 through 23 were only printed in the picture cover format.

Volume 24 was never published by Grosset and Dunlap.  It was finally printed in 1990 in a limited edition by Manuscript Press.

First printings:

Never use the copyright page to determine the age of a Rick Brant book.  The copyright pages were never updated by Grosset and Dunlap, so all of the books appear to be first printings when only the copyright page is considered.

The two easiest places to look in order to determine the age of a Rick Brant book are on the dust jacket’s front flap, if the dust jacket is present, and on an interior list of titles.  The last title present in the list of Rick Brant titles will tell you what the age of the book is.  For instance, if the dust jacket's front flap lists to The Whispering Box Mystery, then the book was printed in 1948, which is the year of publication for The Whispering Box Mystery.  Or, if the dust jacket's front flap lists to The Electronic Mind Reader, then the book was printed in 1957, which is the year of publication for The Electronic Mind Reader.

When the book is missing its dust jacket, refer to the interior list of titles, if present.  There is often a list of titles in the front of the book somewhere in front of the title page.  

For the picture cover editions, there is a list of titles on the back cover.  The last title in this list will indicate the year of printing. 

For more information, visit my series book website.

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