Judy Bolton Series - Titles and Collecting 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 Judy Bolton series is a series of books published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1932 through 1967.  The series consists of 38 titles that were all written by Margaret Sutton.  This series is popular with collectors of Nancy Drew, the Dana Girls, Beverly Gray, Trixie Belden, and other similar series.

The ads for the series stated that each book was "based on something that actually happened," and Margaret Sutton did indeed incorporate events from her life into each book.  

The last titles in the series are much more difficult to acquire than the earlier volumes, due to fewer printings and lower print runs.

The Judy Bolton books were never revised like a few other Grosset and Dunlap series.  All hardcover Judy Bolton books have the original unrevised text of the story, regardless of printing, with the exception of The Vanishing Shadow which does exist in a slightly revised 1964 printing.  The 1964 text of The Vanishing Shadow does have 1964 on the copyright page, so it cannot be confused with the original 1932 text.

Additionally, the first four Judy Bolton titles were issued in paperback by Tempo Books, a division of Grosset and Dunlap, in 1967.  The Tempo books do have slightly revised texts.

List of Judy Bolton titles:

  1. The Vanishing Shadow, 1932
  2. The Haunted Attic, 1932
  3. The Invisible Chimes, 1932
  4. Seven Strange Clues, 1932
  5. The Ghost Parade, 1933
  6. The Yellow Phantom, 1933
  7. The Mystic Ball, 1934
  8. The Voice in the Suitcase, 1935
  9. The Mysterious Half Cat, 1936
10. The Riddle of the Double Ring, 1937
11. The Unfinished House, 1938
12. The Midnight Visitor, 1939
13. The Name on the Bracelet, 1940
14. The Clue in the Patchwork Quilt, 1941
15. The Mark on the Mirror, 1942
16. The Secret of the Barred Window, 1943
17. The Rainbow Riddle, 1946
18. The Living Portrait, 1947
19. The Secret of the Musical Tree, 1948
20. The Warning on the Window, 1949
21. The Clue of the Stone Lantern, 1950
22. The Spirit of Fog Island, 1951
23. The Black Cat's Clue, 1952
24. The Forbidden Chest, 1953
25. The Haunted Road, 1954
26. The Clue in the Ruined Castle, 1955
27. The Trail of the Green Doll, 1956
28. The Haunted Fountain, 1957
29. The Clue of the Broken Wing, 1958
30. The Phantom Friend, 1959
31. The Discovery at the Dragon's Mouth, 1960
32. The Whispered Watchword, 1961
33. The Secret Quest, 1962
34. The Puzzle in the Pond, 1963
35. The Hidden Clue, 1964
36. The Pledge of the Twin Knights, 1965
37. The Search for the Glowing Hand, 1966
38. The Secret of the Sand Castle, 1967

Prices:

The purpose of this guide is to provide a starting place for buyers and sellers who are interested in the Judy Bolton series.  This guide does not attempt to give the value of the different Judy Bolton 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 higher prices.

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

The illustrations:

Only volumes 1 through 10 were printed with the four glossy illustrations during the 1930s.  Volumes 11 and 12 were printed with one glossy illustration during the late 1930s and early 1940s, and during the same time period, volumes 1 through 10 were reprinted with only one glossy illustration.  Volumes 13 and up never had glossy illustrations; these volumes had the plain paper frontispiece illustration.

First printings:

Never use the copyright page to determine the age of a Judy Bolton book.  Grosset and Dunlap very rarely made changes to the copyright page.  Even when a list of titles does appear on the copyright page, the list will almost always not be accurate.

The two easiest places to look in order to determine the age of a Judy Bolton book are on the dust jacket’s front flap, if present, and on an interior list of titles.  The last title present in the list of Judy Bolton titles will tell you what the age of the book is.  For instance, if the dust jacket's front flap lists to The Mystic Ball, then the book was printed in 1934, which is the year of publication for The Mystic Ball.  Or, if the dust jacket's front flap lists to The Forbidden Chest, then the book was printed in 1953, which is the year of publication for The Forbidden Chest.

When the book is missing its dust jacket, refer to the interior list of titles, if present.  The earlier books from the 1930s and early 1940s have post-text ad pages with lists of titles.  The later Judy Bolton books will usually have a pre-text list of titles which will give you the same information.

Important:  When I refer to a pre-text list of titles, I do not mean a list that may appear on the copyright page.  Since Grosset and Dunlap rarely updated the copyright page, any list of titles that appears on the copyright page will almost always not be accurate.  If there is a pre-text list of titles that can be used to date a book, it will appear on a separate page from the copyright and title page, usually right after the endpapers.  However, with the early thick green Judy Bolton books, do not use an interior list that occurs in the front of the book but not on the copyright page.  For the thick green books, some of them have a list of titles on a page in the front of the book that is not the copyright page; these lists were also never revised. 

Identifying the age of a book:

It helps greatly to learn what the outside of a Judy Bolton book looks like for the different formats so that you can easily see by a seller’s picture how old the book likely is.  I have chosen not to add detailed pictures to this page since the number of pictures that eBay will allow on the guide is too restrictive for me to show you what you need to see.  I already have a very detailed formats page on my own website.  My formats page has pictures of all of the different types of Judy Bolton books.