Two auctions of very early Nancy Drew books in dust jacket closed recently. The seller provided photographs, but did not photograph as thoroughly as they should have. Parts of each dust jacket were never shown. The suboptimal photos likely held back the final bid prices.
This post covers the auction for The Mystery at Lilac Inn. The seller did not provide enough information for us to know which printing the book is, but the jacket is definitely the second printing jacket. The auction closed at $999.00.
Click on images in order to see them at a higher resolution.
To most people, this jacket would appear to be the first printing since the front flap lists just to Lilac Inn. However, the first two dust jacket printings of Lilac Inn list to Lilac Inn on the front flap. The first printing has Grosset & Dunlap general fiction on the reverse side. The second printing has series book lists on the reverse side. This jacket has the series book lists, so it is the second printing.
Both the first and second printing dust jackets of Lilac Inn are about impossible to find. And if you can't find the first printing, then the second printing is a mighty fine one to have.
I personally believe that the 1930A-1 dust jacket for Lilac Inn is harder to find than the 1930A-1 dust jacket of Old Clock. Yes, I'm serious. The 1930A-1 Old Clock dust jacket is the most sought-after dust jacket because of its status as the first printing dust jacket of the very first book in the Nancy Drew series. It will always be the most valuable dust jacket for that reason, but I contend that the 1930A-1 Lilac Inn dust jacket is harder to find and ought to be worth nearly as much as the 1930A-1 Old Clock dust jacket.
Let's look at past auctions.
In 2015, a Lilac Inn book with the 1930A-1 dust jacket sold for $4,302.22 (view blog post here).
In 2010, a Lilac Inn book with the 1930B-2 dust jacket sold for $2,330.00 (view blog post here).
It's safe to say that this recent sale of the second printing Lilac Inn dust jacket at $999.00 was a very good deal. Someone who was likely buying to resell was the second-highest bidder. This means that the second-highest bidder considers the book to be worth more than the closing bid price, since they were likely going to sell it.
I own both the first and second printing Lilac Inn dust jackets. I got very lucky in both cases through Buy It Now listings. Both jackets were paired with the wrong books, which is common with early Lilac Inn jackets for some unknown reason.
This is the first printing dust jacket (general G&D fiction on the reverse side). I paid around $300 for it.
The star seen on the spine in the above photo is not on the jacket itself. I place stars on the mylar covers of my first printings.
This is the second printing dust jacket (series book lists on the reverse side). I paid around $500 for it, and I acquired it before I acquired the first printing dust jacket.
I can't part with it because it's in better shape than my first printing dust jacket, and I consider the second printing Lilac Inn dust jacket to be just about as desirable as the first printing dust jacket.
Note: The seller relisted the book, and it closed the second time at $437.00. The buyer must have backed out or returned the book. It could be that they didn't realize that the jacket is the second printing, or it could be that the book is a later printing than they expected. The early Lilac Inn dust jackets are often mismatched with later printing blank endpapers books.
1 comment:
That’s an interesting observation, that Lilac Inn is harder to find than Old Clock. There are similar thoughts about the Hardy Boys #4 Missing Chums being harder to find than the holy grail of HB collecting, While the Clock Ticked. I‘ve sold one of each, but have seen more A1 Clock DJs than A1 Chums DJs, and many more first printing books. My guess: printing runs of #4 were smaller as hype from the breeder sets wound down, then started to pick up again before the Depression really hit.
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