Thin Grosset and Dunlap Nancy Drew Books

During the 1970s, Grosset and Dunlap printed some Nancy Drew books in a rather thin picture cover edition.  Collectors often mistake these books for the pirated editions from Taiwan.

Taiwanese Nancy Drew Books

The first photo seen below shows some Nancy Drew picture cover books, which are all the actual Grosset and Dunlap books.  Some of the rather thin Grosset and Dunlap books were placed in the middle of the group.  The thin books are #6, 34, 52, and 52 in about the middle of the photo.  These four books are about the thickness of the most thick of the pirated books.

You will need to click on the image in order to see it clearly.

This next photo shows the pirated books from Taiwan.  Most of them are noticeably different in appearance from the Grosset and Dunlap books.

Some are close in appearance to the Grosset and Dunlap books.

The following photo shows the four thin Grosset and Dunlap books to the left followed by the five thickest of the pirated books, which are the ones that look the most like Grosset and Dunlap books.

The thickness is about the same, but the yellow on the pirated spines looks to be a bit washed-out.  Most notably, the spine symbols of the pirated editions are a good bit smaller.  All of the print is smaller on the spines.  The vertical edges of the spines of the pirated editions are more flat and less rounded than the Grosset and Dunlap editions. 

Being aware of these differences will help those searching for the pirated editions from being tricked by thin regular editions seen in online listings.

Finding the Original Text Picture Cover of Nancy Drew #7 The Clue in the Diary

This story may seem strange to many of you, but it's a sort of game to me.  I have fun sleuthing out clues found in the photos of online listings.  I see what I can figure out without asking the seller any questions.  I am much more likely to take this approach when I don't actually need the book for my collection. When I do need the book, then I am more likely to ask questions.

One of the scarcest Nancy Drew picture cover books is the original text printing of The Clue in the Diary.  It's actually not even a printing.  It's said that one printing has the original text, but the original text copies are too scarce for them to have been used on an entire print run.

While the book is scarce, it can be found with careful online searching.  I have had a number of them pass through my hands over the years, probably around 10 of them.  So the book can be found with care and patience.  Really, just be very observant about the books for sale online, and you'll eventually locate one.

Recently, I saw a lot of nine Nancy Drew books that had to be from the early 1960s.  If you wonder how I knew the age of the books, take a look at this post.

The original text picture cover of The Clue in the Diary tends to surface in rough condition.  The blue sky is usually darker on the original text picture cover than on printings that have the revised text.  For those two reasons, I felt that this book was a good candidate for having the original text.

I stared at the photos, wondering if there was some way to tell.  There really wasn't.  I would know if I could see the endpapers, which are blue multi in the original text version.  The revised text version has black and white multi endpapers.

The seller of this listing had enough bad feedback that I did not feel confident that the seller would answer a question reliably.  But most importantly, this was a fun game.  With just the darker blue cover and rough condition, I felt that there was a 50% to 75% probability of the book having the original text.  I wondered if there was some way to tell for sure, or at least some way to see if this book had a greater than 75% probability of having the original text.  If only I could see the endpapers!

Finally, I focused on the first photo seen above, looking carefully at the top edge of the book.

Hmm...  Did I see a hint of blue multi endpapers?  Perhaps what I thought was blue was just soiling on the book...

The more I stared at the book, the more convinced I became that it could have blue multi endpapers and the original text.  I decided that the book had a 90% probability of having the original text.

Was there any way to be certain?

I focused on one small area where I could see a couple of small white marks, which I circled in the below photo.  That would be at about the center top of the pastedown.

Remember to click on the image to see a larger version.

I knew that all of the books to the right of The Clue in the Diary had blue multi endpapers for sure since I could tell that they had the original text based on the mixed-case letters of the titles on the spines.  Looking at the same part of the pastedown possibly visible on the other books revealed some white marks in the same position. 

I then pulled a Nancy Drew book with blue multi endpapers off the shelf and looked at the rear pastedown, noting where the white marks are.

I decided that The Clue in the Diary must have the original text, and I felt 100% certain.  I purchased the books, even though the rough condition made it not that great of a deal.  I was so eager to receive the package and see if I was right.

Finally, the package arrived.  I pulled out the books and removed The Clue in the Diary from the stack.  With great anticipation, I held the book in my hands, closed.  I turned the book every which way, looking at the front, back, top, bottom, and fore edge.  I knew that either I was going to be proved right or I was going to feel like the biggest idiot in the world.  And then I opened the book.

The book came open to the contents page, upon which I saw the old-style font.  Yes!  I knew it!

Look at the inside back cover in the above image.  Notice the white marks that I had noticed in the seller's picture.  The binding is a little loose, so the text block rests a little lower than it should, which is why part of the rear pastedown was visible in the seller's listing.

I used the books I had on hand to make a brain teaser post that I put on Facebook.  My original post had six books in it, two books with the original text and four books with the revised text.  I asked, "Which two of these six books have the original text?"

Most people guessed the middle books in both rows.  Those two books were the best ones to guess and probably would have been the two books that I would have chosen if I hadn't already known the answer.  Those familiar with the early picture cover copies know that the three best candidates for the original text are the middle books and the third book in the bottom row.  This is because of the darker blue tint on the covers of those books.  The other three books look just like the average revised text printing, and those three do have the revised text.

After I posted my brain teaser, I acquired another original text picture cover copy of The Clue in Diary.  It is rather strange that I acquired two of them in the same week.  The second new acquisition was easy because the seller identified the book as having the 1932 text.  I staged the photos again to include the second new acquisition of the original text picture cover.  That book is seen off to the right side in the below photos.

Here is the spine image of the seven books.  The first three books are the top row from left to right.  The next three books are the bottom row from left to right.  The last book is the one off to the right side.

The spine photo reveals which books have the original text.  When I posted my brain teaser on Facebook, I ended the post with the following statement.  "In person, you can tell for sure without opening any of the books.  The original text copies have a slightly different texture to the cover."

Do you notice anything about three of the spines as compared to the other three spines?  Look at the light from the camera flash, especially on the lower part of the cameo spine symbols.  Do you see the difference?

Check it out before you continue reading.

In the spine photo, the second, sixth, and seventh books reflect the camera flash in a different fashion, indicating a slightly different texture.  The three original text books are the second, sixth, and seventh books, or the top middle, bottom right, and far right books.

This supports what I stated originally, which is that there is no way to tell for sure which text is inside without additional information.  Seeing the texture of the cover reveals the text, but most online listings will not be photographed in such a way that the texture can be seen.  The books with a darker (or less bright) blue tint are the ones to check, but sometimes the original text books look very much like revised text books.

Notice that the third and fifth books are the thickest ones, and they have the revised text.  This actually makes sense.  The very earliest picture covers are less thick, slightly later books from the early print runs are more thick, and then all remaining picture covers are less thick again.  The original text The Clue in the Diary picture covers are from the earliest books bound, which means that they are less thick.  The brief period when the books were more thick would be the earliest of the revised text books.

The original text books are usually found in very rough shape.  I have now seen more than one original text copy in pretty nice shape, and these books do have an overall appearance that is similar to the revised text books.  The rough condition books with the darker blue sky are more likely to have the original text, but not always.  The really nice original text books are the ones that most people would love to have, and they are very hard to spot.

Nancy Drew #57-64 Hardcover Flashlight Edition

In 2005, Nancy Drew #57 through 64 were issued in the hardcover flashlight edition by Penguin under the Grosset and Dunlap imprint.  The books apparently went through at least two printings, but even so, they are quite scarce.

The existence of #57-64 in the Grosset and Dunlap edition has caused many collectors to believe that the original Nancy Drew series ended with #64.  This is not true at all.  As I explained in "Hidden Clues #4 Collecting the Entire Nancy Drew Series," collectors make a mistake in stopping at #64.  The Stratemeyer Syndicate was responsible for all books up through #78.  Furthermore, the original Nancy Drew series did not end until #175.  It is a mistake to stop arbitrarily at #64 solely because of the hardcover format.

I did not purchase the hardcover flashlight editions of #57-64 when they were new.  I tend not to purchase some books when new simply because they are new, meaning easy to find.  I have this odd quirk of waiting until long after some books go out of print before I finally decide that I am interested.  It's like I am unmotivated in getting books that are very easy to acquire.  There's no challenge in buying new books.

However, the main reason why I was uninterested in these books was because I already had multiple hardcover copies in the Wanderer edition with dust jacket and in various hardcover library bindings.  Having the books in hardcover by Grosset and Dunlap wasn't that alluring to me, since hardcover editions were already commonplace in my house.

Most all other collectors felt differently than I did about the hardcover editions of #57-64.  They didn't own all the library editions, so these books provided a great opportunity for acquiring #57-64 in a hardcover binding.  Since collectors desire these books, they are worth more than the average flashlight edition.  #1-56 are worth no more than the original cover price, but #57-64 are out of print and tend to be worth around $20 each depending upon condition.

It was around three years ago that I suddenly decided that I should build a set of all eight books.  By that time, the books were long out of print and scarce.  When the books show up for sale, they are usually offered for $20 or more apiece online in individual listings.  The books are sometimes sold in partial or complete sets for $100 to $200.

I determined that I would not pay more than the original cover price of $6.99 per book.  That might seem like I was limiting myself too much, but I've always had great luck in finding bargains with a little patience.  I knew that I could do it, but it would probably take a few years.  This was a very low priority, so I wasn't concerned with how quickly I could accomplish the task.

I watched for bulk lots of these books on eBay as I checked the new Nancy Drew listings each day.  Bulk lots are my source of fun variants and hidden treasures.  They are also the means to get really good books inexpensively.  I love bulk lots.

I used bulk lots to begin building my set of #57-64 in the hardcover flashlight edition.  Over the last few years, I have purchased a number of small bulk lots of these books at inexpensive prices, within the cost of $6.99 per book.  I ended up with duplicates, which I sold.  #57 was oddly elusive in the small bulk lots that I was able to grab before others did.  #57 either came up for sale at a higher price than I wanted to pay or in bulk lots that others got to first.  I just could not lay hands on a #57, but I knew that I would eventually.

It was in April that I saw a bulk lot of all eight books on eBay at a very cheap Buy It Now price.  The lot had just been listed, and I got to it first.  Finally, I had acquired a copy of #57.

The books arrived, and I sorted through them, deciding which to keep and which to sell.  It gets really confusing, and I have to use sticky notes with these labels written on them:  new - sell, new - keep, old - sell, and old - keep.  For this latest acquisition, I used all four labels on various books.

This photo shows the books that I already had.

I once had several books with partially faded spines that all came from one of the earlier bulk lots that I purchased.  I had upgraded all of them except for #58.

This photo shows the books from the recent purchase.

As I compared my old and new books, I discovered that some books are the first printing and others are the second printing.  I decided to go with the better condition book, regardless of printing.  Even without caring about the printing, I decided to keep both copies of two titles, #61 and #64.

I mentioned that I love bulk lots in part because they are my source of fun variants.  The main variants that I find in bulk lots are books that have covers with a different tint.  It is very hard to spot such books in online listings, because of differences in monitors and mobile screens.  Even when I photograph books for my own listings, what I see on my screen is sometimes not tinted just like the actual book. 

A prospective buyer also never knows when a seller might have adjusted the color or contrast in a photo.  This makes it impossible to purchase tint variants online just by looking at photos.  Tints variants show up with some frequency in bulk lots, always unnoticed in the online photos but readily apparent once the books arrive.

#61 The Swami's Ring is seen below in the first printing followed by the second printing.  The first printing is thicker, and the cover art is darker.

#64 Captive Witness is the one that really fascinates me.  The first printing is shown first followed by the second printing.  The first printing is also thicker and darker in tint.

I am fascinated because I am reminded of another Captive Witness tint variation that I have from the original paperback edition.

The book seen above on the left is the first printing, and the one on the right is the fourth printing.  Notice that the dresses are different shades of red and that the covers are different shades of gray.  It's an odd coincidence to have two books from the 1980s and two much later books from 2005 from different publishers have a similar difference in tint in the red dress.  There is no connection whatsoever; this is merely a random but fun coincidence.

Most collectors scorn the flashlight edition Nancy Drew books, but even the flashlight editions have interesting variants.  Another variant which may be of interest to collectors is the textured flashlight edition.

Information Needed: Nancy Drew Matte Picture Cover Books with the Yellow Band

Nancy Drew fans keep asking about the matte picture cover books with the yellow band at the top edge.  I think most of us who were collecting in the past were not at all concerned with the books with the yellow band at the top edge.  Most of us don't even like them.

Seen below are all of the Nancy Drew matte picture cover books with the yellow band at the top edge.

People who are currently collecting the picture cover books seem to be quite confused about them and are focusing a lot of attention on them.  They view the books with the yellow bands almost like they are a different cover art variation.  I have finally concluded that the books with the yellow bands need to be added to my cover art gallery since collectors are so hyper-focused on them.

This is the cover art gallery:  Nancy Drew #1-56 Picture Cover Gallery.

I thought I just needed to scan the books with the yellow bands and insert them in.  I did it for Lilac Inn, then I realized that I have a big problem.  I don't know the date ranges.  I began editing the page in an offline file, and you can see a screen capture below, indicating the trouble spot.  By the way, I also plan to remove the "-present" from all of the books and change the year to 1985, since the flashlight editions began in 1986.

The books with the yellow bands are not covered in Farah's Guide.  I know they are from the middle to late 1970s and continued into the early 1980s, but I do not wish to put vague information on my page.  I need the exact years.  More precisely, I need the beginning year for each volume.  I can figure out the rest.

I need your help.

I spent a lot of time today looking at the back cover lists of every single matte picture cover with the yellow band that I currently have in my possession.  I have a lot of extras.  I then went to eBay and viewed every listing for the books with yellow bands, both current listings and sold listings.

I have noted the earliest time that any book was printed with the yellow band based on books I have seen so far.  What I do not know is if all of them changed to the yellow band at the same time.  Sometimes changes were staggered, such as when the Stratemeyer Syndicate revised the books down from 25 chapters to 20 chapters.  The below list shows the volume numbers, the year, and the earliest back cover list that I was able to find for each book with the yellow band present on the front cover.

#4 1974 Glowing Eye followed by Cookbook
#6 1975 Forgotten City
#7 1975 Forgotten City
#10 1975 Forgotten City
#17 1975 Forgotten City
#24 1975 Forgotten City
#25 1974 Glowing Eye followed by Cookbook
#28 1976 Sky Phantom followed by Cookbook
#29 1976 Sky Phantom followed by Cookbook
#35 1974 Glowing Eye followed by Cookbook
#36 1974 Glowing Eye followed by Cookbook
#37 1974 Glowing Eye followed by Cookbook
#38 1974 Glowing Eye followed by Cookbook
#39 1975 Forgotten City
#40 1974 Glowing Eye followed by Cookbook
#42 1975 Forgotten City
#45 1974 Glowing Eye followed by Cookbook

I need collectors to look at any matte picture cover books with the yellow band for #6, 7, 10, 17, 24, 28, 29, 39, and 42 and see if you have one that lists Nancy Drew to Glowing Eye followed by the Nancy Drew Cookbook.  For #28 and 29, I would also be interested in knowing if anyone has one that lists to Forgotten City.

I hope you can help so that I can fix the cover art gallery.  By fixing the cover art gallery, I hope to make it easier to answer all of the questions.

Update:  Information I have received indicates that most of the yellow band books were issued in 1974.  The only books where I have not yet received verification are #10, 28, and 42.

Hidden Clues #6 The Textured Nancy Drew Flashlight Editions

In 2004, Nancy Drew fans noticed that some of the flashlight edition Nancy Drew books that were showing up in stores had a textured cover and that the colors were darker.  The fans referred to the books as "matte flashlight editions," and that name has stuck with those of us who saw those discussions.  The problem is that using "matte" with "flashlight" is very confusing to people who do not know what we mean, since the names mix together two distinct formats of picture cover editions.

As I prepared to write this post, I decided that we should instead refer to these books as "textured flashlight editions."  By doing that, we use a name that does not refer to the previous format of picture cover edition.  That should make discussions less confusing to collectors who are not familiar with this format.

The textured flashlight editions have a textured cover instead of the usual smooth cover seen on all other flashlight edition printings.  The surface is still shiny just like all flashlight editions.  All of the colors on the outside of the book are darker than usual.  The darker colors make the books easy to spot in bookstores.  When seen on a shelf with the regular flashlight editions, the textured covers will draw one's attention immediately, because the yellow is darker on the spine.  That was exactly what happened to me today, causing me to purchase the two textured books and write this post.

These first two photos show a textured flashlight edition from 2004 (left) next to a matte picture cover edition of the same title from the 1970s (right).

Notice that the cover art is darker on the textured flashlight editions.  The reproduction of the cover art reminds me a lot of the Perma-Bound library editions, which have cover art created from photocopies of the original editions.

I want to show you what these books look like, but photographs poorly reproduce what is obvious when viewing the books in person.  I found that I had to photograph the books without the camera flash in order to try to show the texture.

In the next photo, a regular flashlight edition is seen on the left, and a textured flashlight edition is seen on the right.  Notice that on the regular flashlight edition (left) that the light bulbs are reflected as separate from each other.  On the textured flashlight edition (right), the light is diffused where the bulbs cannot be seen as distinct, and you also should be able to detect some of the vertical and horizontal lines that cause the cover to be textured.  Click on any photo in this post to see a larger version.

For the next photo, the textured flashlight edition is on the left, and the regular flashlight edition is on the right.  Notice the same pattern with the reflected light.  You also should be able to spot some of the horizontal and vertical lines on the cover of the textured book. 

The next photo shows the textured books in the middle, with the overhead light reflected on the spines.  Hopefully, you can see some of the texture on the middle two books.

I took one last photo in direct sunlight to try to show how the color is deeper on the spines of the textured flashlight editions.

In the above photo, the regular flashlight editions look faded as compared to the textured flashlight editions.  None of the books are faded at all.  

I went through old discussions of the textured flashlight editions in the Nancy Drew Sleuths Yahoo! group to see how many of the books were printed with textured covers.  At least all of the following books can be found with the textured covers.

1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 53, 56, and the back-to-back edition of 1 and 2

The textured flashlight edition books are quite uncommon.  The flashlight editions have been in print for 33 years.  In 2004, there were at least three flashlight edition printings (noted by fans in the 2004 discussion), and only one of them had the textured covers.  If we assume that in each of the last 33 years that the flashlight editions went through three printings, then we can assume around 100 printings exist.  Only one out of approximately 100 printings has the textured surface.  We can therefore expect just one out of every 100 flashlight editions to be textured.

Most collectors are probably not interested in the textured flashlight editions, so the books are probably worth only marginally more than the average flashlight edition.  It should be noted that the current retail price for flashlight editions is around $7 to $9 each for new copies.  Used copies go for about half of that range.  The textured flashlight editions probably would not be worth more than around $10 each.

Hidden Clues #2 The Scarcity of Nancy Drew #55 and #56

Some collectors have heard that Nancy Drew #55 Mystery of Crocodile Island and #56 The Thirteenth Pearl are scarce and think that all copies of those two books are scarce.  Actually, most copies currently up for sale are very common and not worth purchasing on value speculation.

The matte picture cover editions of these two titles are scarce; the flashlight edition picture covers are quite common.  At the time of this writing, current eBay listings show 34 copies of Mystery of Crocodile Island up for sale.  29 copies are the flashlight edition, and only five copies are the matte picture cover edition.  For The Thirteenth Pearl, 48 copies are up for sale.  41 copies are the flashlight edition, and only seven copies are the matte picture cover edition.  The flashlight edition of both titles is very easy to find as compared to the matte edition.

This photo shows the front cover of the matte picture cover edition of both books.

The matte picture cover edition has a cover that is not glossy.  The books do not have a flashlight logo near the top edge.

The flashlight edition books have been in print since 1986.  #1 The Secret of the Old Clock and other lower-numbered books are probably available in slightly higher quantities, simply because people tend to buy the early books first.  However, the entire set of #1-56 has been available for 32 years in the flashlight edition.  No previous format of Nancy Drew was ever in print for 32 years.  All copies of Nancy Drew #1-56 in the flashlight edition are extremely common and are more common than any other format of Nancy Drew book.

Seen below is a scan of the front cover of the flashlight edition of Nancy Drew #55 and #56.  The books have a glossy cover and the flashlight logo near the top edge.

The flashlight edition of #55 and #56 should be purchased if you need to complete your set of flashlight editions or if you simply need a copy of the book to read.  If your objective is acquisition of a scarce book, then purchase the matte picture cover edition of #55 and #56.

Nancy Drew Solid Blue Books with Dust Jackets

I have never been particularly interested in the tweed Nancy Drew books with dust jackets.  This does not mean that I dislike them; rather, I am not interested in having a complete set of tweed books with dust jackets.  They have no special allure for me.  Just about the only tweed Nancy Drew books I own are the first printings of titles issued during the tweed era.  Otherwise, I do not purchase tweed books.

I am quite fond of the solid blue Nancy Drew books from the late 1940s.  These books have good quality paper, a plain paper frontispiece illustration, and blue silhouette endpapers.  They are the same size as the tweed books, but in my opinion, the books are much nicer.

The books that most interest me have dust jackets that list to The Ghost of Blackwood Hall or The Clue of the Leaning Chimney. 

The dust jackets often have an ad on the back panel with photographs depicting the Connie Blair series.  I like the ones with the Connie Blair ads the best.  The others have ads for Vicki Barr, Cherry Ames, or Beverly Gray.

I have not gone to any trouble to try to find these jackets, but I do keep them when nice examples fall into my possession.  This week I was fortunate to add five more to my set and at a reasonable price.  The new acquisitions are the last five books seen on the right: #18, 20, 21, 22, and 23.

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys 2017 Matte Flashlight Editions

I collect library editions, and the current format from the company Bound to Stay Bound is what I refer to as the "flashlight library edition."  The flashlight library edition uses the flashlight logo seen on the flashlight editions that are published by Penguin under the Grosset and Dunlap imprint.  Here are photos of the flashlight library editions that I have, most of which came from the same library.

The last two seen in the above photo are variants.  I like the flashlight library editions better than the regular flashlight editions from the publisher.  For those who aren't familiar with the various formats of Nancy Drew books, the following photo shows the regular flashlight editions

The regular flashlight editions are too glossy and gaudy for my taste.  I would like them a lot better if they were more in the style of the flashlight library editions.  Since I do not care for the regular flashlight editions, I do not own a set.

Recently, I spotted this photo in an eBay search.

It caught my eye immediately, and I felt certain that I was viewing some of the Bound to Stay Bound flashlight library editions.  What a pretty blue on the cover of Hidden Staircase!  I decided to purchase the books.

When the books arrived, I saw the spines first.

I was a bit surprised, since the spines are identical to the regular flashlight editions. The books are not likely library editions as I had thought.  But what are they?

The books are just like the regular flashlight editions except that the finish is matte and the front cover design is different.  I examined the books, determining for certain that the books had not been rebound and appeared to be in the original binding.  I could tell that the books are absolutely brand-new and must have been printed recently.  I was flummoxed, because I do not see unexpected variants very often.  I had heard nothing about these books, and word usually spreads quickly when collectors spot variants in stores.

I knew these books had come from somewhere, but I did not know from where.  I have learned that asking questions on Facebook sometimes doesn't work as well as one would expect.  Therefore, I simply put the pictures up with the statement, "Check out these neat books!  They are flashlight editions with matte covers."  I knew that the mystery would be solved shortly.

I quickly was informed that the books came from the store Five Below.  They had been seen in that store five to six weeks ago.  Nancy Drew #1 and 2 as well as Hardy Boys #1 and 2 were available.

I went to one of the Five Below stores today and was able to get Nancy Drew #1 and Hardy Boys #2 to complete both sets.

I like these books.  If you have a Five Below store nearby, you might be able to get the books.  I understand that some stores may be low on stock while others may still have plenty available.