Month/Year Code in Modern Simon & Schuster Books

Many of us purchase the modern Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books as they are released.  If you're like me, once you have each new book, you verify the first printing number line on the copyright page and then never look closely at the rest of the copyright page.  The modern copyright pages are quite crowded with information.

The Simon & Schuster books of yore (pre-2009) had much less information on the copyright pages.  I've often looked at those copyright pages, but I guess the information overload of the modern ones has caused me never to look at them closely, at least not until this weekend.

I've mentioned my obsession with the Keeper of the Lost Cities (KotLC) series, which is also published by Simon & Schuster under the Aladdin imprint.  I'm now searching for first printings.  I will get more into that in an upcoming post.  Here, I stick to what's relevant to the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books.

I have managed to acquire the second printing of the first KotLC book.  As I examined the number line, 2468109753, I saw what was printed on the line immediately above. 

Please click on all images in order to see them clearly.

I circled two areas of the page.  The book was published in October 2012 (see top circled area).  Look at the line immediately above the second printing number line (see bottom circled area).  That line ends with "0912 FFG."  I haven't worked out what "FFG" means, but I believe that "0912" indicates that this specific book was printed in September 2012.  That would indicate that the first two printings of KotLC #1 were run before the book was ever published.

You might think that "0912" is a suggested age range, like 9-12, but it definitely can't be that based on what I've seen in other books.  Let's look at some of those other books.

Here's the copyright page from one of the Keeper books I purchased last year.

This book has "0622 FFG" above the number line.  "0622" cannot be the recommended age range, since age 6-22 makes no sense for a children's book.  It must mean that the book was printed in June 2022.

I then started checking Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books.  I found that the first printing of Nancy Drew Girl Detective #39 has the expanded copyright page.  I have a later printing of #38 that also has the expanded copyright page, but I'm not sure if the first printing of #38 did.  All I know is that the expanded copyright page came into use sometime in late 2009 at the time of publication of either NDGD #38 or #39.

Here is the copyright page of the first printing of NDGD #39.  

It has "1009 OFF" above the first printing number line.  The book was published in December 2009, so it looks like the first print run was in October 2009.

Here is the copyright page of the first printing hardcover of Nancy Drew Diaries #24 What Disappears in Vegas..., which was published in January 2024.

"1223 BVG" is on the line above the number code.  The book must have been printed in December 2023.

This might be old news to many of you, but I found it enlightening.  This will help me in figuring out the age of modern Simon & Schuster books that are not first printings.