More Package Troubles

Last week, I had to pick up a package at the post office because it arrived postage due of $7.31.

The seller had taken one of the medium priority mail flat rate boxes and wrapped it in brown paper. The package was then sent media mail, which is why the package arrived postage due for the balance of what priority mail would have cost for the package.

The postal service forbids the use of priority mail supplies for any service other than priority mail. USPS workers try to catch as many as they can, although most of them slip through.

I requested that the seller reimburse me for the $7.31, which he did without comment. I am always relieved when these situations work out without any melodrama. I have had sellers get upset in the past, as though I did something wrong.

This week, I had what I consider to be an epic damaged package, or perhaps the real situation is that the books were tossed in the box and then shaken around by USPS. I don't know what happened exactly, but the view of the inside of the box was horrific, and a number of the books were damaged.

This is how the package looked before I opened it.

I smudged out the addresses but left enough so that you can get an idea of how difficult it was to read the addresses. The seller used green marker on a product box that had dark colors on it. Part of my address was nearly indecipherable, so it is amazing that I received the package.

I took a photo of the bottom of the box, which looked a bit rough.

I took the above photos just so that I could combine them with the mention of the postage due package and come up with a blog post. I little realized what kind of mess was inside the box. I lifted the flaps to see this.

Uh-oh. One of the side box flaps was inside Tapping Heels. I pulled the flap away and lifted the remaining flap.

Not good. I gradually removed a few books at a time and snapped the following photos as I removed books.

Notice that a piece of the front panel of the dust jacket for Witch Tree Symbol is in the center of the below photo.

Several of the books were damaged with folds to either the front free or rear free endpaper. Some of the jackets were damaged.

The following photo shows the packing materials, some of which appear to be trash.

The seller's communication was professional and courteous, and I would not have expected this kind of mess inside the package. I am undecided on whether the books were placed inside the package neatly or as a giant mess. Two of the dust jackets were completely separated from the books, which is why I wonder whether the books were tossed inside the box haphazardly. The box did have empty space, so possibly the books were stacked, and the package was violently thrown around during shipment. In fact, if the box were in a vehicle that rolled over in an accident, that would account for how the books were arranged when I opened the package.

Either way, this was an interesting package to receive. While I am not pleased about the treatment the books received, I am also not upset about it. These were not books for my collection. I had spotted a decent Buy It Now right after it was listed, and I purchased the books, figuring that I would be reselling most or all of them. If the books had been ones that I knew I was keeping, I would have been very upset.

Here is a picture of what the package contained, once I had the jackets in mylar.

I hope you find these package situations to be interesting.

Be Wary of Certain Selling Practices

I have seen quite a few listings which are not accurate as to the scarcity or value of the book that is up for sale. In this blog post, I will be citing some specific examples, but I will not be linking to them. I thought about trying to smooth over what I am about to write with a few opening statements, but I decided not to worry about it. No doubt, I will upset a few people.

Using Farah's Guide values to justify high prices

I see this practice quite often and by a number of different sellers. As an example, let's say that a seller has a first printing of the Nancy Drew book, The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, in dust jacket, which that seller has priced at $100. That seller tells buyers that the book is valued at $250 in Farah's Guide. The implication is that the seller is offering a great deal at $100. Not so, since Fire Dragon seldom sells for more than $50 these days.

Be wary of any listing that uses the Farah's Guide value to indicate the true worth of a book. My thought is always that if a book is worth $250, then why does the seller not ask that amount? The seller must feel that the book is worth less than the guide value.

Misinterpreting Farah's Guide

Sometimes, a seller misinterprets Farah's Guide without realizing it. I'd like to give the specific example, but all of you would immediately be able to find the listing. I have already given my opinion of listings that use the outdated Farah's Guide values to make the book seem more valuable. This listing falls into that category but goes even further, giving an incorrect reason why the book is worth even more than the Farah's Guide value. It has to do with thinking that two variants are the same printing when in fact Farah has separated them into two printings with different stated values. Always be careful of any listing that uses any means to magnify the value of a book.

Exaggerating the condition of books

Many sellers over-describe the condition of their books. One seller's books are always in "fine," "near fine," or "about fine" condition. My only comment is that the seller's pictures often tell a different story. In many cases, buyers are better off ignoring all of the seller commentary and focusing on what can be seen in the pictures. However, make sure you do read the seller's description for mention of any flaws that cannot be seen in the photos.

I caught another seller stating that a book had "absolutely no chipping anywhere to the jacket." If so, then why were small pieces missing at the extreme corners? True, the pieces were very small, but that would seem to negate the statement "absolutely no chipping." According to this site, "chipping" is "a small piece missing from the edge of a dust jacket."

Exactly.

Ignoring water damage

This one falls into the previous category, but it deserves its own section. Look carefully at photos for evidence of water damage. Even some collectors and knowledgeable sellers fail to disclose water damage. I saw one instance of a knowledgeable seller not disclosing what I could see in the photo. Not surprising, the buyer paid way too much, and then complained about the condition in feedback.

Below is a picture I took from a listing this fall. I don't know if the books had water damage, but The Haunted Bridge, which is second from the left in the top row, has the appearance of a water-damaged book. The whitish stain is how water damage often appears in photos.

Also notice the tape and stains from tape on many of the books. Sellers often fail to disclose old tape on books and jackets.

Stating that a common anomaly is a rarity and more valuable

Most people who sell extras of the UK edition Sampson Low Nancy Drew books with dust jackets mislead their buyers about the rarity of the books. Some sellers indicate that the books are rare because of the Dana Girls endpapers. Nearly all of the Sampson Low Nancy Drew books have Dana Girls endpapers, because Sampson Low apparently wanted to use the Dana Girls endpapers. The use of the Dana Girls endpapers may make the Sampson Low books interesting, but it does not make the them any more scarce or valuable. They are what they are.

Two Sampson Low books have misprints on the front covers. The Mystery of the Fire Dragon is "The Mystery of the Fiery Dragon" on the front cover. The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes is "The Clue of the Whispering Bagpipes" on the front cover.

I have seen multiple sellers charge really high prices for those two books as compared to other Sampson Low books based apparently on the very rare misprint. I have never seen a Sampson Low Fire Dragon without "Fiery Dragon" on the front cover, and I have never seen a Sampson Low Whistling Bagpipes without "Whispering Bagpipes" on the front cover. What would be rare would be a book without the error.

Pay the really high price if you want the book, but be aware that those books are worth no more than any of the others.

Stating that a book is the "true first edition" or "true first printing"

The part that bothers me is the use of the word "true" in front of "first printing" or "first edition." Using "true" indicates to me that the seller is 100% certain, when the seller really has no idea for any series that does not have a published guide, such as Connie Blair, Vicki Barr, the Dana Girls, and many others. The only series in which published guides exist that establish "true first printing" status are Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Rick Brant, and Judy Bolton. Statements made about any books in any other series are pure speculation, so the word "true" should not be used.

I try to be very careful about when I give first printing status. For instance, I am quite confident that the first picture cover printings of Dana Girls #1 through 23 list to Sierra Gold on the back cover and Nancy Drew to Dancing Puppet/Dana Girls to Sierra Gold on the inside. I have not made notes about the books past #24, so I would not feel comfortable absolutely guaranteeing first printing status for #24 and up. View the last part of this blog post to see how I found out that a certain book is not the first printing.

While published guides establish what we believe to be the true first printings, we really do not know for certain. Even the guides have used speculation to establish which books are the first printing. However, the guides have established what is accepted to be the first printing for each title, so sellers are fine in citing the guides and stating that a book is the true first printing.

In conclusion, I caution you to be careful about how you respond to the excellent salesmanship qualities that some sellers have. These sellers are very good at making their books seem quite desirable, but often, the books are less desirable than how they appear.

My Book Collecting Year in Summary

I have made some important acquisitions during 2011, so I thought I would summarize the ones that come to mind.

This year I acquired the first printing jacket, 1931A-1, to the Nancy Drew book, The Secret at Shadow Ranch, bringing the total number of first printing Nancy Drew dust jackets that I need down to just one, The Secret of the Old Clock. I purposefully never mentioned this acquisition when it happened, since it involved a strange sequence of events. If you go back and read through my Nancy Drew posts that involve early Nancy Drew books from back in September and the comments to those posts, you can probably figure out what happened.

I quite unexpectedly found the first printing of the Nancy Drew book The Clue in the Crossword Cipher during what normally would have been an uneventful trip to a local book store, detailed here. This brings the total number of first printing Nancy Drew books that I need down to just one, The Mystery at Lilac Inn.

The result is that 2011 brought me down to needing just one first printing Nancy Drew dust jacket and one first printing Nancy Drew book for the original 56 books.

I also made a very narrow upgrade to the rather difficult to find first printing book for The Sign of the Twisted Candles, detailed here and here. Actually, I'm not sure if the book I am keeping could be considered better, but in any case, I unearthed another example of an extremely scarce first printing book.

I made a fabulous find of early and first picture cover Hardy Boys books at a book store, detailed here.

I still need some stray first printing revised text and art picture covers for the Nancy Drew series. I made some headway in that regard this year as well. In December I acquired the first printing of the 1965 art for The Secret of Shadow Ranch, when formerly I just had the second printing of the 1965 art. I also acquired the first printing of the 1974 cover art to The Scarlet Slipper Mystery.

After an email exchange with another collector, I realized that I did not have the third art of The Clue in the Old Album with the black and white multi endpapers. This was the only Nancy Drew cover art that I only had in the double oval endpapers. I decided to solve that problem. I purchased two copies on eBay, and one of them ended up being the first printing of the 1977 cover art, thus giving me another needed printing.

I quit reading the Grace Harlowe books earlier this year, in part due to my inability to find Grace Harlowe with the U.S. Troops in the Argonne. Three copies were available online, but I did not wish to pay those prices, especially considering the condition of the books.

In December, an eBay auction appeared that had Argonne along with several other books from the Overseas series. After some debate, I decided to purchase the lot, which was priced a bit high. After the seller shipped the books, he told me that he had found an extra copy of one of the books, which he had added to the box. I was wondering which one and thought, "What if it were Argonne? Wouldn't that be funny?"

The package arrived, and to my delight, I discovered two copies of Grace Harlowe with the U.S. Troops in the Argonne in the box. It's amusing to go from not having a book at all to having two copies instantly.

In 2011, I decided to resume going to garage sales and estate sales for the first time since the middle part of the 1990s. I had gone to a couple of garage sales in recent years, but this fall, I began to check the sales every single Saturday. I now am very interested in going to these sales, not so much for books but for the recreation. The books will be few and far between, but perhaps I can find something good in the coming months.

I also have the satisfaction of seeing that traffic to this blog continues to increase, although at a slow and steady rate. I have begun utilizing my Facebook page in a more appropriate fashion, and it is gaining interest. Best of all, I enjoy using my Facebook page.

I decided to begin selling again on eBay this year since I found eBay to once again be usable for selling. The primary motivation was the 50 free auction listings per month. eBay is useless unless the listings are free. I hope to attain top-rated seller status eventually, just so that I can see if it makes a difference.

In the meantime, I will continue to use Bonanza for the bulk of my sales and am pleased at the progress I have made there.

As the year ends, I want to continue reading the Nancy Drew books again for the first time in ten years, but I also now have a dilemma. Since I finally have all of the Grace Harlowe books, I feel like I should resume reading them.
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Edited to add: As pointed out in a comment, I forgot one of my most important acquisitions, Nancy Drew #78, The Phantom of Venice, in hardcover with dust jacket. I wrote about that find in this post.

Taiwanese Nancy Drew Books

At least 11 of the Nancy Drew books were printed in Asia, probably in Taiwan and during either the 1970s or 1980s. These books are pirated editions. I have eight of these books.

Most of the books have the black and white multi endpapers. One book has light brown instead of black on the endpapers.

The cover art has the appearance of color photocopies of the original cover art of the Grosset and Dunlap editions. The colors and image quality are off slightly. Below, I have photographed two of the pirated editions, seen on the left, and two of the Grosset and Dunlap editions, seen on the right.

You should be able to clearly see that Ski Jump looks to be a bad reproduction of the original cover.

The inside of each book is exactly the same as the Grosset and Dunlap edition, except for the copyright page. Asian characters have been added to each copyright page.

These books have always mystified me, since I have never understood why someone would pirate Nancy Drew books. It now occurs to me that perhaps the books could be offered less expensively to buyers in Asia by pirating the books than they could by importing the books from the United States. In any case, these books make for an interesting variant for people who collect Nancy Drew books.

Nancy Drew #5 The Secret at Shadow Ranch

As I continue my journey through the Nancy Drew books, I read the revised text of Shadow Ranch. I recall that I loved gazing at the Rudy Nappi cover art as a child. The phantom horse is so spooky.

I love the mystery of Dirk Valentine's missing treasure. This mystery has always been one of my favorites. As with Lilac Inn, I have always preferred the revised text.

I have always disliked the original text, although upon this reading, I viewed it much more favorably than previously. I have already mentioned that my reading of the early Stratemeyer Syndicate series in recent years has changed my perspective. This reading was the first time I had ever read the original text Shadow Ranch since reading all of the early series books.

I was struck by how much the book reminds me of the Outdoor Girls series. The entire tone of the book and all of the events from start to finish are extremely similar to the way the Outdoor Girls series is. Change a few names and rewrite some passages, and the book could easily become The Outdoor Girls at Shadow Ranch. In fact, Nancy suddenly acquires two new friends, Bess and George, at the beginning of Shadow Ranch and becomes part of a trio, similar to the Outdoor Girls and other series. This got me to thinking.

Edward Stratemeyer died as the first three Nancy Drew books were published. Harriet Adams and Edna Stratemeyer Squier had to scramble to get their father's business under control in the months after he died. During the first few months, Edward Stratemeyer's secretary, Harriet Otis Smith, was responsible for keeping the business going. Lilac Inn was the first Nancy Drew book published after Stratemeyer's death, but that book had already been written by Mildred Wirt, and Otis Smith edited it.

Grosset and Dunlap wanted the next book in the series, the one that was to become Shadow Ranch. The trouble was that Shadow Ranch had no outline, and nobody knew what story Stratemeyer had wished to tell. On page 133 of Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, Melanie Rehak gives Stratemeyer's description of Shadow Ranch: "A thrilling tale of mysterious doings at various places in the valley and around the ranch. It remained for Nancy Drew to solve some perplexing situations."

Otis Smith wrote up an outline based on that vague description. Since Shadow Ranch reads so much like an Outdoor Girls book, I wonder whether Otis Smith could have gotten some ideas from an outline for an Outdoor Girls book and changed it up for Nancy Drew. She also could have used an outline for Billie Bradley or Betty Gordon, which were still in print during the early 1930s but soon ended. It would be reasonable to assume that some outlines for those series were never used for books in those series. They could have been used for Nancy Drew. This is pure speculation on my part, but I see such a strong similarity in tone between the original text Shadow Ranch and early Stratemeyer books that I feel this to be a possibility.

Back to my thoughts about the story. The original text Shadow Ranch has some crazy, improbable coincidences that go beyond any of the coincidences in the revised text. For instance, Alice Regor is looking for her father, who is found near Shadow Ranch, and it happens that Alice's father went missing because of the actions of Martha Frank and her brother, which occurred in a completely different part of the country. Yet somehow, Martha and her brother show up near Shadow Ranch, while Alice's father also shows up near Shadow Ranch unknown to them. Next, Nancy and her friends also show up at Shadow Ranch with Alice, and everything randomly falls into place. This kind of crazy coincidence is how all of the early Stratemeyer Syndicate books are, and as I already stated, I have a suspicion that the idea for this story came from one of those series.

I still do not particularly care for the story about Martha Frank, and I overall do not care for the original text story as a Nancy Drew book. Nancy and her friends do a lot of exploring in the mountains, get lost, and nearly get attacked by wild animals. It just doesn't feel like a Nancy Drew book to me. However, if I read the book and pretend that it is an Outdoor Girls book and that Nancy, Bess, and George are Outdoor Girls, then the book is totally awesome.

If you are someone who enjoys the original text Shadow Ranch, I suggest that you try some of the Outdoor Girls books, say the second half of the series which are the best books. The Outdoor Girls books are great vintage stories that have the same tone as the original text Shadow Ranch. I always have to get in a good word about the Outdoor Girls series, which is a great series that is not collected by very many people.

Nancy Drew #4 The Mystery at Lilac Inn

As I continue revisiting the early Nancy Drew books, I began reading the revised text of The Mystery at Lilac Inn. The first two chapters annoyed me, since the descriptive information is too brief and various random disruptive events occur seemingly constantly.

The book barely begins when Nancy and Helen learn about Nancy having a double. Then, on the very next page, their canoe capsizes. The girls arrive at Lilac Inn to see that Emily is troubled. Next, one of the gardeners falls into a hole. A few pages later, a mysterious cry is heard from outside. This is all in the first fifteen pages. The events seem disjointed and thrown together.

Once I reached Chapter 3, I began enjoying the story. The mystery about Nancy's double is sinister. The jewel theft is quite a mystery, with suspicion thrown on Maud Potter. The mystery is intriguing in all aspects. I have always greatly enjoyed the revised text of Lilac Inn, and this time was no exception.

In fact, I enjoyed this reading so much that I almost felt like I was reading one of the longer original text stories. The story seemed fuller to me than the revised texts of the first three books. Perhaps the difference is that this particular story was almost completely rewritten whereas the first three revised text stories were mainly condensed versions of the original texts, which made those stories come across as inferior.

I have never liked the original text of Lilac Inn, so as I began reading the original text this time, I wondered what my reaction would be. I liked the opening scene in which Nancy meets Emily outside Lilac Inn and has lunch with her. After that interesting scene, Nancy gets caught up in servant problems.

Why would an average child during the Great Depression want to read about a girl moaning about servant problems? Perhaps girls really enjoyed learning about the problems of the upper class, but I find it really obnoxious. Even worse, every single one of the servants sent to Nancy is from a minority group and described as unsuitable. This subplot is racist, stereotypical, and not necessary.

In fact, the entire first part of this book seems off to me as compared to the first three original text books. Nancy and her acquaintances are too fixated on the problems of the upper class.

Next, we have Mrs. Willoughby and her friend, Clara Potter, who pick up Emily's jewels from the safe deposit box. They decide to take lunch at Lilac Inn with the jewels on the table inside Mrs. Willoughby's purse. The two women act nervous and talk constantly about how they hope nobody knows about the jewels. Of course everyone knows, since the women are acting so strange. Not surprisingly, the jewels are stolen. I find this part of the story to be very annoying. I cannot stand stupidity to be the reason why a theft happens.

Once I read past the theft and the immediate aftermath, I began to enjoy the story more. I found it hard to be very sympathetic to Emily, perhaps because she seems to spend too much time crying about her misfortune. I also found it hard to be sympathetic to Mrs. Willoughby, since she caused the theft of the diamonds.

Around page 80, I began to thoroughly enjoy the story. It felt like the story finally hit its stride at this point and became a good adventure and mystery. Nancy gets heavily involved in sleuthing and quits worrying about her servant problems.

In summary, I really enjoyed the revised text, except for the first two chapters. I enjoyed the original text overall, but I did not enjoy the first 80 pages as much. The stories both involve the diamond theft, but the revised text has the intriguing, dangerous plot with Nancy's double. For that reason, I prefer the revised text.

Nancy Drew #2 Hidden Staircase and #3 Bungalow Mystery

I have finished reading both the original and revised texts for the second and third Nancy Drew books, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery.

The original texts of both books refer back to the events of The Secret of the Old Clock, which makes for strong continuity. That continuity was lost when both books were revised, since all of those references were removed. Offhand, I do not believe that the events of Old Clock were mentioned in any great detail in the original text books past Bungalow Mystery, and this makes me wonder how the series would have progressed if Edward Stratemeyer had lived past the publication of the first three books. We can be certain that the books would not have been the same, since daughters Harriet and Edna would not have been running the Syndicate if Edward had remained alive.

In the original text Hidden Staircase, Nancy spends a good bit of time in the early chapters of the books visiting with the Horner girls and Abigail Rowen about how they are doing after receiving Josiah Crowley's inheritance. It is during Nancy's visit to Abigail that she meets the Turnbulls and learns of the mystery at their mansion. In the revised text, the Turnbulls are related to Helen Corning, and Helen asks Nancy to solve the mystery.

In the original text Bungalow Mystery, Nancy and Helen are caught in the storm on Moon Lake, which is the same lake that figured so prominently in the events of Old Clock. The location was changed in the revised text.

My perspective on both of these stories has changed since I read them ten years ago. The last time I read these books, I had not yet begun collecting and reading the early Stratemeyer series such as the Outdoor Girls, the Blythe Girls, Girls of Central High, and others. I recall that I considered some aspects of the original texts to be better but that I still preferred other aspects of the revised texts, which were the ones that I read as a child. I believe that I considered the original texts to be better, but I can't remember my specific thoughts clearly.

Upon this reading, I quite distinctly find the original texts to be better, and I believe the fact that I have read so many of the early series is what has caused me to react so strongly in favor of these two original texts.

I recall that I strongly disliked the original texts of Lilac Inn and Shadow Ranch, so I am interested to see how I react to those two. Will I still strongly dislike them, or will I respond much more favorably?

Saturday's Estate Sale Finds

I started going to estate sales a few months ago. I don't usually find any series books and have very little expectation of finding any. My main purpose is for recreation and to find useful items for low prices.

This weekend I finally found some series books. At the first sale, which was near where I live, I found a number of Hardy Boys books with dust jackets.

I also bought two Tom Quest, a Rick Brant, and a Landmark book at the same sale.

I next decided to drive to the other side of the city to attend several estate sales that were clustered close together. I normally don't drive to that part of the city, since the trip takes too long for very little reward. The only reason I decided to make the trip was because one sale showed a ceramic Christmas tree in one of the preview photographs, shown below.

The tree looked too much like the one on the cover of the Judy Bolton book, The Secret of the Musical Tree, for me not to check it out. I ended up purchasing the tree, which is very cute. The tree measures 12 inches tall and 7 1/2 inches in diameter at the widest point.

The pictures never show the ceramic Christmas trees to be as nice as they actually are.

At another sale, I found six assorted series books.

I would not have purchased the above books if I had not decided to go after the ceramic Christmas tree.