My Latest Book Finds

I visited several antique shops and a book store on Saturday. This is what I found:


I bought a tweed Cherry Ames, a tweed Nancy Drew, Nancy Drew #17 PC, Nancy Drew #34 PC, Nancy Drew #39 1st printing, Nancy Drew #54 1st printing, Nancy Drew #55 1st printing, Nancy Drew #56 2nd printing, Jerry Todd Caveman, a Kay Tracey book, a Connie Blair book, a Black Stallion book with a very nice dust jacket, and the Hardy Boys Detective Handbook in dust jacket.

In one store, I saw a complete set of Nancy Drew books in the matte editions. I cherry-picked the ones that are worth more, such as #55 and #56, and left the rest. In several stores, the Nancy Drew books were offered by multiple booths. I saw plenty of books that were priced too high for me to resell, but many of those books were priced okay for someone wanting the books for a collection. It is nice to see that the books seem to be returning to local stores.

I am now regularly checking shops that I formerly visited only occasionally. In recent years, I would usually find nothing. I am now able to find books on a regular basis. I have suspected for a while that the current trend is away from the internet and eBay and towards selling books in stores. I am not quite ready to proclaim my suspicion as fact, but my findings seem to support it.

Dana Girls Picture Cover Editions

I recently wrote of a Dana Girls picture cover with blue ink on the top edge of the text block. The Dana Girls picture covers normally have green ink on the top of the text block. The book was a probable first printing of The Mystery of the Stone Tiger.

I just found another Dana Girls picture cover with blue ink on the top edge of the text block.


The ink is partially faded, but it is definitely blue instead of green. This book is an early picture cover printing. It lists to Sierra Gold on the back cover and lists Nancy Drew to Moonstone Castle and Dana Girls to Lost Lake on the inside.

I am curious as to whether anyone else has any Dana Girls picture covers with blue ink on the top page edges. Since we do not have a Dana Girls guide, we have far less knowledge of these types of variations than we do for the Nancy Drew series.

The same rules that apply to the Nancy Drew series also apply to the other Grosset and Dunlap series, and people who collect and sell series books tend to overlook that fact. I often see collectors classify Dana Girls picture covers that list to Stone Tiger on the back cover as first picture cover editions. Unless the book is Stone Tiger, then one listing to Stone Tiger is not a first PC.

The Sierra Gold Mystery was the last Dana Girls book printed with a dust jacket, just as The Mystery of the Fire Dragon was the last Nancy Drew book printed with a dust jacket. For Nancy Drew, Fire Dragon is the last title listed on the back cover for first picture cover editions. For the Dana Girls, Sierra Gold is the last title listed on the back cover for first picture cover editions.

Furthermore, when Nancy Drew first picture cover editions have an interior list, the last title listed is usually The Clue of the Dancing Puppet, which is the first Nancy Drew book that never had a dust jacket. Some Nancy Drew first PCs list only to Fire Dragon on the inside. Nancy Drew picture covers that list to Moonstone Castle on the inside are not first PCs.

Likewise, the first Dana Girls picture covers list Nancy Drew to Dancing Puppet. I do not know whether any Dana Girls picture covers list only to Fire Dragon; the ones that I have all list to Dancing Puppet. The Dana Girls PCs that list to Moonstone Castle are early PCs. With this in mind, the listings in Farah's Guide can help collectors figure out the characteristics of the first PCs of the Dana Girls series without having to have a detailed Dana Girls guide.

Fixed-Price Listings and Auctions

Just as price guides can drive the prices of collectibles, fixed-priced listings can influence the outcome of auctions. Not only that, but I find that I often end up selling a book right after someone loses an auction for the same book on eBay. I have to wonder what would have happened in the eBay auction had I not had one up for sale.

Recently, a dust-jacketed copy of The Outdoor Girls in the Air in the original Grosset and Dunlap edition sold in an eBay auction. The book closed at $67.89, which is remarkably close to the price of my book, $64.99, which has been up for sale on Bonanzle for many months. Coincidence? Absolutely not.

The under bidder of the eBay auction promptly came to my Bonanzle booth and purchased my book at $64.99. That person apparently set his high bid with my book in mind, so my book potentially kept the price of the eBay auction down. This is smart bidding, since many people bid huge amounts without checking to see whether other copies are available.

How would the eBay auction have fared if I had not had one up for sale?

Popularity of Different Series

I haven't shared site stats in a very long time. Here are screen caps of the Google Analytics data for my website for the top 57 most-visited URLs on my website from early 2008 to the present.


#1 is the main page of the Nancy Drew section. #2 and #47 are the main page of the site. The Sweet Valley High page is #3. Trixie Belden is #4. Notice the steep drop in visitors between Sweet Valley High and Trixie Belden. By far, the most popular vintage series represented on my site is Nancy Drew, which is no surprise. The Nancy Drew section is more heavily visited than even the main page of the site.

The stats give a good idea of the popularity of the vintage series with respect to each other. Going by the number of visits, we have:

1. Nancy Drew
2. Trixie Belden
3. Dana Girls
4. Judy Bolton
5. Beverly Gray
6. Kay Tracey
7. Vicki Barr
8. Outdoor Girls
9. Sara Gay
10. Moving Picture Girls
11. Connie Blair
12. Penny Parker
13. Shirley Flight
14. Ruth Fielding
15. Betty Gordon
16. Blythe Girls
17. Sally Baxter

I noticed right off that Cherry Ames is missing. I realized that I must not have had the tracking code on the Cherry Ames page, so I fixed that problem.

I am encouraged by how high the Outdoor Girls is on the list since I love that series, but its placement is likely because the generic name probably causes it to show up in many unrelated Google searches. The Moving Picture Girls and Sara Gay are also a bit high, and this is most likely due to unrelated searches as well. Anything with the word "gay" in it pulls in a lot of people who are not looking for a vintage series book website. In fact, I checked, and many people who visit the Sara Gay page are looking for a "gay model" or for "gay modeling."

With those thoughts in mind, the stats do provide some useful information about how popular certain series are with respect to each other, but the information is flawed due to circumstances out of my control. The one obvious conclusion is that Nancy Drew is by far the most popular series. There can be no mistake about that.

The Nancy Drew Fire Dragon $1 Box PC Update

Back in January, I reported of a Fire Dragon $1 box edition that lists to Dancing Puppet on the inside instead of to Fire Dragon. Lian has also reported finding one, so we know of at least two examples. From what David Farah told me, it sounds like this one will make it into a future updated edition of his guide.


What this means is that we can no longer assume that all $1 box editions of Fire Dragon that surface are in fact first PCs. You need to ask the sellers what the Fire Dragon $1 box books list to on the inside, if that information is not given.

Over a year ago, I poked fun at all of the listings that claim that the $1 box Fire Dragon is RARE. I find extras of the Fire Dragon $1 box PC far more often than the other titles; in fact, I found one in just the last few weeks. If some of the $1 box Fire Dragon PCs list to Fire Dragon and others list to Dancing Puppet, that sheds light on why Fire Dragon seems to show up more often than the other $1 box PCs.

Misuse of Priority Mail Supplies

I wish people would quit using priority mail supplies for media mail packages.


The priority mail markings were partially visible along one side of the box, which made it that much easier for USPS to notice the problem.

I debated about contacting the seller, which is what I normally do. In this case, I decided not to worry about the extra $8.22 that I had to pay to receive the package. This was one of those transactions in which the seller bungled the description and got significantly less than the books are worth. The seller charged only $4.00 media mail postage, obviously not aware that eBay allows sellers to use the calculator to charge more than that amount. The seller paid $7.08 to ship the books media mail, taking a loss on postage.

Since the seller undercharged me in the first place, I really only had to pay $5.14 more than the seller's postage cost. This is still too much, but as I stated, the books sold for well below value. I decided not to worry about it.

On the same day that I received this package, I received two other packages. One of the other packages had brown paper wrapped around a priority mail box. That one made it through without getting noticed. If that package had been inspected, I would have had to have paid approximately $9.50 to receive it. So, two out of the three packages received on this particular date had priority supplies misused for media mail.

I received one or two packages during the previous week in which sellers used priority supplies for media mail. It seems to be more common than it once was. I guess these sellers do not realize that they can buy boxes from Uline.com in bulk for under $1.00 each when purchasing quantities as low as 25 boxes.

The Nancy Drew First PC That Isn't

Many of the picture cover Nancy Drew books have just one printing that lists to Fire Dragon on the back cover, so all copies that surface that list to Fire Dragon for those particular titles must be first picture cover editions. This is the case for #18, The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion.

The first picture cover printing of #18 lists to Fire Dragon on the back cover and to Dancing Puppet on the inside. The second printing cover printing lists to Whistling Bagpipes on the back cover and to Dancing Puppet on the inside.

I had what I thought was a first picture cover printing of the Nancy Drew book, The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion. I had identified it as the first PC based on the back cover list, since only one printing lists to Fire Dragon on the back cover.

I put the book up for sale, giving the interior list information. As I listed the book, I failed to register the fact that the interior list for this book goes to 99 Steps and Dana Girls to Silver Dolphin.

A prospective buyer pointed out the discrepancy, which I thought was a mistake on my part. I was chagrined to discover that the book does list to 99 Steps and Silver Dolphin on the inside, and I did not even notice the problem. The book is supposed to list only to Dancing Puppet and Sierra Gold, yet mine lists all the way to 99 Steps. This is another odd one that does not fit. The outside of the book appears to be from 1962 while the inside appears to be from 1966 to 1970. I'm keeping this book for now, since it interests me.

Outdoor Girls Series Values

After the recent auction for The Outdoor Girls in Desert Valley in dust jacket closed at $204.39, I was asked whether that price was a bit high. Since I have a dust-jacketed copy of #22 The Outdoor Girls in the Air up for sale on Bonanzle at around $65.00, it was felt that #23 would not be worth much more, perhaps around $100. This was my response.

I think the closing price of that auction was a bit low. #23 is extremely scarce and seldom comes up for sale, with or without a dust jacket. If I did not already own that book with a jacket, I probably would have bid at least $350 to get it.

#22 is also very scarce in the original Grosset and Dunlap edition, although not as scarce as #23. What keeps the value of #22 down is that it was reprinted by Whitman during the 1940s, and the Whitman copies are not that hard to find. People have a cheap alternative to #22, so it is not necessary to pay much for it. There are very few surviving copies of #23.

There are no price guides for series books other than Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Rick Brant. John Axe’s books give an approximation for several other series as well, but there are no other guides.

I have been collecting long enough that I have a very good idea of what the books are really worth, so I go by my past experiences when pricing my books.

I believe I sold an Outdoor Girls #23 with a rough dust jacket for around $150 to $200 a couple of years ago. I had to upgrade twice before I had that book with a nice dust jacket. It took several years to finally get one that was to my liking.

After I sent that response, I found another Desert Valley without a dust jacket that sold for $28.99, so I sent this response:

Check out this auction that I just found:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Outdoor-Girls-Laura-Lee-Hope-2-books-/260589153696

It included Desert Valley, and it should have sold for at least $50 to $75, maybe more. Most of the value is in the dust jacket, which is why the other auction at over $200 went so high.

Click on the bidding history of this second auction. Look at how many times the high bidder bid. That person was desperate to win the auction and may have bid a huge amount.

It is very hard to know how much certain books are worth without years of watching the sold prices of books. Most of the Outdoor Girls books are worth no more than $10 provided that they do not have dust jackets. In fact, #23 is the only one that is worth more than $10 without a dust jacket.

With dust jackets, the average Outdoor Girls book is worth $15 to $50, and this depends upon the condition of the dust jacket. The duotone and plain dust jackets are harder to find than the color jackets, so their value will be a little higher.

It also depends upon how many people are searching for the books at a given time. Most people do not collect the Outdoor Girls books (which is a shame because the series is one of my very favorites), so the books can be had for fairly cheap prices. The consistent exception is Desert Valley, which is so scarce that not enough copies are available for the people who do collect the Outdoor Girls books.