Sunday, March 26, 2023

Thoughts on the Value of Revised Text Nancy Drew Books

This is not the post that I was going to write about the scarcity of the revised text Nancy Drew picture covers.  I instead have some brief thoughts about my unlisted extras.  

I went through my unlisted extra Nancy Drew picture covers to pull books to list on Etsy.  The goal was to find a copy of each title that I don't have listed on Etsy currently.  I was unable to pull some of them.  For some of the books that I did find and pull, I took the last unlisted extra.  I'm short on extras. 

I purchase bulk lots when I can, but bulk lots typically yield only one copy of each title.  This only fills in the gaps briefly.  Certain titles are always more in demand, and those are the ones where I have fewer extras.  If I list the one copy that I have of each of those books, then they sell and are gone. 

I seldom lack for extras of #55 and #56.  I'm willing to pay more to acquire them, so I have no trouble acquiring extras.  I can pay more because buyers are willing to pay more.  Buyers feel that those two books are worth far more than the rest of the titles in the set.  

I took some photos of my unlisted extras after I removed one copy of each available title that I needed for Etsy.  Click on each image in order to see a larger version.








Notice that my photo shows four extras of #55 and three extras of #56.  Before taking the photo, I removed two copies of #55 (1st printing and double oval) and three copies of #56 (1st printing, 2nd printing, and double oval), so I had six of each.  As I stated, I tend not to lack for extras of #55 and #56.  I have more extras because I pay more.  When I list the extras, they sell fast.  I wonder if, despite the higher prices for #55 and #56, we are undervaluing them. 

I tend to have fewer extras of the revised text books in the range from #12 through #34, especially for many of the books from #21 to #34.  I am limited in how much I can charge for those titles, since buyers feel that they should be cheap. 

Most of these books are now 45 to 50 years old or more.  They are getting scarce.  The picture cover format is the current most desired format among Nancy Drew collectors.  Low supply coupled with high demand results in higher prices.  Or at least, it should.

The problem is that Farah's Guide has low values for most of the picture cover editions.  Many people go by the prices in Farah's Guide even though they are sorely out of date.  

Here is something interesting.  Farah's Guide has the same first printing value of $25 for each of #53, 54, 55, and 56.  Oddly, #53 and 54 sell for less than #55 and 56.  I contend that the first printing of #53 is the hardest to find of the four titles, yet it isn't worth more than #55 and 56.  If Farah were to state that #53 is worth more, then the price would shoot up.  

Many of the revised text books are worth far more than the stated Farah's Guide values.  There is something about a printed guide that holds great weight even when the guide no longer has accurate values.  If Farah were to update his guide with higher prices, then the prices would suddenly jump.  We saw that immediately after the publication of Farah's 12th edition many years ago.

My conclusion is that I'm going to have to start paying more for revised text picture covers.  This means that I will have to charge more.  Hopefully this will work out okay, since most people think that the revised text books in great shape are worth no more than $5.  That's so illogical considering that the current list price for new flashlight editions is $9.99.

I guess we'll see how this goes.  I'm certainly having trouble sourcing the books, and the condition just isn't that great.

2 comments:

Andy Drury said...

I agree that Farah’s Guide undervalues revised text PCs. I am of the opinion that the revised text matte PCs are worth what the OT PCs are listed for in the guide. Any idea when or if David Farah is going to update his guide?

Jennifer White said...

Around six to seven years ago, he said that he would work on it soon. I don’t know if he’s ever going to get around to it. I think if he ever does, it will be the final edition for sure.