Hidden Clues #5 The Dana Girls Revisions

Collectors frequently ask about whether the Dana Girls books were ever revised.

If you are not very familiar with Dana Girls formats, please take a moment to view my Dana Girls formats page.  The image seen to the right has been captured from my main Dana Girls page.

First, the only Dana Girls books that might possibly have revised texts are the white spine picture cover books from 1972-1979 (see  formats page for photos).  If the Dana Girls book is not a white spine picture cover, then it does not have a revised text.

Let's get more specific.

Dana Girls #1-16 and #18 were never revised down from 25 chapters, so each book only has the original text in all printings.  These seventeen books all still had the original text in the beige spine picture cover format, and all of them went out of print and never made it to the white spine format.

#19 and up only had 20 chapters in the first place, so those titles were not revised.  However, a few titles that made it to the white spine picture cover version had very slight revisions like just a sentence or a paragraph in the beginning of the book.  The order of the titles changed in the white spine format, and this caused them to have to correct minor inconsistencies like when the Danas returned from various travels.  Changing a sentence or a paragraph corrected the continuity problems.

#17 The Ghost in the Gallery is the only volume that actually was revised down from 25 chapters to 20 chapters.  The revised version appears in the white spine format.

You don't have to worry about making sure you have the original text for #1-16 and #18 in the original set, since all of those books have the original text.

#19 through #30 in the first set and their corresponding volumes in the second set are practically identical except for the very slight changes mentioned above.  It does not matter which version of the book is purchased, unless the fan is a format collector.

Since The Ghost in the Gallery is the only book that was truly revised, it is the only book where it matters which version of the text is purchased.

In closing, I find that many people who are currently collecting have forgotten how to use Internet searches to find the many series book websites and information pages.  Please consider utilizing the Internet to seek information.  Type any phrase or question that you have into Google.  You will be surprised at what is out there.

Offhand and without trying hard, I can think of at least seven advanced collectors (people with large collections who have collected for 20 or more years) who have extensive websites that cover just about anything and everything you would ever want to know about series books.  Please find and visit those sites so that we feel motivated to continue to pay the monthly hosting fees.  Having an informational site is pointless when active collectors do not use it.  Thanks.