Purchasing a Bulk Lot of Dana Girls Books

Awhile back, I decided to downsize my Dana Girls set.  I kept all beige spine picture covers.  I sold all of the white spine picture covers except for #14 through 17.  I reduced my tweed set to where in most cases I have one copy of each book.  I did the same for the lavender/green and blue/red dust jackets. 

In the case of the blue/red jackets, I kept the earliest copy of each, especially if it had good quality paper.  This meant that sometimes I kept the lesser condition book and jacket since I went with the earlier copy.  It was tough, but I did it.

I recently saw a bulk lot of Dana Girls books with blue/red dust jackets.  After some thought, I purchased the lot.  The main reason was because I figured that some of the books would have good quality paper and that some of them might be upgrades to the copies that I have.  It was a crap shoot as to what would happen, but I figured in the worst case scenario, I'd at least be able to sell the books and break even.  I knew that most of them would not be upgrades, but I hoped that at least some would be.  

The books arrived, and this was what I saw when I opened the package.  (Click on each photo in order to see it in higher resolution.)

I marvel that sellers can just stick 80+ year old books with dust jackets in a box unwrapped and that most of the time, the books and jackets arrive undamaged.  It's amazing.

It's such a joy to open up a package like this one.  I immediately compared the books to what I had on the shelf.  Some were earlier copies.  Some were better in some ways and not in others.  Initially, I decided to keep four books from the bulk lot.

In the above photo, each book from my shelf is shown first followed by the corresponding book from the bulk lot that will replace it.  Going by spines only, you can see that these are not clear upgrades and look to be downgrades, but I have reasons for keeping the new copies over the old ones.  Here is the rundown.

While the spine isn't an upgrade for Lone Tree Cottage, the new dust jacket is much brighter.  

The new Lone Tree jacket is earlier, listing to Cobweb.

The new Locked Room jacket is also much brighter.

The new Locked Room jacket is earlier, listing to Gatehouse.

The new Locked Room book is in much better condition.

It was at this point while writing this post that I realized that I needed to once again compare the rest of the books in the bulk lot to what was on my shelf.  I needed to make sure that I had considered all details including book condition.  I'll get to that shortly.

The new Portrait in the Sand book and jacket is a clear upgrade in all ways other than the spine.  My old copy is water damaged and faded.

The new Old Well dust jacket spine has a hole in it, but it is otherwise in better condition, much more so that I have to keep the new one in spite of the hole in the spine.

The Old Well book situation is interesting.  The old copy, seen on the left, is in better shape.  The new jacket is the jacket that is in better shape.  Here's what is interesting.  Seen below is my old book, which is the book in better condition.  Look at the top sticky note that I have inside the book.  Remember that you can click on the photo in order to see it better.

The book is nice enough that I've already kept it and swapped jackets with later acquisitions.  I have owned the book since May 12, 2000.  The jacket currently paired with it is from a book I acquired on January 29, 2019.  I'm going to keep the book again and swap it with the jacket on the book I just received.  It's okay to do this when both books and jackets are from the same printing.  Some people might frown on it, but it's how I cobbled together my complete set of first printing copies of Nancy Drew #1-38 in dust jacket.

I then went back to my shelf and made certain that I had made the right decision not to keep the rest of the books from the bulk lot.  In most cases, the new books had poor quality paper, and my books had good quality paper.  I would never downgrade to a later printing with poor quality paper, even if the dust jacket is better.

I did decide to keep two more books from the bulk lot.  

In both cases, both books are the same printing, and the condition is very close.  When that is the case, I usually keep the old book just so I don't have to mess with changing my records.  

The Gatehouse jackets are very close in condition.  The old jacket has a large water stain on the reverse side, but the front side looks better than the new jacket.

Unfortunately, both books have issues, but the new book is not as bad.  Also, the paper is not soiled on the outside vertical edge of the new book, so the new book is just cleaner and nicer as long as I keep the jacket on the book so that I don't see the cover.

I will swap jackets on the Gatehouse books, keeping the new book but pairing it with the old jacket.  The books and jackets are all from the same print run.

The new Rusty Key jacket is brighter. 

The new book is a little better as well.

All told, I'm keeping four of the books and jackets from the bulk lot and two other books provided me the means to swap jackets to create an upgrade.  Almost half of the books from the bulk lot helped me with upgrades, so this was a good purchase.

The Dana Girls Guide Has Arrived

I received my copy of The Dana Girls Guide today.  

This guide details first and subsequent printings of all titles in the Dana Girls series.  The guide also gives some information on other formats, including international editions and library editions.

The format used matches the format in Farah's Guide and in Hardy and Hardy Investigations.  If you are familiar with either of those guides, then you will know what to expect.  I look forward to checking my books to see how many first printings I managed to find over the years when I didn't know what the actual first printing points were.

The guide does not have values, but anyone can get an idea of value by checking out eBay completed listings.  The purpose of this book is to figure out how early of a printing any given book is.

I also purchased the latest Hardy Boys guide.  I hadn't gotten around to it, so this was the perfect time to do so.

Ordering information can be found at the SynSine Press website.

If you think The Dana Girls Guide is a guide that you would want to own, don't delay getting your order in.  The guide should be available for a while, but it won't be available indefinitely.  There will come a point in the future when it will no longer be in print. 

The Dana Girls Guide

We have been waiting for the Dana Girls Guide for around 20 years.  Finally, it will be available in early November.  Please visit SynSine Press for ordering information.  

If you think you will ever want to have a guide to the Dana Girls series, then you need to go ahead and purchase the guide.  The guide will most likely not remain in print.  If you miss this opportunity, then you will have trouble ever finding it in the secondhand market.  Past SynSine Press publications like A Guide to Judy Bolton Country are desired by many who never had the chance to order when available, and those publications almost never come up for sale.  When they do, they are usually expensive.  Don't miss this opportunity.

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.

Dana Girls Series - Titles and Collecting Information

This is the text of an eBay guide that I created in 2006.  The guides are now orphaned pages that can only be found through an Internet search.  eBay plans to delete the guides in April 2018.
This eBay guide was viewed approximately 14,000 times.

June 5, 2006

The Dana Girls Mystery Stories series is a series of books published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1934 through 1979.  The series consists of 34 titles that were written under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene.  This series is popular with collectors of Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton, Beverly Gray, Trixie Belden, and other similar series.

The series was always advertised as "by the author of Nancy Drew books," and this message appears prominently on the cover of each Dana Girls book.  As a result, people who do not look carefully at everything written on the cover of a Dana Girls book may actually mistake it for a Nancy Drew book.   

The first 30 titles were published from 1932 through 1968.  The series went out of print briefly from 1969 to 1971.  In 1972, the series was reissued with new cover art.  The first 16 titles, as well as volume 18, stayed out of print permanently, and volumes 17 and 19 through 30 were reprinted with different volume numbers.  Four new titles were added to the series from 1976 to 1979.  The second run of the series ended in 1979, and the Dana Girls series is still out of print in the present day.

First Set (1934-1968):

  1. By the Light of the Study Lamp, 1934
  2. The Secret at Lone Tree Cottage, 1934
  3. In the Shadow of the Tower, 1934
  4. A Three-Cornered Mystery, 1935
  5. The Secret at the Hermitage, 1936
  6. The Circle of Footprints, 1937
  7. The Mystery of the Locked Room, 1938
  8. The Clue in the Cobweb, 1939
  9. The Secret at the Gatehouse, 1940
10. The Mysterious Fireplace, 1941
11. The Clue of the Rusty Key, 1942
12. The Portrait in the Sand, 1943
13. The Secret in the Old Well, 1944
14. The Clue in the Ivy, 1952
15. The Secret of the Jade Ring, 1953
16. Mystery at the Crossroads, 1954
17. The Ghost in the Gallery, 1955
18. The Clue of the Black Flower, 1956
19. The Winking Ruby Mystery, 1957
20. The Secret of the Swiss Chalet, 1958
21. The Haunted Lagoon, 1959
22. The Mystery of the Bamboo Bird, 1960
23. The Sierra Gold Mystery, 1961
24. The Secret of Lost Lake, 1962
25. The Mystery of the Stone Tiger, 1963
26. The Riddle of the Frozen Fountain, 1964
27. The Secret of the Silver Dolphin, 1965
28. Mystery of the Wax Queen, 1966
29. The Secret of the Minstrel's Guitar, 1967
30. The Phantom Surfer, 1968

Second Set (1972-1979):

  1. The Mystery of the Stone Tiger, 1972
  2. The Riddle of the Frozen Fountain, 1972
  3. The Secret of the Silver Dolphin, 1972
  4. Mystery of the Wax Queen, 1972
  5. The Secret of the Minstrel's Guitar, 1972
  6. The Phantom Surfer, 1972
  7. The Secret of the Swiss Chalet, 1973
  8. The Haunted Lagoon, 1973
  9. Mystery of the Bamboo Bird, 1973
10. The Sierra Gold Mystery, 1973
11. The Secret of Lost Lake, 1974
12. The Winking Ruby Mystery, 1974
13. The Ghost in the Gallery, 1975
14. The Curious Coronation, 1976
15. The Hundred-Year Mystery, 1977
16. Mountain-Peak Mystery, 1978
17. The Witch's Omen, 1979

The illustrations:

Only volumes 1 through 6 were printed with the four glossy illustrations during the 1930s.  Volumes 7 through 9 were printed with one glossy illustration during the late 1930s and early 1940s, and during the same time period, volumes 1 through 6 were reprinted with only one glossy illustration.  Volumes 10 and up never had glossy illustrations; these volumes had the plain paper frontispiece illustration.

First printings:

The copyright page is the last place to look when you are trying to discover the age of a Dana Girls book.  Grosset and Dunlap very rarely made changes to the copyright page. Even when a list of titles does appear on the copyright page, the list will almost always not be accurate.

The two easiest places to look in order to determine the age of a Dana Girls book are on the dust jacket’s front flap, if present, and on an interior list of titles.  The last title present in the list of Dana Girls titles will tell you what the age of the book is.  For instance, if the dust jacket's front flap lists to The Clue in the Ivy, then the book was printed in 1952, which is the year of publication for The Clue in the Ivy.  Or, if the dust jacket's front flap lists to The Haunted Lagoon, then the book was printed in 1959, which is the year of publication for The Haunted Lagoon.

When the book is missing its dust jacket, refer to the interior list of titles, if present.  The earlier books from the 1930s and early 1940s have post-text ad pages with lists of titles.  The later Dana Girls books will usually have a pre-text list of titles which will give you the same information.

Important:  When I refer to a pre-text list of titles, I do not mean a list that may appear on the copyright page.  Since Grosset and Dunlap rarely updated the copyright page, any list of titles that appears on the copyright page will almost always not be accurate.  If there is a pre-text list of titles that can be used to date a book, it will appear on a separate page from the copyright and title page, usually right after the endpapers.

Identifying the age of a book:

It helps greatly to learn what the outside of a Dana Girls book looks like for the different formats so that you can easily see by a seller’s picture how old the book likely is.  I have chosen not to add detailed pictures to this page since I already have a detailed formats page on my own website.  My formats page has pictures of all of the different types of Dana Girls books.  

The Blue Velvet Dana Girls Books

In 1954, the first eight Dana Girls books were issued in a format known as the "blue velvet" editions.  The name was chosen because the texture of the boards resembles blue velvet fabric.  The boards do not have fabric on it; rather, the appearance makes the texture look like fabric.

The boards look similar to the Grosset and Dunlap boards of the late 1940s, except that these books were printed in 1954.  Furthermore, the Dana Girls books of the late 1940s have solid green covers, not blue.  Even the Nancy Drew books from the late 1940s have blue covers that are a different texture than these books.

I now have the set of all eight dust jackets, although one dust jacket is matched with a tweed book.

The jackets are distinctive for the blue velvet books.  Each jacket has a code on the back panel.  The code appears in the lower right corner of an ad for Nancy Drew #1-31. These are the codes.

D.1.49
D.2.49
D.3.49
D.4.49
D.5.49
D.6.49
D.7.49
D.8.49

We don't know what the codes mean.  The volume number is present in each code, but what is the significance of the "D" and the "49"?

Here are pictures of the jackets.  The code is visible on the back panel of each jacket.

All of the jackets have the ad for Nancy Drew #1-31 on the back panel.  The front flaps all list Dana Girls to #16.  The back flaps have several different lists.

The blue velvet books come with two styles of endpapers.  Some of the books have the usual green endpapers that appear in the tweed books.

Some of the blue velvet books instead have endpapers that are grayish green.

It's strange that I have one blue velvet jacket paired with a regular tweed book.  On the other hand, it's not strange at all.  The jackets from two books were probably swapped back when the books were new.

Collectors have theorized about these books for years, but no one knows for certain why only #1-8 were issued in this format and why the jackets have special codes on the back that appear on no other Dana Girls books.

We have observed that the blue velvet books generally appear either in Canada or in the far northern United States near Canada.  Two of my books were originally owned by somebody who lived in Bangor, Maine.  My other books came from Wollaston, Massachusetts.

The main theory about these books is that they might have been Canadian editions, which would explain why they appear in Canada or near the Canadian border.

Another possibility is that these books were issued as some type of special promotion. They could have been offered through a certain retailer or as some type of book club. This is just speculation on my part.

Perhaps one day we will know exactly why this set of books was issued and where the books were sold.

Dana Girls Values

This is my attempt to place a value on the books from the Dana Girls series.  Keep in mind that prices are always changing based on supply and demand, and that even if my values are accurate as of today, they will not be accurate in the future. The values could go either up or down.  Furthermore, this is solely my opinion.

The early purple books with lavender and green dust jackets used to sell for $300 to $500 each.  The prices are now usually well below $100.  I checked recent listings, and I noticed that some sellers only try to get around $20 for the books with lavender and green dust jackets.  They succeed at only getting $20 since the auction receives only one bid.

I believe that the lavender and green jackets are still worth at least $100 each, when in excellent condition without fading, even though most sellers price them lower.  The lavender and green jackets have always been extremely hard to find, and they are still extremely hard to find in nice condition.

The purple books that are missing the dust jackets are worth around $20 to $25 each if the books have the four glossy internal illustrations.  The purple books that are missing the dust jackets and have only the glossy frontispiece illustration are worth around $10 to $15 each.

The Dana Girls breeder set dust jackets, described here, are the most desired of the lavender and green dust jackets.  These books with their dust jackets in excellent condition are each most likely worth $150 to $200 or more.  While a Dana Girls price guide has never been published, we do know the first printing points for the breeder set dust jackets.  This means that we can value them higher since we know that they are the first printings of the very first Dana Girls books ever published.  For other books, we do not know the first printing points, so placing a value on a first printing is about impossible.

The books with blue and red dust jackets vary depending upon whether the books are blue books with poor quality paper, purple books with poor quality paper, or purple books with good quality paper.  The most valuable blue and red jackets are the ones on purple books with good quality paper.  Those books and jackets are worth $50 to $75 each.  The blue and red dust jackets the other two types of books are worth $20 to $50 each.  Remember that these prices are for nice jackets without fading.  Most examples that surface are faded.

The tweed books with dust jackets do not tend to sell when they are priced at $40 and up.  The top range appears to be $20 to $30 with around $35 as a higher end price.  Sierra Gold in dust jacket used to sell for $100 and up, but the value has now dropped to around $50.

The tweed books without dust jackets sell for $6 to $10 each, depending upon condition.  Like with the Nancy Drew series, tweed Dana Girls books with poor condition dust jackets tend to sell for less than tweed Dana Girls books that are missing their jackets.  A buyer might be willing to pay $10 for a tweed Dana Girls book that is missing the dust jacket, but would not be willing to pay more than $5 for a tweed Dana Girls book with a poor condition dust jacket.

The Dana Girls beige spine picture cover editions are currently high in demand.  #1-16 and #18 went out of print when the series was reprinted later in the white spine edition, so those titles are particularly in demand.  Even though #17 was reprinted, it is in demand.  #19-26 are easy to find in the later white spine edition, and this has suppressed the value of the beige spine picture cover editions.

#27-30 were also reprinted in the white spine edition.  The later reprints may have suppressed the values of #27-29 slightly, but the value of #30 Phantom Surfer is not affected by the later reprint.  #30 consistently sells for high prices due to the extreme scarcity.

The middle beige spine picture covers are harder to find than the ones with higher and lower numbers, with the exception of #27-30.  I change my mind frequently on the exact range of titles that is hardest to find, but it is somewhere between #5 and #21, with the very hardest to find ones centered around #9-16.  Here is a list of all 30 beige spine picture covers with an attempt at pricing them.  The prices given are for books in excellent condition with very light wear.

#1 Study Lamp - $10
#2 Lone Tree Cottage -  $10
#3 Shadow of the Tower - $10
 #4 Three-Cornered Mystery - $10
 #5 Secret at the Hermitage - $12
 #6 Circle of Footprints - $15
#7 Mystery of the Locked Room - $20
#8 Clue in the Cobweb - $20
#9 Gatehouse Mystery - $20
 #10 Mysterious Fireplace - $20
#11 Clue of the Rusty Key - $20
 #12 Portrait in the Sand - $20
 #13 Old Well - $20
 #14 Clue in the Ivy - $20
#15 Jade Ring - $20
#16 Crossroads - $20
 #17 Gallery - $20
#18 Black Flower - $20
#19 Winking Ruby - $20
 #20 Swiss Chalet - $20
 #21 Haunted Lagoon - $20
#22 Bamboo Bird - $15
#23 Sierra Gold - $15
#24 Lost Lake - $15
#25 Stone Tiger - $15
#26 Frozen Fountain - $15
#27 Silver Dolphin - $20-$35
#28 Wax Queen - $40-$60
 #29 Minstrel's Guitar - $50-$75
#30 Phantom Surfer $100-$200

These prices reflect how I have priced my Dana Girls books in the last year or so.  I have experimented with pricing by gradually raising the prices.  I don't want to gouge, so I have raised prices gradually and tended not to go over $20 for most of the middle-range titles.  I suspect that some buyers would be willing to pay well above $20 for many of the middle-range titles, even though I have been hesitant to go that far.

First picture cover editions are worth more than later printing picture covers.  If a Dana Girls picture cover in excellent condition is worth $20, then the same book in a first printing picture cover is worth a higher amount, such as $30.

The first printing picture covers for #1 up to #23 list to #23 Sierra Gold on the back cover.  On the inside, the books list Nancy Drew to #39 Dancing Puppet and Dana Girls to #23 Sierra Gold.  I am not sure offhand about the points for #25 and 26.  #27, 28, and 29 list to #27 on the back cover, and #30 lists to #30. 

Here is a list of the 17 white spine picture cover books with approximate prices.

#1-13 around $5 to $10 each
#14 Curious Coronation $10-20
#15 Hundred-Year - $15-$25
#16 Mountain-Peak - $25-$45
#17 Witch's Omen $75-$100

Dana Girls pricing has tended to stay lower than Nancy Drew pricing due to the absence of a guide.  If a guide were published that placed a value such as $50 on the middle-range beige spine picture cover editions, sellers would price them that high and buyers would accept it.  We tend to be more cautious when an authority has not declared a value.  This also works in favor of buyers, who do not have to pay quite as high of prices.

I have not given examples of all formats here.  If you are someone who is trying to place a value on some Dana Girls books that you plan to sell, please visit my Dana Girls Formats Page to make sure you know exactly what you have.  Also keep in mind that well-worn books are generally worth only 10% to 25% as much as a copy in excellent condition.  If an excellent condition book is worth $20, then a well-worn book is worth $2 to $5.

Dana Girls Breeder Set Dust Jackets

The Dana Girls series made its debut on January 17, 1934 with the publication of the first three titles, By the Light of the Study Lamp, The Secret at Lone Tree Cottage, and In the Shadow of the Tower.

During the first four years of the series run, 1934 through 1937, the books were printed with lavender and green dust jackets.  The dust jackets are difficult to acquire, and as such, most collectors have not seen enough of them to have any idea what the exact first printing points are for each title.  A Dana Girls guide was written by one collector more than 10 years ago, but that collector lost interest before the guide was published.  As a result, we are completely on our own when attempting to figure out which books and jackets are first printings.

Generally, a dust jacket that has a list of titles ending with the title of the book itself is a likely first printing.  However, during the 1930s, some first printing dust jackets had lists ending with the previous title in the series.  We know this to be true for Nancy Drew, so it could also possibly be true for the Dana Girls.

My goal when purchasing the lavender and green dust jackets more than 10 years ago was to try to get jackets that were not faded but to also try to get early or first printings.  At the time that I was building my set, the lavender and green dust jackets were routinely selling for $250 to $500 each.  I settled for slightly flawed jackets that were not first printings for the majority of them.  The Dana Girls series was not important enough for me to want to spend hundreds of dollars for a dust jacket, especially since I had no idea which jackets were the first printing jackets.

I always assumed that the first printing jackets for the first three books list the first three titles in the series ending with In the Shadow of the Tower.  At that time, I thought that a Dana Girls dust jacket for any of #1-3 listing just the first three titles on the front flap was guaranteed to be the first printing dust jacket.  I managed to acquire one of them.  I then focused on other series and forgot about upgrading my Dana Girls books and seeking first printings.

Earlier this year I was asked about the first printing dust jackets for the first three titles.  I was asked whether all three dust jackets exist with three titles listed on the front flap and with the ads on the reverse side of the jacket.  Honestly, I did not know, since I had never given it any thought.  This person had bought one of the first three titles with a jacket listing to In the Shadow of the Tower, but the jacket did not have the reverse ads.

I checked my books and found my copy of The Secret at Lone Tree Cottage which has a jacket that lists to the third title and has the reverse ads.  I did not have the other two, but since I knew that all three books were published simultaneously, I concluded that all three must have been issued with dust jackets that list the first three titles and have the reverse ads. It would not be logical for one jacket to have the reverse ads and the other two not to have the ads if all three books were originally published at the same time.

Below is an example of a recent eBay auction for a copy of In the Shadow of the Tower with a jacket listing three titles.

The jacket does not have the reverse ads.  If it did, then the front flap would have green text along the right edge which states "LOOK ON THE REVERSE SIDE OF THIS JACKET."  The back flap would have green text along the right edge which states "PRESERVE THIS WRAPPER FOR FUTURE REFERENCE." Clearly, the above jacket does not have the reverse ads and is therefore not the first printing dust jacket.

The end result of all of this is that it made me curious enough to see if I could find the other two jackets with the reverse ads.  Finally, they showed up on eBay. Although the condition was not good at all, I purchased them for the sake of having proof that they exist.

Here are photographs of all three jackets with the reverse ads. Note that all three jackets have the green text on both flaps, list three titles on the front flap, and have the ads on the reverse side.  Remember that you can click on a photo to see a larger version.

 

Now I have all three jackets with the reverse ads.  My next thought was whether I could safely conclude that only one printing exists with the reverse ads.  To put it another way, are these jackets guaranteed to be the first printing jackets for the first three titles?

I checked Farah's Guide to see where the cutoff is for dust jackets that have the reverse ads.  No Nancy Drew books printed past 1933 have the reverse ads.  The last Nancy Drew to be printed with a reverse ads jacket was The Password to Larkspur Lane, which went through two 1933 printings with the ads and one 1933 printing without the ads.

Interesting...  The first three Dana Girls books are copyright 1934, which makes it rather strange that the jackets even have the reverse ads.  Sometimes series other than Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys went through format changes at slightly different times, which makes it not so strange.  My next task was to look up the actual date for which the copyright was issued for the first three Dana Girls books.  This information is available online for all of the books by searching The Catalog of Copyright Entries.

I discovered that the first three Dana Girls books were published on January 17, 1934, which places them at the very beginning of 1934.  This makes it likely that the books and jackets were printed at the very end of 1933, making the existence of the reverse ads not to be so strange.  While I cannot be certain, I feel that I can conclude that no more than one printing of each jacket exists with the reverse ads.

Even if two printings exist with the reverse ads, both printings would have to list Nancy Drew to The Password to Larkspur Lane.  The next Nancy Drew title, The Clue of the Broken Locket, was not published until August 8, 1934.  It is highly unlikely that another Dana Girls reverse ads jacket would have been printed that late in 1934.  In fact, notice that the photo I provided of a jacket that does not have the reverse ads lists Nancy Drew to The Clue of the Broken Locket.  Therefore, I feel that all reverse ads Dana Girls jackets are likely identical and list Nancy Drew to The Password to Larkspur Lane.

The next question is whether the books are the first printing books.  This could go either way.  Often, department stores would take jackets off of books and store them until the books were purchased.  This means that jackets did not always get placed back on the correct books.  Since we have no Dana Girls guide, it's anybody's guess what the first printing book points are.

Here are the post-text ads for the books that came with my first printing dust jackets.

Post-text ads for By the Light of the Study Lamp:  "This Isn't All!" with a line drawn around it in the shape of a box followed by Nancy Drew to Mysterious Letter and Judy Bolton to Seven Strange Clues

Post-text ads for The Secret at Lone Tree Cottage:  none

Post-text ads for In the Shadow of the Tower:  "This Isn't All!" with a line drawn around it in the shape of a box with no other post-text ads

I have no idea whether I have the first printing books, but I do have the first printing dust jackets.

Dana Girls Blue/Red Jacket Variants

During the original run of the Dana Girls series from 1934 to 1944, the books were first issued with lavender and green dust jackets and later with blue and red dust jackets.  The lavender and green dust jackets were used from 1934 to 1937.  The blue and red dust jackets were used from 1938 to 1944.

I recently bought some Dana Girls books with the blue and red dust jackets.  I was checking some of them up against jackets that I already had when I realized that two variations exist for certain titles.

I knew that at least #1-6 have lettering with red around the edges.  I knew that #7-13 have lettering with white around the edges.  What I did not realize is that at least some of the early titles also exist with white around the edges of the letters.

The dust jackets for #1-6 with red around the edges of the letters come on thick purple books.  For these same titles, the dust jackets with white around the edges of the letters come on the thin blue books. 

I have #7-12 in thick purple books with dust jackets that have white around the edges of the letters.  Since I have those titles in thick purple books, I assume that none of them were ever issued with dust jackets that have red around the letters.  #13 was only issued in a blue book with a dust jacket with white around the letters.

I have #1 and #3 in both versions, but I assume that #1-6 exist in both versions.  This is where the rest of you can help.  I have all of the first six in dust jackets with red around the edges of the letters.  Do you have #2, 4, 5, or 6 in dust jackets with white around the edges of the letters?