Current Value of the Applewood Edition Nancy Drew Books

I recently posted on Facebook (see post here) about an overpriced eBay listing for Nancy Drew #1, The Secret of the Old Clock, and the listing actually sold.  Since I did not want the comments on my post to be just people bashing the seller for listing at such a high price, I added this comment: 

NOTE: The seller did nothing wrong.  DO NOT criticize them.  Sellers have a right to price their books however high they want.  It's not fraud.  This seller made no claim about the book's value or printing status.  The seller said this:  "Acceptable condition. This book has been read several times, is showing signs of advanced age, and the dust jacket is worn and badly torn."

As I expected, there were still some comments about the seller being wrong to price the book that high.

I have been selling books online for nearly 30 years.  I find it truly impossible to price books fairly in all situations.  Every seller prices wrong at times, and it's unfortunate that some people are so judgmental.  Pricing books in a way that is fair to both buyer and seller is difficult.

I had two-thirds of a set of Applewood edition Nancy Drew books in very nice shape to list.  I needed to decide whether to go with eBay or Etsy and how to price each book.  It's not easy.  I want to get a good price for myself, but I don't want to overprice them.

I went into eBay's Terapeak to see the highest prices paid for the Applewood editions in the last three years.  For the earliest titles, I ignored results for the first printings.  Beginning around #7, I went with highest overall.  I made that decision since my copies of the earliest titles are not first printings.  

I made note of the highest prices for each title, based on the above criteria.  I wanted to know the highest price so that I had the upper boundary for the value range.  The lower boundary is useless.  I try to list my books somewhere between 50% and 75% of the highest price, depending upon condition.

#1 Old Clock - $19.99
#2 Hidden Staircase - $18.00
#3 Bungalow Mystery - $19.99
#4 Lilac Inn - $24.95
#5 Shadow Ranch - $20.00
#6 Red Gate Farm - $19.99

#7 Diary - $41.95
#8 Letter - $59.95
#9 Twisted Candles - $29.99
#10 Larkspur Lane - $40.00
#11 Broken Locket - $44.99

#12 Hollow Oak - $59.99
#13 Ivory Charm - $54.99
#14 Whispering Statue - $50.00

#15 Haunted Bridge - $157.49, $66.99
#16 Tapping Heels - $84.99
#17 Brass Bound Trunk - $79.99
#18 Moss-Covered Mansion - $89.99

#19 Missing Map - $134.32, $114.99
#20 Jewel Box - $114.99, $110.24
#21 Old Attic - $142.95, $115.00

I felt that the highest sold price for #15 Haunted Bridge was an outlier, so I also noted the second-highest price which was more in line with the prices for the other books.  I also listed the top two prices for the last three titles since sometimes buyers and sellers overvalue the final books in the set.

I noticed that Twisted Candles sells for lower prices than the surrounding titles.  It could be that more copies were printed.

I inserted line breaks in the list to indicate where I feel that the overall scarcity increases.  There are approximately five levels of scarcity for the Applewood editions.

#1-6 very easy to find
#7-11 usually easy to find
#12-14 a little harder to find
#15-18 moderately difficult to find
#19-21 hard to find

But still, it's not that hard to find any of them at a reasonable price if you are patient.  The books are out there.  If you're looking to build a set quickly or want to acquire any book in the set immediately on any given day, you must expect to pay more on average for the higher-numbered titles.

I decided to list my books on Etsy.  I looked at sold prices on eBay for the last 90 days as I prepared to list each book.  When I create a listing on Etsy, I copy my new listings from my own sold listings, which are still available to me in my account.  I had my own sold prices to guide me as well.  These are the prices I went with for the books I listed:

#4 Lilac Inn - $14.99
#5 Shadow Ranch - $14.99
#6 Red Gate Farm - $14.99
#10 Larkspur Lane - $24.99
#12 Hollow Oak - $24.99
#13 Ivory Charm - $37.99
#14 Whispering Statue - $37.99
#15 Haunted Bridge - $49.99
#16 Tapping Heels - $59.99
#17 Brass Bound Trunk - $59.99
#18 Moss-Covered Mansion - $79.99
#19 Missing Map - $99.95
#20 Jewel Box - $99.95
#21 Old Attic - $99.95

I priced #13 and #14 at $37.99 to split the difference on the postage amount.  $34.99 would not qualify for the free shipping promotion, but I didn't want to price the books at $35 and trigger the free shipping promotion.  I also didn't want to price the books at $39.99 to where the buyer would get free shipping—but not really due to the higher price.  I went with a compromise so that both the buyer and I benefit partially.  There is a lot to consider when pricing books. 

My goal is to price the books somewhere in the middle—not too high and not too low.  As I mentioned earlier in the post, I want to price the books fairly for both the buyer and for me.  Sometimes I am wrong and let a book go for too low of a price.  Other times, I price a book too high and then gradually lower the price until it finds a buyer.  I do the best I can, and I don't stress over the mistakes.  It's always a bit of a guessing game, and I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it.  I go with my gut.

Public Domain Day 2026: Enter Nancy Drew

The original text versions of the first four Nancy Drew books enter the public domain today. 

1.  The Secret of the Old Clock, 1930
2.  The Hidden Staircase, 1930
3.  The Bungalow Mystery, 1930
4.  The Mystery at Lilac Inn, 1930

The first four Nancy Drew books in first printing copies from 1930

The entry of the first four Nancy Drew books into the public domain means that anyone can reprint the original versions of those books.  No one needs permission, and they won't have to pay licensing fees—so long as only the first four Nancy Drew books in the original text version are used.  Derivative works based solely upon the first four Nancy Drew books can also be created.

Certainly, some rogue publishers will reprint Nancy Drew books not already in the public domain or will create new stories that use components of Nancy Drew that remain under copyright.  There is no way of preventing this from happening.  All we can hope is that Simon & Schuster remains vigilant.  I am certain that they are interested in protecting their trademark of Nancy Drew.  I don't know how aggressive they are about searching for infringing content, but I believe they do issue takedown orders when they are made aware of infringing items.

Last year, I saw these AI-produced "Nancy Drew" books on Amazon.

The books were very short, barely enough to be considered books.  I could tell from the Kindle previews that the books had been created by AI.  The listings have since been removed, but I took a screen capture of the first page of one of the books.  Here it is.  (Click on the image in order to see it better.)

It reads well enough, but it is generic AI content that is not worthy of purchase.  Even though these books have been removed, others will show up in the future.  It will never end.  

This is why Nancy Drew books entering the public domain is not of great concern, in my opinion.  With AI, people have already been infringing.  The only change is that many people will now reprint the first four books, but buyers must decide whether the books are worth purchasing.  

In my case, I will not purchase any modern reprints of the first four books, unless they are very special.  I understand that leather-bound editions are to be released later this year.  I will almost certainly purchase those, but I will ignore nearly all other reprints.  

Low-effort reprints of series books have been available for many years.  The Mystery of the Fire Dragon has been in the public domain for years due to a failure to renew the copyright.  That's why this low-effort reprint exists:

Whenever it pops up on eBay, I ignore it, just like I ignore all the flashlight editions.  I plan to ignore all the new reprints as well.

Another twist is that slasher or adult movies based on Nancy Drew could be made.  

From Public Domain Day 2026 Is Coming: Here's What to Know:

[I]t's an especially strong year for female detectives—both young and old.  The earliest Nancy Drew mysteries from 1930 hit the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2026, as does the first outing of the genteel Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's The Murder at the Vicarage.  Maybe they can team up to solve the mystery of why Hollywood is only interested in using public domain characters to make schlocky horror films.

Indeed.  In 2023, the horror film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was released.  Something similar could happen to Nancy Drew, although there are restrictions since the derivative works must be based solely upon the first four original text Nancy Drew books.  

Also from Public Domain Day 2026 Is Coming: Here's What to Know:

In a case involving the now-public domain Sherlock Holmes, the court in Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. clarified that a copyrighted character begins to fall into the public domain when the first published story featuring that character enters the public domain.  Once that happens, "story elements—including characters covered by the expired copyright—become fair game for follow-on authors."  But copyrightable aspects of a character's evolution that appear in later, still-protected works may remain off-limits until those later works themselves expire.

Bess, George, Ned, Burt, and Dave remain fully protected under copyright—for now.  But 16-year-old Nancy Drew, Helen Corning, Carson Drew, Hannah Gruen, and other characters from the first four original texts can now appear in derivative works.

It's fitting that Helen Corning is the first of Nancy's friends to be tossed into the public domain.  Now, don't misunderstand.  I have always liked Helen Corning and have always wished she were in more books.  But...

Helen Corning was abruptly cast aside and forgotten after Edward Stratemeyer passed away.  The Nancy Drew series changed its trajectory beginning with The Secret at Shadow Ranch when Bess and George replaced Helen.  Since Helen was cast aside in 1931, it is somehow fitting that she is the first of Nancy's friends to be flung into the public domain.  Perhaps some new derivative stories will give Helen the attention that she deserves. 

Just hopefully they won't be horror stories with Helen turned into an axe murderer.

In closing, I must state that I am strongly in favor of past works entering the public domain.  We want the works to be available to future generations.  Many of the old series books are so scarce that they are about impossible to find.  Those books need to be in the public domain so that they can be made available in digital format.  

We are now exactly five years out from the entry of the book Beverly Gray at the World's Fair into the public domain.  That will occur on January 1, 2031.  That day can't come soon enough, because fans of World's Fair are rapidly aging out.  It's a shame that the book is so hard to find and pricey, since it's an important book in the Beverly Gray series.

For more information from Jennifer Fisher and James Keeline, please read these posts.  Both posts contain information about some exciting 2026 new releases.  

Nancy Drew & The Case of the Missing Copyrights

Happy Public Domain Day, 2026