An Auction for a Nancy Drew 1940s Style Library Binding

A copy of Nancy Drew #2, The Hidden Staircase, in the 1940s style library binding was auctioned on eBay.  It is quite fortunate for the seller that they decided on an auction, since two people bid very aggressively on the auction. 

I did not need this title since I do already own it.  My page on this library edition does not show this title, because I no longer add images to my cover art galleries.  I have lost interest because of people who have taken my images and put them on their own sites with no source attribution.  Also, most people seem to be more interested in asking questions on Facebook than in using Internet search to find series book websites.  Why should I bother?

So fortunately, I didn't need this book.  I consider this particular binding style to be the scarcest of the Nancy Drew library bindings.  This binding is so scarce that it could be considered rare, and that's a word I typically never use for anything.

Consider that there are fewer known copies of each title in this library binding set than there are known copies of The Secret of the Old Clock with the 1930A-1 dust jacket.  In fact, there are only slightly more known copies of all titles combined of this library binding than there are of known 1930A-1 Old Clock dust jackets.  At present, we know of 13 surviving Old Clock 1930A-1 dust jackets.

Known copies of the 1940s style library binding:

 #1 one (mine) 
 #2 three (mine, another one, and the one just auctioned)
 #3 one (mine)

 #5 two (mine and one that I sold years ago)
 #6 one (mine)

 #7 one (mine)

 #8 one (mine)

 #9 one (owned by someone else)

#10 two (both owned by someone else)

#11 one (mine)

#13 one (owned by someone else)

#15 two (one that sold on eBay and another owned by someone else)

#16 two (both owned by someone else)

That's not very many known copies.  Describing these books as rare is justified.

While I know of three copies of #2, that doesn't make it any easier to find than the rest of the books.  There just aren't enough of these books out there for anyone to find.  

The question is whether the book is worth the final price of $234.50 plus $3.45 shipping (with sales tax possibly added to the total).  Rare items are always worth whatever someone is willing to pay.  So yes, paying over $200 is worth it.  

A rule of thumb used many years ago was that the actual value of an item auctioned on eBay is what the third highest bidder was willing to pay.  The third highest bidder for this book was willing to pay $77.00.  I feel like $75 to $100 is probably a fair price to put on these books if using the fixed-price format, so $77.00 is in line with that. 

However, I do not feel that the winning bidder paid too much.  When two people want a book badly, they will have to compete for it.  That's what happened here.  If I had needed the book, I would have had to have joined the fray as well.  With the competitive bidding now occurring on Nancy Drew library editions, I would have had to have to outbid anyone else who wanted the book.  That's just how it is.  Sometimes the winning bidder has to pay a large amount in order to acquire the book.

As long as the winning bidder can afford the closing price, then it is always worth paying that price to win the auction.  It is far better to pay a higher price than what one might prefer than to regret not bidding high enough.  I still regret not bidding higher on the copy of #15 in this library binding that sold around 10 to 15 years ago on eBay.  Another one has not come up for sale.

I do recommend that library binding enthusiasts consider eSnipe.  If both of the two highest bidders had used eSnipe and held their bids until the final 10 seconds, then the book almost certainly would have closed a good bit lower.  I have used eSnipe since 2001.  While I cannot determine exactly what I have saved, I am certain that I have saved a large amount of money.  

There are also other reasons why waiting until the end of the auction is best, especially when one has become well known among other collectors.  The below passage is an excerpt from an old post in this blog.

Many of us have had bad experiences when bidding early.  I used to bid my maximum early in cases when I was unable to be home to snipe, before I began using eSnipe.  One time a knowledgeable collector spent an hour picking at my bid and finally gave up at just under my maximum.  I would have saved a lot on that book by not bidding until the end.  I never understood why he spent an hour bidding on the auction.

Back years ago when IDs were not hidden and before I sniped, I had a stalker who would bid on items I had found.  That person would "grudge bid" by bidding an outrageous amount just to make me pay a high price for the item.  I got tired of it and decided to bid lower than usual on purpose to catch him at it.  He won the auction.  I received a second chance offer from the seller, since apparently my stalker was unwilling to pay what he had bid.  I refused the second chance offer, even though the price was within what I was willing to pay.

For those reasons and others, I always bid my maximum at the very end of an auction.  

While I cannot prove that I have saved money by sniping, I am absolutely certain that I have.

The Dana Girls Guide

We have been waiting for the Dana Girls Guide for around 20 years.  Finally, it will be available in early November.  Please visit SynSine Press for ordering information.  

If you think you will ever want to have a guide to the Dana Girls series, then you need to go ahead and purchase the guide.  The guide will most likely not remain in print.  If you miss this opportunity, then you will have trouble ever finding it in the secondhand market.  Past SynSine Press publications like A Guide to Judy Bolton Country are desired by many who never had the chance to order when available, and those publications almost never come up for sale.  When they do, they are usually expensive.  Don't miss this opportunity.

Series Collector Obituaries

We have lost several series book collectors this year.

Collector Tim Sampson passed away back in the spring.  He was active on Facebook.  He collected many very obscure series and often shared photos of them on Facebook.  Below are a couple of pictures he shared of some of his books.

We lost Joe Slavin in May from Covid-19.  Joe was a well known collector of series books.  You can read Joe's obituary here.

In September, we lost Carolyn Stewart Dyer, who organized the first Nancy Drew conference in 1993.  Read Carolyn's obituary here.

A shocking recent death was that of Bob Williams this month.  Bob passed away from a heart attack.  Bob was actively buying and selling books and had made quite a few recent posts on Facebook about some outstanding series book finds.  Read about Bob's life here and here.

Below is a screen capture of Bob's Etsy shop from right about when he passed away.

I am saddened by these losses.  

A Group of Books Purchased Locally

In my September 6th post about book hunting, I explained how I hunt for books these days. 

For a number of years now, I have done only targeted book hunting.  I only go to places where I often make good finds.  That way, I'm not wasting much energy.  My pattern prior to March was to check those select places around twice per month.  During this pandemic, I will check those places around once every four to eight weeks.

That was six weeks ago, and I finally made my next visit to just a few select locations where I am more likely to find books.

I purchased some Three Investigators, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden books.

The Three Investigators book was priced lower than it should have been.  The Ghost of Blackwood Hall is the first picture cover printing.  It was priced about what I am usually willing to pay, which means not cheap but not too high for me to be able to sell it.  

I purchased the square Trixie Belden paperbacks just to rescue them from the store.  I have mentioned in previous posts that paperback books are almost always priced at $2.00 and up here in Oklahoma.  I continue to be astonished that people can actually purchase books nowadays for as low as $0.10.  Around here, those days are long gone.  The Trixie Belden paperbacks were $2.00 or higher.  I truly was just rescuing them, since I find that buyers prefer the oval Trixie Belden paperbacks.

I found three Dean Trixie Belden hardcover books from the UK.  Those don't show up in the United States very often, so that was a decent find.  The books were not cheap, but they were worth purchasing.

I also purchased some vintage teen books from the 1990s.

The books had been in the store for a number of months.  I posted a picture of the books as seen in the store in September in the Vintage Teen Books group.  There was enough enthusiasm from members that I realized that I should rescue the books.  Some of the books were $2.00 and others were a bit higher.  I don't think I will be keeping them, so the price was a bit steep to me, which is why I hadn't already purchased them.  However, the low price of the Three Investigators book balanced out the cost.

I still am not planning to sell any books online before May 2021.  The books will be shelved, and they will be waiting for the day when I finally open my stores again.

A Trio of Nancy Drew Books Signed by Harriet Adams

I recently looked at a bulk lot of Nancy Drew books on eBay, only because the title mentioned that two books were signed by Harriet Adams.  The below photo was taken from the listing.

I didn't need the books, but the idea of two books being signed by Adams was interesting.  The price was low enough that the books were worth purchasing, especially if two were signed.  I also enjoy purchasing bulk lots, because they are my source of tint variants, which cannot easily be found by viewing online photos.  Online photos tend to distort any tint variance that is present.

The books arrived yesterday.  I started looking inside each book, searching for the signatures.  I expected the signatures to be on the inside front cover, which was Harriet's usual location.  I finally found a signed book, but the signature was on the title page.  I then started over and looked again at the books I had already checked.  I found a signature in one of those.  

I didn't stop there, since I couldn't be certain whether just two books were signed.  I continued through the set and found a third book.  I then checked all books again (and some for the third time), but I didn't find any additional signatures.  So I was sure that I had found all of them.

These are the signed books.  Remember that you can enlarge any photo by selecting it.

When I looked for the signatures, I also checked the back cover lists and set aside any books that looked interesting for any reason.  I found three such books.

The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk interested me because of the nice condition and how clean the cover looks.  The book has no soiling, and the sky is very light.  The book turned out to be a tint variant, seen third in the below photo along with two books from my collection.  I will be keeping it.

The Ghost of Blackwood Hall is in nice shape.  It is not the first revised text printing, but it is in nicer shape than my first revised text book.  It is seen below to the right of my first revised text book.  I will be keeping it.

The Secret of the Wooden Lady looked to be a tint variant, and it is, seen third in the below photo.  I'm sure that I have seen other copies tinted as dark, but this one is from 1971, earlier than others.

I will be keeping it as well.

A Brief Update to "An Unexpected Wet Package"

Original post:  "An Unexpected Wet Package"

I finally took the time to place the water damaged Nancy Drew books in the book press.  I wanted to wait a couple of days to make certain that the books were completely dry, but a couple of days became nearly two weeks.

First, I had to extract the forgotten fanzine from the book press.  

I purchased this issue of The Mystery & Adventure Series Review quite a few months ago, probably sometime in 2019.  It was mailed in an envelope without being enclosed in plastic.  That's what most people do with what they mail.  The envelope arrived in the rain, so the issue was wet and damaged.  I dried it with the hair dryer, then I placed it in the book press.  I forgot about it.

You can see the wrinkled part on the upper left part of the back cover.  The front cover was not damaged at all.  Pages 32 through 56 had varying degrees of water damage.  I don't have a "before" photo, but the issue definitely did not lay flat after it was first dried.  It is better now.

You can see some of the slight waviness of the pages that were affected.  The pages are wrinkled, but they lay pretty flat, except when the issue is held loosely like I did to take the above photo.

The Nancy Drew books are now in the book press.  

I will try to remember to check on them in around a month and will update.  If I forget, then some months from now I will update when I finally remember the books.

This is probably the only post you will get for the next week.  I am uninterested in writing posts, except for ones like this.  

P.S. I still hate the new Blogger interface, as I mentioned a week ago.  This post took me at least five minutes longer because of the problems I encountered while writing it.  No wait... the entire post is indented.  Why?!  How did that happen?!

P.P.S.  That took 10 minutes.  I couldn't get the indent to go away using the features provided by Blogger.  I had to copy the text into WordPad to strip it of the HTML code.  I deleted everything from the post.  I pasted it back in after I preselected that I wanted my text to be left-justified.  I then added the photos again.  Thanks, Blogger, for wasting my time.

This blog may just go on a hiatus until fall break.  This isn't fun.

Wishing Star #8 Katie and #9 I Don't Want to Be Your Shadow

Wishing Star #8 Katie, Deborah Aydt, 1980

Katie can't seem to fit in anywhere!  Her mother promised she'd never remarry... until she met Ben Baxter!  Her best friend, Bessie, is always talking about her great boyfriend, but will never let Katie meet him!

And then there's Robert.  Katie really likes Robert, but she isn't ready to be so serious.  If only he wouldn't expect so much!

At least her diet is really working.  She hardly has to eat anything anymore... It's so easy, and it's her own private secret.  Her mother is so involved in her upcoming marriage she hasn't even noticed—until the terrible accident when Katie winds up in the hospital!

This is a very good book.

Wishing Star #9, I Don't Want to Be Your Shadow, Deborah Aydt, 1981

Jon was a powerful force in my life, as powerful as my mother had been before.  Jon and my mother were both suns—when I differed to one of them, I became a shadow.

.....................

Blake has always lived in her mother's shadow.  Her mother holds an important job in the art world and expects Blake to follow in her footsteps.  But what Blake wants is a warm, quiet home life, and a mother who's always there.

When she finds it with Jon Purcell's family, she's delighted.  And she's even more delighted when she finds herself falling in love with Jon... until she makes the disturbing discovery that she's as much Jon's shadow as she was her mother's.

Blake wants to be herself.  But how?  Must she stop loving Jon?

The first problem is that this book begins in the future with Blake looking back on her relationship with Jon.  It is apparent that the relationship is in the past.  Why should I care?  I already know the ending.

The second problem is that I do not like Jon at all.  I partly skimmed the book and did not enjoy it.  I found it boring.

I Hate the New Blogger, the New Facebook, and 2020

Blogger changed the editing interface for those of us who have blogs.  I was forced into the new version this weekend where I can no longer go back to the legacy Blogger.  I hate the new Blogger. 

I hate it so much that I wish to abandon this blog immediately.  

OMG.  This is not easier to use.  It is harder.  Hitting "enter" does that stupid double space that Microsoft Word does.  I hate it.

Blogger, why are you indenting the very first sentence of each post by one character when I don't want that?  Just let me type the way I want.  You are making me delete that space at the beginning.  It looks stupid for the first sentence to be indented by one character when the others are not.  I don't want that.

The manual save button is gone!  The post autosaves, sure, but I want to be certain by hitting the button.  This is stressing me out.

My blog queue is ruined.  I set dates for when I want posts to publish.  I want to see those dates in the queue.  But no!  Blogger only shows me the date on which I last edited the post, not the date to which I have changed it.  Most of my draft posts are dated "September 20" because I edited the dates on those posts today.  I think if I change the posts from draft and set them to publish, then the dates will change.  But the posts aren't finished!  I don't want to set them to publish in case I forget to finish them!

I hate this so much.  

I am already quite unmotivated to write future posts.  This may end it for me.  I am not kidding.  I do not like this.  Given some time, I expect I will get over this, but the new Blogger is not an improvement.  It's always been clear to me that the people who do the programming for sites do not actually use them.  They have no clue.

Tell me about other blog services.  Are they less stupid?  This is actually a serious question.

And don't get me started on the new Facebook.  I hate it, too.  The new Facebook looks attractive, but I do not like it.  There is information hidden on the new Facebook that was not hidden before.  Facebook is still letting me change back to the classic version, but that will change very soon.  I will not be happy when I am finally stuck in the new Facebook.  

Facebook is also stupid, period.  For instance, we use questions that prospective members of groups must answer to be admitted into the groups.  Do you think Facebook shows mobile users those questions?  Of course not!  And everyone uses their phone for everything.   Granted, some people may see the questions, but I know for a fact that others don't see them.  I didn't see them when I checked on my phone.  Pfft.

Oh yeah, and mask usage is decreasing in local stores.  It may be about time for grocery pickup again.  

Just add Facebook and Blogger to the very long list of things gone bad in 2020.  What else will get ruined in the next few months?