eBay's Largest Collection

At the beginning of February, I purchased a couple of Hardy Boys Digest books locally to try them to see if I wanted to continue reading the Hardy Boys series past #58.  I decided that I did, so I had to figure out how to quickly build a complete set of Hardy Boys Digests so that I could continue reading.  I had very little time.

I had to do it quickly because if I decided to begin reading my complete set of Girls of Canby Hall, which was what I intended to read after I finished Hardy Boys #1-58, then I knew that I would never read the Hardy Boys Digests.  I know myself well enough to know that despite my best intentions, I will never get back to a series after I move on to another series.

I began looking around online for sets, of which there were none.  There had been a complete set of Hardy Boys Digests on eBay in January and at an excellent price, but that set had sold.  I didn't want the books in January.  If I had only known...

I saw some small lots.  However, there would be lots of duplicates, and some lots weren't that reasonable.  I could as a last resort use Thriftbooks.com, where most likely all titles would be available at $3.59 each.  If I did that, the books would end up costing me over $400 total to complete the set.  Ouch.  But I could get the set done fast.

And then I saw it.

An eBay seller listed "Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Novels (ebay's largest collection)" on February 5 at a starting bid of $800 and a Buy It Now of $2,500.  This was the mother of all Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys lots.  It was huge.  The seller's description was as follows.

Nancy Drew Volumes 1-175

Nancy Drew Case Files Volumes 1-124

Nancy Drew on Campus Volumes 1-25

The Hardy Boys Volumes 1-190

The Hardy Boys Case Files 1-122

Nancy Drew and hardy Boys Volumes 1-76

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Ghost Files  2 volumes

Hardy boys and Tom Swift 2 volumes

I detected an obvious typo in the 76 Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, since there are just 36 volumes in the set.  I also noticed that the Casefiles last number didn't match the last number in that series, but otherwise, the numbers offered matched up with complete sets of everything.  All I cared about was the line that read "The Hardy Boys Volumes 1-190."  OMG.  Every single Digest in addition to the complete set of hardcover books.

The seller provided these pictures showing just some of the books offered.

But should I bid?  I wasn't concerned about anyone taking the Buy It Now, which was way too high.  Additionally, the opening bid of $800 would scare most people off.  I waited and watched, thinking about the lot every single day.  I kept checking and no bids.  I was also concerned about the risk, so I kept thinking about it the entire seven days.  Oh, I wanted the books, but what if I didn't get all of them?  What if I didn't get the Hardy Boys Digests?

$800 was not too high of a price for what was offered altogether, and I also knew that I would get my money back if the books were not received.  But most importantly, I wanted the books, and I didn't want this to be a failed transaction.  Should I bid?

I wanted to ask the seller to photograph more of the books to raise my confidence, but I took a calculated risk and did not ask.  If the seller would have added more photos, that would have given more confidence to other prospective bidders.  I was hoping for no competition.  That is, if I decided to bid.

Of course all along, I knew that I would bid.  I did, and I won the auction at the opening bid of $800.  I was still worried, because large lots are almost never packaged well.  This is just the reality of large lots, and this was by far the largest lot I had ever purchased. 

Four days after I won the auction, the seller put tracking numbers up.  I then got worried a few days later when one package showed as delivered in Oregon, which is where the seller is located.  I asked about the packages.  I learned that the seller had been called away and that someone else had shipped the books.  Something went wrong, and most of the packages had been returned.

I have not given the specific details, but I feel confident that what I was told was true, even though frustrating for me.  I am good at reading sellers and have always been correct about whether they were telling me the truth or telling me a lie.  I felt that the seller was being honest and would get the books delivered, even though I was gradually getting more and more stressed.  By the way, huge bulk lots are always stressful. Something always goes wrong. That's why I was indecisive about bidding.  I knew that I was setting myself up for a lot of worry.

It was apparent that two packages were coming and that the others had been returned to the seller.  I had run out of Hardy Boys Digest books, so I went around to several local stores to buy more Hardy Boys Digests so that I could keep reading.

—continued in "eBay's Largest Collection Part 2"

Hardy Boys #52 Shattered Helmet and #53 Hissing Serpent

In Hardy Boys #52, The Shattered Helmet, the Hardys help their friend, Evan Pandropolos, search for a missing artifact, an ancient Greek helmet.  The case takes the boys on a search for an old film star.  All the while, they boys are pursued by ruthless men who want the helmet.

This book has too many villains, and I was getting confused towards the end of the story.  A flaw in many of the higher-numbered books is that the authors chose to make the stories too complicated with too many characters.  They forgot that "less is more."  A less confusing story is always more enjoyable.

Despite my confusion, I overall greatly enjoyed this book. 

Hardy Boys #53, The Clue of the Hissing Serpent, is one big mess.  A man tries to hire Sam Radley to bug the home of a chess champion.  Fenton determines that the man may be associated with Eco Incorporated or Associated Jewelers, whatever they are.  And why do we care?

Furthermore, Chet has taken up hot air ballooning, and his instructor is weird.  Later, we learn that the instructor has the Ruby King in his possession, whatever that is.  Someone is trying to steal it!  Meanwhile, Mr. Hardy works to track down swindlers operating as a firm selling suits from Hong Kong.  What the heck?!

As the book opens, one piece of random information after another is thrown at the reader.  It's confusing and reminds me strongly of the Nancy Drew Wanderer books.  I can't stand most of the Nancy Drew Wanderer books due to the convoluted and highly confusing plots.  Argh!

I did gradually find this book interesting once the author quit throwing out random information.  However, this is not a very good book.

Input Needed for Farah's Guide to Nancy Drew

David Farah is asking for corrections for one final edition of his Nancy Drew guide.  Here I will mention some lingering concerns about certain printings.

The first issue is the first printing of The Clue in the Crossword Cipher.  Please read this post and its comments for more information.  According to the guide, the first printing lists to Pine Hill on the back cover and has no interior list.  The existence of that printing is not in question.  The problem is that multiple copies listing to Pine Hill on the back cover and with an interior list page to 99 Steps have surfaced.  I'm pretty sure that at least four different people own first printings both with and without the interior list page.

The problem is that Farah has not been able to determine which one came first or whether both versions can be considered the first printing.  Anyone who owns a Crossword Cipher book that lists to Pine Hill on the back cover, either with or without the interior list, should check the book for any kind of markings that could indicate the exact age of the book.  These markings would include inscriptions with dates. 

Another issue is the first revised text printing of Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk.  According to the guide, the first revised text lists to Sky Phantom on the back cover.  The problem is that none of us can find one.  In the comments to this post, someone claimed to own two of them and acted like it was common.  However, that person did not provide photographic proof and was posting under a screen name.

If anyone does own a revised text Brass-Bound Trunk that lists to Sky Phantom, please contact David Farah with photographs of the book.  Otherwise, that printing will be removed from the next guide.  Farah has not seen any examples of the first revised text with Sky Phantom on the back cover, so the current belief is that it does not exist.  Unless he can get proper documentation of the existence of the revised text of Brass-Bound Trunk listing to Sky Phantom, the printing with the Cookbook ad on the back cover, 1977A-59, will be considered the first revised text.

I remembered that I do not own the first printing of the third cover art to Hidden Staircase, 1966A-97.  The book seen at the left lists to Pine Hill on the back cover and to 99 Steps on the inside, which makes it the second printing of the third cover art, 1966B-98, according to the guide.  The first printing of the third cover art lists to Pine Hill on the back cover and inside the book. 

I recall that I have been asked about the first printing of the third cover art to Hidden Staircase and now know of several advanced collectors who do not own one.  So my question is... Does anyone own the third cover art to Hidden Staircase that lists to Pine Hill on the back cover and inside the book?  And if you do not own one, I'd also like you to confirm, since that gives us an idea of the scarcity of the book.  If it exists, that's wonderful, and I'll keep searching for it.  But if it doesn't, then Farah needs to know.

I would also like to verify that the printing indicated to be the first revised text of Shadow Ranch exists.  The first revised text is 1965B-82.  The first revised text book has the second cover art and lists to Fire Dragon on the back cover and to Pine Hill on the inside.  The book seen to the right is the second printing of the revised text and has the second cover art.  It lists to Pine Hill on the back cover and inside.  Notice it has black and white multi I endpapers, which is indicative of the revised text.

Does anyone own the second cover art Shadow Ranch with the revised text that lists to Fire Dragon on the back cover and to Pine Hill on the inside?  Either way, let me know so that I will have an idea of scarcity and a verification of existence.

I thought of two more variants listed in the guide that I do not own, and I want to verify their existence.  The first is the original text of Haunted Bridge matched with the cover art seen at the left.  I have never seen one with the original text.  Do any of you own the original text paired with the cover art seen at the left?  This printing has since been confirmed to exist.

The second variant is the revised text of Leaning Chimney matched with the cover art seen at the right.  I have never seen one.  Do any of you own the revised text paired with the cover art seen at the right?  This printing has since been confirmed to exist.

I am going to be telling Farah about the following two books that have the back cover printed entirely in black ink.

 

Whispering Statue is 1977A-66, and Mirror Bay is 1977B-9.  I have sold extras of both books, but I haven't kept track.  For verification purposes, please let me know if you own either variant.  Also let me know if you own any picture cover books other than these two with the back cover printed entirely in black ink.  Both of these books list to Parchment.  Do yours?  Also, do any of you own either Whispering Statue or Mirror Bay that match the above printings that have the back cover normal with the red and black ink?  I have never paid attention, and now I wonder if the entire print run has all black ink or whether this variant is a subset of the print run.

Please respond either here or on my Facebook page.

Continuing My Hardy Boys Journey

I have been publishing new series book reviews on average at least one or two times per week for over five years.  One of you mentioned my volume of reviews on Facebook, and I had not considered exactly how many I have done and that I may have reviewed more vintage series books on the Internet than any other person.

It's strange considering how many reviews I have completed that some readers and followers would rather discourage me.  As I was reading the higher-numbered Hardy Boys books that only come in 20-chapter texts, I was advised to stick to the original text books and not read the revised text books.

Really?

If I want to read the books, then why discourage me?  It's another example of the behavior I mentioned in my post, "Readers with Strong Opinions."  I don't understand why some readers wish to discourage others from reading certain books.  I grew up reading only revised text Nancy Drew books.  I loved those books.  While not all of them held up that well when I read them again a few years ago, I still enjoyed them.  They have flaws, but I have always been a fan of the revised text books.

That may be hard for those readers who grew up on the original text books to understand, but it's the truth.  Once I realized that I was enjoying the Hardy Boys original text books more than I expected, I decided to read the higher-numbered books.  I then decided to read the revised text books that were significantly rewritten.  I ended up greatly enjoying many of them.  I am not surprised that I did, since I enjoyed the Nancy Drew revised text books as a child.

I never intended to read any Hardy Boys books past the original 58, but I enjoyed them enough that I decided to take my journey further into the Hardy Boys Digest books.  Has anyone reviewed the complete run of both the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series?  If not, it looks like I'm headed in that direction.

I can only review books for this blog when I want to do it.  The motivation comes completely from within.  I get very little feedback from readers and followers, so the motivation has to come from within.  If I were to depend on comments and followers hitting the "like" button on Facebook, I would have quit long ago.

I have noticed that what little feedback I get from my followers has dropped as I have read the boys' series and has dropped further as I have published Hardy Boys reviews.  It's apparent that most of my existing followers are not very interested in the Hardy Boys reviews, which is logical since this blog is titled "Series Books for Girls."  That's okay.  I want to do the reviews, and I really like having these reviews handy for future times when I need to figure out which books I liked the best.  So it's all good.

The bottom line is that if I were to get my motivation from others, I'd never read anything nor review any books.  If I were to listen to those who would discourage me, I would miss out on many excellent books.  And even more importantly, I must ignore my own preconceived ideas and be open to trying books that I think I won't like.

As I mentioned, I recently finished reading the revised text versions of the early Hardy Boys books.  I tried a few Hardy Boys Wanderer books and enjoyed them.  In fact, I enjoyed those few books more than I did the average Nancy Drew Wanderer book, which tore apart my theory that I would not like the Hardy Boys Wanderer books.

My overall opinion of the Hardy Boys series will come at a future time, but I'll give you a hint.  Reading the Hardy Boys books is almost exactly like reading the Nancy Drew books from the same era, except in the case of the Wanderer books, where I (so far) like the Hardy Boys books better. 

Hardy Boys #50 Vampire Trail and #51 Masked Monkey

In Hardy Boys #50, Danger on Vampire Trail, Frank and Joe drive to the Rocky Mountains to track down a group of men who use counterfeit credit cards.  The boys are harassed by bikers and others constantly during their trip to Colorado.

This book reminds me of the Three Investigators book, The Mystery of the Trail of Terror.  The parallels are rather obvious.  Both books have people on motorcycles harassing the protagonists during a cross-country trip via automobile.  In both books, the boys are attacked constantly.  It's also interesting that both books have the word "trail" in the title.

The book wore on me towards the end, although I overall enjoyed the ending.

In Hardy Boys #51, The Masked Monkey, Frank and Joe are asked to find Graham Retson, who is the son of a wealthy man.  Meanwhile, Fenton works on a fake passport case. 

On page 4, Fenton Hardy comments that it is a "strange coincidence" that the passports were stolen in Granite City, which is where the missing man, Graham Retson, lives.  Strange?  Hardly.  This happens in every Hardy Boys book!  At least we know from the beginning that both cases, as always, will be intertwined. 

This book is excellent.  I was never bored, and I even had to force myself to go to bed when I was halfway through the book.  I wanted to keep reading!

Hardy Boys #48 Arctic Patrol and #49 Bombay Boomerang

In Hardy Boys #48, The Arctic Patrol Mystery, Fenton Hardy sends his sons to Iceland to find a sailor who is missing.  The sailor is due an inheritance.  Meanwhile, a U.S. astronaut has gone missing in Iceland, and the boys look for clues as they search for the sailor.

Chet can be such an idiot.  He blabs about the boys' secret plans to a television reporter.  For that matter, Frank and Joe aren't that much more intelligent.  They put an ad in the newspaper in Iceland advertising the inheritance and giving the man's name, telling him to contact them.  And of course, the boys receive a bunch of fake contacts.

On page 72, the boys purchase shaving equipment.  There is nothing unusual about this.  It stood out because it had never been mentioned before.  Typically, personal care aside from eating and sleeping is seldom mentioned in series books.

This book has amazing coincidences.  The flight attendant from the boys' plane shows up briefly at their hotel.  In the few minutes the boys speak to her, she gets them an audience with her uncle who gives them the tip that leads them to the missing man.

This book does not drag and is interesting from start to finish.  The coincidences are too amazing and the mystery solved too easily, but I still greatly enjoyed it.

In Hardy Boys #49, The Bombay Boomerang, Frank and Joe help their father investigate the theft of mercury shipments along the coast.

The boys get a vital clue to the mystery when they make a phone call but enter the wrong area code.  They wanted area code 212 but instead entered 202.  And of course, they get better information from the wrong area code than from the right one.  While I can forgive this kind of stupidity, this is why so many people hate the higher-numbered books.

The Hardys know that a bug has been placed on their home phone service.  On page 88, the boys return home and nothing is mentioned about the bug.  I thought they would want to get rid of it.  On page 133, the bug is finally mentioned again, so the boys phone their father from a neighbor's house.  But wait.  A hour passes with the boys discussing the mystery.  Their father calls back and tells them important details.  Fine, but whose home are they in?  Did they stay at their neighbor's house for that one hour?

Even though some scenes are stupid, I greatly enjoyed this story.  It does not drag at all, not even at the end.

Hardy Boys #46 Secret Agent on Flight 101 and #47 Whale Tattoo

In Hardy Boys #46, The Secret Agent on Flight 101, Frank and Joe are shocked when the Incredible Hexton makes Fenton Hardy disappear during a magic act—and he doesn't reappear!  As the Hardy boys search for their father, they join forces with the secret agents of SKOOL as they seek to uncover evidence against a spy organization, UGLI.

This book is from 1967 when the spy craze was all the rage.  1967 is also the year that Grosset and Dunlap launched the Christopher Cool TEEN Agent series.  An ad for the Christopher Cool series is present in the back of this book.

I recall reading this book 20 years ago.  At that time, I had never read a Ken Holt book.  Now that I have read Ken Holt, two things stood out as I read the first two chapters.  Someone vanishes during a magic act performed in a school auditorium, which occurred in one Ken Holt book.  A mirror is used to reflect headlights, which occurred in another Ken Holt book.

Mr. Hardy leaves a long series of numbers as a clue written on a wall.  The boys interpret the numbers as latitude and longitude.  I find it rather strange that Fenton somehow knew his exact latitude and longitude while imprisoned.  This was in 1967, and he wouldn't have had a GPS on him. 

It's quite hard to believe that Frank could cling to the wing of a plane while flying in midair, use a screwdriver to open the fasteners of an engine, and extract a bomb from inside the engine.  The engine was running, so the blades were moving, and the engine was hot.  This is not feasible, but this type of scene is typical of spy stories.

I found the book interesting for the first 100 to 110 pages.  While implausible, the story kept me interested.  After that point, the story began to lose me, and I skimmed it towards the end.  Overall, this story is okay.

In Hardy Boys #47, Mystery of the Whale Tattoo, Frank and Joe are hired to find the pickpockets who keep stealing from the patrons of Solo's Super Carnival.  Meanwhile, the boys' friends purchase a stuffed whale that was unearthed in Bayport.  When the stuffed whale is stolen, Frank and Joe try to find it, ultimately learning that the stuffed whale holds the key to their father's latest case.

On page 127, the police officer recites the history of tattooing to the boys as he takes them to view photos of tattoos.  This is a rather blatant way to add education to the plot.

I find it hard to believe that the radio announcer would interrupt regular programming to inform the people of Bayport that the Hardys have not found the stuffed whale yet.

Most everything about this story is implausible.  Nevertheless, I still found it to be a decent story.

Hardy Boys #44 Haunted Fort and #45 Spiral Bridge

In Hardy Boys #44, The Haunted Fort, Chet asks Frank and Joe to solve a mystery for his uncle, who runs an art school.  Valuable paintings have disappeared from the school.  Meanwhile, a nearby fort is said to contain a treasure and is haunted.

Sadly, the story is not anywhere near as good as the cover art.

I found it hard to visualize the art school, the mansion, and the surrounding area.  The description given of the setting was quite lacking.

On page 36, church is mentioned, and this is the first book to mention church, not including revised text versions of the original text books.  This is just something that I notice and find interesting.  The church references show up in the Grosset and Dunlap books published during the 1960s.

I didn't think the boys would ever get to the fort to investigate.  They keep investigating all sorts of random leads and stay away from the one place they should visit.  They even participate in recreational activities such as swimming instead of working on the case.  On page 79, Frank comments that someone wants to keep them away from the fort, since several attacks and threats against the boys have been made.  No, Frank, you are keeping yourself away from the fort.  Further down that same page, the boys get a canoe and decide to visit an old hermit to view his painting.  Um... the fort?  Please?  Why is this book called The Haunted Fort?

As of halfway through the book, the boys have briefly investigated the outside of the fort twice.  The boys finally make it inside the fort on page 115, but they don't have a chance to investigate.  On page 130, the boys investigate inside the fort again and find nothing.  On page 135, they finally see a ghostly figure. 

One positive part is that this book is the rare Hardy Boys story that does not have a parallel Fenton Hardy mystery.  It's dumb how in just about every book, the boys and their father work on two separate cases that turn out to be the same case.  That doesn't happen here, since Fenton is not mentioned.

This book is okay, but my enjoyment was reduced by the time wasted by the boys running around in circles getting nothing done.  By the time the boys finally fully explore the fort and find what they have been seeking, I no longer cared.  I skimmed the last part of the story.

In Hardy Boys #45, The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge, Fenton Hardy has been severely injured while working on a case.  Tony's father is working on a bridge in Kentucky, and the project has been sabotaged.  Frank, Joe, and all their friends take undercover jobs on the project in order to discover the culprits.

The undercover work adds to the suspense.  If The Haunted Fort had been set up in that fashion, I would have found it much more interesting.

This book is outstanding.  The book starts fast and maintains a suspenseful atmosphere throughout the text.  The Hardys' friends get picked off one by one by the villains, and that adds even more to the suspense.  The villain is surprising.  The ending doesn't drag.  None of the book drags, and everything is interesting.

Some readers tell others that all higher-numbered books in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series are bad.  This is not true.  Some books are excellent, and this book is one of them.