A Thick Judy Bolton Library Edition and Thoughts on Value

I was excited to find an online listing for a thick copy of Judy Bolton #2 The Haunted Attic that has been rebound in a library binding.  

The book has all four glossy illustrations.  This is not the first printing book (no birthday mention on invitation).  

"5-15-2008" has been written in the upper right corner of the front free endpaper.  The date has been covered with correction fluid, although it can still be seen.  The book does not appear to be a library discard.  There are no library markings and no evidence of past library markings.  The book has very light wear.

I assume that the book was rebound in 2008, perhaps by somebody for their private collection.  It certainly does not appear to have been circulated.

I am kicking around the idea of writing up another blog post about the values of the different library editions.  I see some common misconceptions where collectors do not understand that some library editions have little value while some others have great value.  The style of the library binding, the series name, and the condition of the book are very important and can wildly swing the value either high or low.

A book like the one featured in this post is certainly worth what I paid for it, which was $20.26 including shipping and sales tax.  It could possibly be worth a bit more, maybe $35 or so.  

I place the value that high for three reasons. 

1.  The binding is very attractive and falls under the category of what I consider to be a "handsome binding."

2.  The book has very light wear.

3.  The book is thick with the glossy internal illustrations.  Thick books don't show up in library bindings very often.

If this were instead a Nancy Drew library edition with all of the same characteristics (very light wear, attractive binding, thick with internals), then the book probably would be worth $50 to $100 in the current market.  Judy Bolton library editions won't sell for as high of prices as Nancy Drew library editions.  The series makes a big difference.

If this same text block (thick with internals) were bound in a plain library binding, like the one seen below, the value would likely be only $10 to $15 at the most.  The binding makes a big difference as well.

The book seen in the above photo was rebound from a tweed edition.  I place its value at $5 or so.  The bottom line is that all library editions are not equal.

Here are all of the thick library editions that I own.

Revered Series and Trying Out a New Series

This post contains the content from two old draft posts that were never finished.  The content is presented as originally written with some current thoughts included.

Draft title:  Revered Series (July 3, 2016)

Some series are revered in such a way that collectors who don't like those series feel like they have to hide that fact.  The series that come to mind are Ken Holt, Judy Bolton, and Trixie Belden.  I've known for a long time that Ken Holt and Trixie Belden are revered, but I recently realized that the same is true for Judy Bolton.

Someone on Facebook made the statement that Judy Bolton is treated like the Rosetta Stone.  I hadn't thought about it, but I recall hearing about an intense rivalry between Judy Bolton and Nancy Drew fans that occurred during the 1980s.  I didn't witness that, but Judy Bolton fans have a strong opinion about their favorite series.

December 2021 comment:  Ken Holt is a series where I do not feel like I can give a true opinion.  I have reviewed the books in this blog, but I probably wasn't entirely honest in some places.  I don't feel that I can be, since Ken Holt is treated as another Rosetta Stone series.  My introductory post gives more information about how I feel about Ken Holt. 

The "group think" where it seems that everyone loves a certain book or series or that everyone hates a certain book or series keeps the rest of us from speaking up.  Many people on Facebook think that everyone hates Nancy Drew #58 The Flying Saucer Mystery.  No, quite a few of us do like it.  We keep quiet as those who dislike the book expound on their views.  We aren't always comfortable interjecting our opinions into those discussions.

Draft Title:  Trying Out a New Series (August 14, 2016)

Readers of series books are always looking for new series to try.  We all have different tastes, so what appeals to one reader might not appeal to another.  We do know that if we can find a series that is similar to a favorite that we will probably end up liking it a lot.

Once we find a series that might be to our liking, we have to decide which title to try.  Sometimes this doesn't matter.  Other times, if the wrong title is selected, the reader might be turned off by a series that would otherwise be appealing.  I want to give some suggestions on series that are similar and which titles to try—or which titles to avoid.

The Nancy Drew series is a favorite of many series enthusiasts.  It makes no difference which book is selected, since the series does not progress.  The Mary Lou books are very similar to the early original text Nancy Drew books.

Other series that are considered similar to Nancy Drew are Penny Parker and to a lesser degree the Dana Girls and Kay Tracey.

If you like the Dana Girls, you will most likely enjoy Kay Tracey.

I also think collectors lose sight of the fact that recommending their favorite books in a series as the ones that a new collector should try first is often not the best approach.

December 2021 comment:  Judy Bolton is a series where fans often recommend the wrong books.  I've seen The Rainbow Riddle suggested as a book to try, since it is a favorite book of many fans.  The problem is that The Rainbow Riddle is a sentimental book that will only appeal to fans who have read the previous 16 books.  It doesn't work as the first book read.

Instead, fans should suggest Judy Bolton books that read well as stand-alone books and that were written in a fashion more similar to other series books.  The goal is to acquire new fans, so books that would appeal most to a new fan are the ones that should be suggested.  

I concluded my summary post about the Judy Bolton series with this statement.

For readers wishing to try out the series, no single book will be representative of all of the books due to the variance in premise and style.  My suggestions for the very best titles to try are #18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 36, and 38.  These titles are the ones that would most easily be enjoyed by people who have never read a Judy Bolton book before and have no knowledge of the series.

Judy Bolton's Ghost Parade Spirit Masks

Judy Bolton is the one series that has inspired me to purchase items that I would otherwise not collect and that have nothing to do with series book collecting or any of my other interests.  There is just something about the objects featured in the books that causes me to want to own some of those objects.   

Around 20 years ago, I found a ceramic Christmas tree in a thrift store.  I remember that I felt a little silly buying it as the purchase was impulsive and random.  A ceramic Christmas tree is featured on the cover of The Secret of the Musical Tree.

Recently, I was looking at a certain seller's listings on eBay.  They had listed some bulk lots of series books that had sold at a reasonable price per lot.  I started looking at the seller's other items and saw Balinese, Indonesian, and Mexican masks.  

I thought of the "Indian heads" featured in The Ghost Parade.

The more I looked at the seller's listings, the more fascinated I became.  I didn't want to purchase any of their masks, because they weren't Native American.  I found myself wanting to have some Native American masks like the ones featured in The Ghost Parade, particularly the ones featured on the cover of the picture cover edition.

I started searching for Native American masks.  I didn't want authentic Native American masks.  Cost aside, it would not be right to purchase something like that, and it probably wouldn't be legal.  So that was not a consideration.  I specifically looked for listings that were upfront about the masks being reproductions.

Finally, I found a seller of reproduction spirit masks.  I looked at the photos and thought about it.  I was trying to resist, but I knew that I was going to lose the battle in the end.  I had to have them.  

My internal battle went on for around two to three days.  Finally, I bought the masks, and they arrived today.  

The spirit masks are made from carved wood and have been painted.  They are very nice.  They each have a hanger attached to the inside, and I will hang them on the wall once I figure out where to put them. 

Hidden Clues #7 Judy Bolton Picture Cover Scarcity

Picture cover editions are a favorite format among current series book collectors.  The Judy Bolton picture cover books are particularly difficult to acquire.  It is believed that most of the Judy Bolton picture cover books went through just one printing, which is why they are so exceedingly hard to find.  Also, a bunch of remaindered picture cover copies were turned into library editions, which reduced the number of surviving picture covers.

#30, 31, and 33 were never printed in the picture cover format, so it is impossible to get a complete set of Judy Bolton picture covers.

I rarely ever see Judy Bolton picture covers in stores.  I have seen #1, 2, and 3 multiple times.  I have seen all of #36-38 at least once and some of them at least twice.  I have also seen #11, 18, and 23 one time each.  I have never seen any of the other Judy Bolton picture cover books in any stores ever since I began collecting series books in 1991.

Judy Bolton did not switch to picture cover until 1964, two years after Nancy Drew and the other Grosset and Dunlap series made the change.  The series ended in 1967, so the picture cover format was only in print for around three years.  That is a very short amount of time and is why most all picture covers likely had only one printing.  The Judy Bolton series had low sales during the 1960s, which is what led to the demise of the series.  It is quite unlikely that the majority of the titles had more than one printing in the picture cover format.

Some Judy Bolton titles were printed later during that three year period than other titles.  Grosset and Dunlap would have continued to use existing stock in the dust jacket format before printing any picture cover books.  The picture covers that are the most scarce, which is unfortunately a large number of them, probably were not printed until towards 1965 or 1966.

Grosset and Dunlap must have had sufficient copies of #30, 31, and 33 in the dust jacket format to avoid ever needing to print any picture cover editions of those titles.  That is why those three do not exist.

As I began this post, I wrote the following paragraph going by memory of what I remembered seeing for sale over the years.

#1 had at least two printings, since it has two different cover art and text versions.  #2, 3, and 4 might have gone through more than one printing since they aren't as hard to find as all later titles.  #5-29, #32, and #34 are quite hard to find, so I believe that they all had one printing each.  For some reason, I find that #35 through #38 are just slightly easier to find than most picture covers, but they almost certainly would have had just one printing each since they were printed late in the set.

I then decided to see if I could find evidence of multiple printings of any titles, in particular #1 through 4.

Below, I give the list information for the picture covers.  In red, I indicate the list information given in Clarke's Guide to Margaret Sutton's Judy Bolton Mystery Stories for variants that I do not own.  In blue, I indicate the list information provided by collectors who own the books with those lists.  All lists in black are from books that I have actually seen.  Notice that many of the books list to #36, which means that they were probably not printed in the picture cover format until 1965.

 #1 1932 text - to #34 back cover and no interior list
 #1 1964 text - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
                        to #34 back cover and #37 inside
                        to #34 back cover and #38 inside
 #2 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
        to #34 back cover and #36 inside
        to #34 back cover and #38 inside
 #3 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
        to #36 back cover and #36 inside
        to #36 back cover and #38 inside
 #4 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
        to #34 back cover and #36 inside
 #5 - to #34 back cover and no interior list
 #6 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
 #7 - to #34 back cover and no interior list
         to #36 back cover and #36 inside
         to #34 back cover and #37 inside
 #8 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
 #9 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
#10 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
         to #34 back cover and #37 inside
#11 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
#12 - to #36 back cover and #36 inside
#13 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
#14 - to #36 back cover and #36 inside
#15 - to #36 back cover and #36 inside
#16 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
#17 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
#18 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
#19 - to #34 back cover and no interior list
#20 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
#21 - to #36 back cover and #36 inside
#22 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
#23 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
#24 - to #36 back cover and #36 inside
#25 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
#26 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
#27 - to #34 back cover and #35 inside
#28 - to #36 back cover and #36 inside
#29 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
#30 - does not exist
#31 - does not exist
#32 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
#33 - does not exist
#34 - to #36 back cover and #37 inside
#35 - to #34 back cover and #34 inside
         to #34 back cover and #35 inside
#36 - to #36 back cover and #36 inside
#37 - to #34 back cover and #37 inside
#38 - to #34 back cover and #38 inside

This information reveals that #1 had at least four printings.  #2, 3, and 7 had at least three printings. #4, 10, and 35 had at least two printings each.

This information confirms what I suspected.  I find it especially interesting to confirm two printings of #35.  I have always considered #35 to be more common than the other high-numbered titles and have wondered about it.  Now I know that #35 did have more than one printing.

I completed my set of Judy Bolton picture covers in the early 2000s.  I spent at least $30 each for 19 of the books.  7 of the books cost between $20 and $30.  Most series books have gone down in value since that time.  The Judy Bolton picture cover values have not gone down, for the most part, due to the extreme scarcity of the books.  The value of #34-38 has decreased substantially due to reprints, but the titles that exist from #4 through #32 still retain value that is close to their historical value.  People who want a set of Judy Bolton picture cover books must be willing to pay high prices for some of the books in order to complete the set.

More Vintage Japanese Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton Books

I recently acquired two more vintage Japanese Nancy Drew books and three more vintage Japanese Judy Bolton books.

The Japanese books tend to use the original English titles somewhere on the outside of the book or jacket or possibly on the title page.  The text of each book is entirely in Japanese.

This edition of Nancy Drew #12, The Message in the Hollow Oak, was published by Kodansha in 1958.  The book has a dust jacket, and the dust jacket has the original cellophane cover on it.

Dust jacket with cellophane cover

Dust jacket without cellophane cover

Cellophane cover

Front panel of dust jacket

Front cover of book

Back cover of book

Frontispiece

This edition of Nancy Drew #19, The Quest of the Missing Map, was published by Poplar in 1968.  The book and jacket have the same cover art.

Front panel of dust jacket

The cover art is a bit creepy.  That looks like a monster's hand reaching for the map.  The cover art gives the impression that The Quest of the Missing Map is a horror story rather than a mystery.  Perhaps Godzilla makes an appearance.

Frontispiece

This edition of Judy Bolton #1, The Vanishing Shadow, was published by Kodansha in 1957.

Book with dust jacket

Front panel of dust jacket

Front cover of book

Back cover of book

Frontispiece

Since the Nancy Drew Kodansha edition pictured at the beginning of this post has a cellophane wrapper on the dust jacket, I assume that this Judy Bolton book originally had one as well.

This next edition of Judy Bolton #1, The Vanishing Shadow, was published by Poplar in 1968.  The book and jacket have the same cover art.

Front panel of dust jacket

Frontispiece

This edition of Judy Bolton #16, The Secret of the Barred Window, is a hardcover book in a slipcase.  It was published in 1964.

Front of slipcase and front cover of book

Back of slipcase

Frontispiece

Previous posts:

2018: The Year of the Japanese Series Book
Vintage Japanese Judy Bolton Books Part 1
Vintage Japanese Judy Bolton Books Part 2
Modern Softcover Japanese Nancy Drew Books
Older Japanese Nancy Drew Books Part 1
Older Japanese Nancy Drew Books Part 2
Older Japanese Nancy Drew Books Part 3

Vintage Japanese Judy Bolton Books Part 2

Here are two editions of The Yellow Phantom.

Front of 1968 and 1971 slipcases

Back of 1968 and 1971 slipcases

Here are various editions of The Riddle of the Double Ring.

Front of 1965 and 1972 slipcases

Back of 1965 and 1972 slipcases

1980 dust jacket

Here are various editions of The Clue in the Patchwork Quilt.

Front of 1964 and 1971 slipcases

Back of 1964 and 1971 slipcases

1981 dust jacket

Here are two editions of The Secret of the Barred Window.

1969 slipcase

1988 dust jacket

Vintage Japanese Judy Bolton Books Part 1

Judy Bolton was published in Japanese in hardcover with either slipcases or dust jackets during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.  The bare books have generic covers, seen in the photo below.

The following books are various editions of The Haunted Attic.

Front of 1966 and 1972 slipcases

Back of 1966 and 1972 slipcases

1983 dust jacket

Here are various editions of The Invisible Chimes.

Front of 1966 and 1972 slipcases

Back of 1966 and 1972 slipcases

1976 dust jacket

Here are various editions of Seven Strange Clues.

Front of 1965 and 1969 slipcases

Back of 1965 and 1969 slipcases

1983 dust jacket

Here are two editions of The Voice in the Suitcase.

Front of 1966 slipcase

Back of 1966 slipcase

1982 dust jacket