The Blythe Girls Series 1925-1932 by Laura Lee Hope

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 Blythe Girls series was published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1925 through 1932.  Elizabeth M. Duffield Ward wrote the series under the pseudonym of Laura Lee Hope.  Ward also wrote volumes 7 through 23 of the Outdoor Girls series.

Summary

This series is much darker than most vintage series books.  The Blythe Girls are three sisters who live alone in New York City.  Money is a primary concern, and the Blythe sisters struggle for quite some time before Margy and Rose obtain jobs and before Helen gains nominal success with her art.  The reader comes to expect trouble, strife, and disaster to confront the Blythe girls at every turn.  Shortly after the beginning of each book, something terrible happens to either one or more of the sisters or to one of their close acquaintances.  Rose faces the loss of her job several times.  Helen loses her paintings by destruction or theft more than once.  On one especially disastrous day, a plane crashes into the Blythes' apartment, destroying most of their furniture and forcing them to temporarily live elsewhere.

The series also has a recurring villain, Rex Pepper.  Rex is the spoiled nephew of Margy's employer, the eccentric Miss Dorcas Pepper.  At first, Rex's main vices appear to be his selfishness and arrogance, but in time, it becomes apparent that Rex is a criminal with no compunction.  Rex tries repeatedly to steal Miss Pepper's fortune, at one point even trying to have Miss Pepper committed to an insane asylum.  Rex often shows up in the most unexpected places and is always involved in an underhanded scheme.

List of Titles

   1. Helen, Margy, and Rose, 1925
   2. Margy's Queer Inheritance, 1925
   3. Rose's Great Problem, 1925
   4. Helen's Strange Boarder, 1925
   5. Three on a Vacation, 1925
   6. Margy's Secret Mission, 1926
   7. Rose's Odd Discovery, 1927
   8. The Disappearance of Helen, 1928
   9. Snowbound in Camp, 1929
 10. Margy's Mysterious Visitor, 1930
 11. Rose's Hidden Talent, 1931
 12. Helen's Wonderful Mistake, 1932

Value

Most of the books in this series are of nominal value provided that the book is missing its dust jacket.  The books are worth significantly more with nice, intact dust jackets.  The books that have intact dust jackets are generally worth $25 to $50, but keep in mind that the values are always changing based on supply and demand.  Sometimes a nice example with a dust jacket will sell for a very low price due to lack of interest.  The first four books in the series were reprinted by Whitman, and the Whitman reprints have nominal value either with or without the dust jacket.

As with other out of print series books, the last titles in this series are much more scarce and consistently sell for higher prices.  However, this series breaks one of the rules for pricing which is usually true for series books.  In most series, the final volume is worth the most because it went through the least number of printings.  Volume 12 in the Blythe Girls series is easier to find than volumes 10 and 11.  It is my belief that volumes 10 through 12 each went through only one printing, but the print run for each of volumes 10 and 11 was much smaller than the print run for volume 12.  Volumes 10 and 11 rarely come up for sale while volume 12 usually comes up for sale several times per year.  Volumes 10 and 11 are scarce for examples lacking a dust jacket and are extremely rare for examples with a dust jacket.  Volumes 10 and 11 are easily worth $200 and up with nice, intact dust jackets.  Volumes 10 and 11 are worth around $15 to $25 without dust jackets.

First Printings

The copyright page is the last place to look when trying to determine whether a Blythe Girls book is the first printing.  The copyright pages were never updated by Grosset and Dunlap, so all of the copyright pages have a list of titles that makes it appear that the book is a first printing.

If the book does not have a dust jacket, look in the back of the book after the end of the story to see if there is a list of Blythe Girls titles.  If the book has a dust jacket, look on the front flap and/or back panel for a list of Blythe Girls titles.  The last title listed determines the year of printing.  For instance, if the dust jacket's front flap lists to Margy's Secret Mission, then the book was printed in 1926, which is the year of publication for Margy's Secret Mission.  Or, if the dust jacket's front flap lists to Helen's Wonderful Mistake, then the book was printed in 1932, which is the year of publication for Helen's Wonderful Mistake.

For more information about this series, please visit my eBay series book website.