Sock Monkeys and Series Books

I am not currently attending very many estate sales, since I only go if I see something in the preview pictures that looks quite promising or if the sales are in my immediate area.  Three estate sales were in my immediate area today, and I knew that one of them had a sock monkey.  My mother collects sock monkeys.

I first went to the sale with the sock monkey.  I entered the house and scouted out the room with the dolls and picked up the sock monkey.  Next, I leisurely went back through all the rooms to see if I could find anything else.  Unexpectedly, the sale also had the first book in the Dale of the Mounted series.  The Dale of the Mounted book was in the living room in a small stack of books that the estate sale company considered special items.  Normally the books that they showcase like that are generic old books of little interest to me. 

The Dale of the Mounted series is obscure, and I acquired three of them around six weeks ago.  I had tried reading one, but it was a bit dry with many technical details.  Nevertheless, what I read was still interesting, but I really wanted to read the first book instead to get a better idea of the series, so I quit reading.

I was thrilled to find the first book.  I will have to read it sometime soon to find out whether it is worth pursuing the rest of the series.  Below are the three books that I purchased six weeks ago.

The four books shown in this post are the only ones published with this cover art, which I really like.  The rest of the series is published with different art that I don't like as much, so I'm less motivated to find them. 

After this first sale, I went to the two other sales in my immediate area.  At the third, I found another sock monkey.

At this point, I decided that I was having a lucky day.  Later after some errands, I was driving near the thrift store, which I seldom check due to a lack of interesting merchandise.  With the way things were going, I figured that the store probably had a sock monkey and some series books.  So I decided to go in, even though it was likely going to be a waste of time.  I went in and found a sock monkey in with the dolls.  This one is a recent mass-produced sock monkey, but it was only $0.99. 

I went to the book section to discover two bins full of books.  I don't search the bins unless I see something that looks promising.  I shifted some books and found a Happy Hollisters book.  Ah.  Now I had to search through both bins just in case.  I found some books that I didn't end up purchasing, but the next photo shows the ones that I did get.

I ended up with seven Happy Hollisters, one Nancy Drew, two Dana Girls, and one Canby Hall.  The price stickers were in the color of this week's special where items are 50% off.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have purchased the Happy Hollisters books.  Even at half off, I may not break even since Happy Hollisters books sell very low, but at least I rescued them from a possible bad end in a dumpster.

Finally, I also purchased this Hardy Boys book today.  Notice the back cover error where the white print is all missing.

Altogether, it was a good day.

Hunting for Books Online

Most collectors say that they prefer to find books in person rather than search for them online.  Fifteen years ago, I felt the same way.  Now, my feelings have changed.  I enjoy looking for books in person, but only when I find something.  Otherwise, I find it very unsatisfying.  In fact, I dislike going to antique shops and seeing the same books that have been there for years, with nothing new for me to find.  I end up leaving the store feeling very depressed.  You read that right; antique shops now depress me.  So for that reason, I don't go to antique shops very often anymore.  I do still check out some of the local book stores, but I even find those stores often to be depressing.

I find it much more fun to look for books online.  I've spent a lot of time in the last year building very difficult sets of books to acquire in short periods of time by looking for them online.  It's like a scavenger hunt.

I first run searches on eBay. For the most of the scarce books, I usually won't find any on eBay.  I next check AbeBooks.com and Amazon.com. I can usually find a copy that meets my specifications on one of those two sites.  But sometimes I won't find one at all.  The next step is to go to Google to search, then to any other site that comes to mind like Bonanza, Etsy, and Ecrater.

I built a set of Bret King books this summer.  I was not able to find a copy of The Mystery at Blizzard Mesa in dust jacket.  I had to settle on a tweed copy in very rough shape.  Recently, I began reading the books and realized by the time I reached The Mystery at Blizzard Mesa that I liked this series so much that I really needed to upgrade that book.  I tried again to find a book in dust jacket, but I still couldn't locate one.

Not satisfied, I ran additional searches.  I had this idea that a copy had to be online somewhere.  Through Google, I found a short listing that mentioned a dust jacket, but the copy was on a foreign site that pulls listings from American sites.  This told me that a copy was somewhere on one of the main sites I search, but for some reason, I wasn't finding it.

I went back to AbeBooks.com, and this time, I ran a search under the author's name, Dan Scott, along with the title of the book.  And there it was.  I had been using the series name, Bret King, in my searches.  Since the seller had not mentioned Bret King in the listing, that copy was left out of my search results.  I ordered the book. 

I find it very satisfying to finally find a book like this online in a search after fruitlessly searching previously.  I get a rush. That is similar to winning a hotly contested auction,  It's a lot more fun than going into an antique shop and being depressed because nothing is there. It's like a great treasure hunt online.

How to Find Good Series Books

The question of where to find cheap series books comes up often.  This question has been asked a lot lately on Facebook, as if some enthusiasts think that other collectors have access to large, hidden stashes of cheap books that they can share for low prices or for free.

When someone posts a fabulous find on Facebook, it looks easy.  That person just went out and found those books with no effort, right?  Wrong.  Perhaps on that particular day they did, but what some collectors fail to understand is that the finder may have looked for books and found none on the previous couple dozen attempts.  Nobody posts their failures on Facebook.

Think of all the time spent and gasoline burned on all of the failed attempts.  That means that the cheap books purchased one day really cost a lot more in time and money.  Is it fair to expect that person to give the books away for a low price?   

When I have posted fabulous finds here, some readers assume I have the magic touch.  I've had good luck, but I have had far more bad luck.  Currently, I'm not looking for books very often, because all of my luck has been quite bad for quite a few consecutive attempts.  Remember, nobody posts about their failures.  I certainly don't.

The short answer is that there isn't an easy way to find cheap series books.

The long answer is that fairly cheap finds do exist, but the buyer has to be willing to put forth the necessary time and effort in order to locate those finds.

Book Sale Finder can help collectors find book sales in different regions.  Search the Yellow Pages for book stores and antique shops.  A frequent problem is that stores that are out of business sometimes appear in the yellow pages.  I like to search for the store's name on Facebook to see if it has a Facebook page that has been updated recently.  If so, that tells me quickly that the store is still in business.

While great finds can be found by taking a road trip, the better method is to purchase them online.  In order to get cheap books online, one has to be willing to purchase bulk lots that might include extra books not needed.  The extra books then must be sold.  This is the best way to get cheap books consistently these days.  The cheap bulk lots can usually be found on eBay.  The cheap bulk lots are not available all the time, and a lot of buyers don't understand the secret to finding cheap books on eBay.  The prospective buyer must search eBay every single day without fail, and it might take months and months to finally strike gold.  If the buyer misses one day, that one day might be the day that someone lists a cheap bulk lot at too low of a price, and someone else gets it.

Some of the work can be eliminated by using eBay's saved searches.  If that feature is utilized, then eBay will send an email each morning for the searches that have new results.  The buyer can click on the links to see what has just come up for sale.

eBay isn't the only site where good books can be found.  While the books are often cheaper on eBay, I have also sometimes found cheaper books on other sites.  Anytime I want to build a set of books, I search everywhere online to find the best deals.  I overlook nothing.

Goodwill stores list some of their vintage books online.  

Here are some useful links to search engines that can help buyers locate books.

AddALL
BookFinder
Alibris
Google Shopping

Not all sites pay for inclusion in the search engines.  Amazon and AbeBooks are two notable sites that do not appear in Google's shopping search, for instance.  AbeBooks has a saved searches feature that I have found quite useful.  I have been able to purchase desired books right after they are listed.  AbeBooks sends out the message as soon as a book becomes available.

Amazon
AbeBooks

Both Amazon and AbeBooks are very useful, but the buyer has to be careful.  Avoid all listings that state that the book "comes with dust jacket if issued with one."  This phrase means that the seller doesn't have the book and plans to purchase it from someone else.  The buyer gets whatever the seller decides to purchase.  It's far better for the buyer to find a seller who actually has the book instead of using a seller who does not.

Also avoid all listings that use the word "may," as in the book "may have writing inside," "may have water damage," or "may have tears."  These sellers also don't own the book and plan to purchase a copy from another seller.  Once again, find a seller who actually has the book.

Some sellers on Amazon and AbeBooks do take photographs of their books.  I try to purchase from those sellers, if possible, and always get exactly what I expect.  However, make sure the description is read carefully even when a listing has a photo.  Look at the following screen capture of a deceptive AbeBooks listing.  Click on it to see a larger version.

I highlighted the text that states that the book does not have a dust jacket.  However, a jacket looks to be present from the main picture.  A buyer could easily look at the rather high price of the book, see the picture of the jacket, and assume that the seller is offering a book with dust jacket. 

The picture used in the AbeBooks listing was taken from a listing on Amazon from another seller.  I purchased the book on Amazon from the other seller and at a lower price.  The jacket has distinctive rubbing on the front panel.  I am amused that I own the jacket that this seller shows in a listing currently up for sale.

I often have to purchase from Amazon and AbeBooks without photos, since most sellers do not photograph their books.  When I purchase from listings that do not have photos, I make certain to select listings where the sellers are specific enough that I can be certain that the book meets my requirements and is actually in the seller's possession.  I look for specific statements about the condition of the book and jacket, such as details about rubbing, tears, or chipping. 

There are rival sites to eBay that are also useful for finding books, and the sellers usually photograph the books.  While the selection tends to be poor, sometimes the books are priced better, and sometimes scarce books go unsold on other sites.  When I wanted to find a Ted Wilford book to try, I found one on Etsy with no trouble.  Of course since I purchased the book, it isn't there anymore, but this serves as an example of how books that are absent from eBay might be on another site.

Etsy
Bonanza

Finding good books at reasonable prices is difficult.  The prospective buyer has to persevere and search often, day after day and month after month.  No matter how scarce a book is, it will show up for sale eventually.

A Mobile Map Application for Book and Antique Hunting

I like to use a map application on my iPad when I'm out hunting for books.  Most often, I use the app if I am visiting a series of estate sales.  Occasionally, I might be traveling somewhere and wish to enter the locations of a number of book and antique stores into the app.

The old Google maps worked fine for entering a series of locations in that it stored the locations in its recent history, so they could be recalled by checking the list.  The new Google maps does not work the same way, so I no longer like it. 

Apple maps works in the fashion that the old Google maps did; however, it would be nice to be able to see all of the locations pinned on the map at the same time.  That functionality does not exist with either Apple or Google maps.  I want to be able to see all of my planned stops at the same time on the screen just like if I had sticky notes placed on a paper map like I used to do 20 years ago.

This summer I tried the Click2Map app.  Click2Map is offered in both a free and pay version.  I chose the free version.  In the free version, users can enter and store up to 150 locations, and every single location is displayed on the map at the same time.

Users sign up for an account on the Click2Map website.  The pinned locations are stored on the website, and the app syncs with the website whenever it is opened.

The app does exactly what I wanted, and I have found it very helpful in my book hunting.  The app does use up a lot of data, more so than other maps applications.  It constantly syncs with the server, which is what uses the data.  I did encounter a few glitches, such as the app closing abruptly.  Even though the app has some glitches and uses a lot of data, the benefits far outweigh the problems.  It's the only free app I was able to find after extensive searching that allowed me to display multiple locations on the map at the same time.

Book Finds June 2014

Here are some June book finds. 

I am keeping the four Trixie Random House books.  #10 and #12 complete my set, although #10 will need to be upgraded since it is covered with clear contact paper.  #13 and #14 are upgrades to two that I found recently.

Trixie Belden Cobbett's Island from the 1970s is in better condition than mine.  Those books tend to have cracked and split hinges, and this one does not.  I selected it from among the Trixie Belden books for sale at that store because of the superior condition.

I will keep the Nancy Drew Tolling Bell with dust jacket because it is nicer than mine.

Two of the Nancy Drew book club edition PCs are upgrades:  #20 and #26.  The book club PCs from #20 and up are very hard to upgrade.

The Nancy Drew #37 PC with Carolyn Keene appearing twice on the spine is a lot better than mine, so I am keeping it.

The Three Investigators #10 paperback is one I need.

I am keeping the Rick Brant books (except for the duplicates) for now just in case.  I plan to force myself to read all of #1 to make certain I don't want to keep the Rick Brant books since this is the closest I've been to having a complete set all at once.

I also purchased these books in June.

May 2014 Book Finds

In May, I made a few nice book finds.  Here is the first one from May 17.

The Tom Swift book was purchased just because it was there.  The Beverly Gray book did not appear to have a jacket, but I noticed paper sticking out of the book and investigated.  The jacket was in four pieces but present, so I purchased the book.  It has good quality paper.

The set of Trixie Belden books came from one location and was a surprise.  I went to an estate sale because I saw Nancy Drew books in one picture.  I knew that the books probably weren't special, but I had to go see them just in case.  This is the picture that made me have to go to the sale.  The Nancy Drew books can be easily spotted in the right side of the bookcase on the second shelf from the top.

A girl was standing up on the ledge on the left side looking at books when I arrived.  As she stood there looking at books, I checked the Nancy Drew books.  The books were not worth getting since they were very ordinary copies from the late 1970s.  I then glanced in front of the girl and saw all the Trixie Belden books.  In the above photo, they are in the left half of the bookcase on the fourth shelf from the top towards the left side of that shelf.  They look like nondescript beige-colored books in the photo, and in short, look like nothing.  They were worth getting, not the Nancy Drew books that I went to the sale just to see.

By the way, people who run estate sales rarely take good photos of the books.  They don't realize that we need closer photos in order to have any idea whether the sale is worth checking.  They think it's okay to take a photo from all the way across the room.  They're just books, right?  Why take a good picture?  In my case, most sales are all the way across the city, and I don't go to most of them.  I only went to this one because the Nancy Drew books were so obvious.

Getting back to the Trixie Belden books, they were in rather nice shape, most of them with very light wear.  A few had lightly creased spines.  The books were in nice enough shape that I pulled my Trixie Belden softcover books down to compare.  I discovered that 20 of the 24 books were in better shape than my copies! 

The following picture shows the books that I will end up selling.  The first four at the left came from the lot of 24 books and are not in better shape than my books.  The next 20 books are my books that are in worse shape than the books I just purchased. 

The difference in condition cannot be appreciated by looking at the spines, but the books I am selling are in noticeably worse shape.  Additionally, my copies have paper that is more yellowed than the ones I just purchased.

I found these books on May 23 and May 24.

The Girls' Annual was published in the United Kingdom by Collins and contains short stories.  The Vicki Barr book is likely the first printing, since it has yellowed pulp paper.  The Clue in the Old Album has double oval endpapers, but the cover art is the last art, which is a bit difficult to find.  The Mystery at Lilac Inn is in rough shape but has the $1 box on the front cover.  It is one of the more difficult to find $1 box Nancy Drew books.  The Mystery at the Ski Jump is the first picture cover printing.

I was startled when I found the Judy Bolton picture cover books.  I don't get startled easily when out looking for books, not even when I find scarce books.  I was looking over the books when my eyes fell on the Judy Bolton books, and I read the two words "Sand Castle."  I blinked hard, and my head jerked in my surprise.  I was quite taken aback. 

I very seldom see Judy Bolton picture cover books locally.  I have found one or more copies of #1, 2, and 3 locally at various times over the years.  Not counting those three titles, I haven't found any Judy Bolton picture cover books locally in 20 years.  I found #23 locally in 1992, followed by #11 in 1993, and #18 in 1994.  That's why I was so startled when I spotted The Secret of the Sand Castle.

I have owned all three books since the late 1990s, all purchased on eBay.  However, consider if I had been someone who had never purchased on the internet and had relied solely on in-person book finds.  May 23, 2014 would have been the day I would have acquired Judy Bolton #36, 37, and 38 for my collection had I not purchased them years ago on eBay.  Even though the Judy Bolton books are not in the best condition, the find is still quite astonishing.

I purchased these Random House Trixie Belden reprints on May 27.

I quit purchasing the Random House reprints at #9.  I didn't see the point.  This is a frequent occurrence for me with new books.  All new items are easy to find when they are new, which is part of the problem.  I like having to hunt for books.  I also sometimes wonder why I am purchasing the new books when I like the older ones better, and I wonder if I really do want them.  So I quit.  Now, eight years after the books went out of print, I have decided that I wouldn't mind having them.  I am now filling in the gaps, and I must say that buying them is more satisfying now that I have to look for them. 

Big Book Find October 2012

Today I saw an ad for an estate sale that advertised "hundreds of books."  Estate sales almost never have series books, and when they do, the books are of minimal interest and hugely overpriced.  I had this nagging feeling that a big stash of books was waiting for me today, and that I had to go out to find it.  I get this feeling sometimes, and I have to act on it or else I will worry for the rest of the day about what I might have missed.

Gasoline costs too much these days to go out on very many random searches for books, and I did not want to go to yet another estate sale that advertised books and would have absolutely nothing of interest.  I have had very little luck lately.  But I could not shake that nagging feeling that today was a day for a big book find.  Most of the time when I have that feeling, nothing ever comes of it.  Since occasionally I am right, I just cannot ignore it.

I decided to go to the sale even though I would end up burning at least $10 in gasoline.  The estate sale did indeed have hundreds of books, but the books were all modern softcover general fiction books from the last 20 years.  As usual, that sale had books that were of no interest to me.

While I found nothing at that particular estate sale, going to it resulted in me checking a couple other locations which did result in a big book find.  My nagging feeling about a big book find was correct!  Here are photos of some of the books that I purchased.

I purchased a bunch of Hardy Boys books with dust jackets.  One or two of the higher-numbered ones could be first printings, but I have not yet checked to see.  The rest are nowhere near first printings.  Almost all of the books are tweeds.

I purchased a few Hardy Boys picture covers with the original text.  I could have purchased others with the revised text, but I find those to be about impossible to sell so I chose only the original text books.  I purchased three Trixie Belden books.

While great, the above books are not the ones that excited me.  The books seen in the next photos are the ones that thrilled me.

The Three Investigators hardcover editions are always very easy to sell, so I love finding them.  I even found some of the moderately higher-numbered ones, which pleased me greatly.  I will probably initially list the Three Investigators books on Bonanza, but I will most likely use the them to further build my sales on eBay.  I find it much harder to sell boys' series books on Bonanza since my website does not focus on boys' series series.  I have more success on eBay with boys' books.

Remember that the books are out there, and we just have to find them!

Book Finds + Nancy Drew Blackwood Hall First Revised Text

These books were purchased in the last week in several different places.

Mystery of the Tolling Bell is the first printing of the revised text from 1973.   

The Thirteenth Pearl is the second printing with Triple Hoax in italics.  Thirteenth Pearl is always in demand and a good seller, but I am able to find at least one or two copies locally per year.  The book is out there waiting to be found.  

The most significant find was The Ghost of Blackwood Hall.  I initially selected it because I find that the original text and cover art is always in demand.  I have trouble keeping it in stock on Bonanza.  The book was priced at $2.49, and then I reconsidered since the book has some wear and tear.  It had a green star on the bottom spine which was covered with clear tape.  I inspected the book to see whether I should put it back, which was when I noticed the black and white multi I endpapers.

Now that wasn't right.

The book normally has blue multi endpapers.  I checked the copyright page, determining that the book has the 1967 text.  I then realized that I had just found the first printing of the revised text, which pairs the 1967 text with the original Tandy cover art.  I also was pretty sure that this was one of the first revised text printings that I did not already have, although I would not know for sure until arriving home.  After I arrived home, I verified that I did not already have this printing.  Yay!

Since I was keeping the book, I used lighter fluid to loosen the adhesive on the tape at the bottom spine.  I was able to remove the green star and tape as well as the price sticker of $2.49 from the front cover.  The main flaw that this book has is the black marker used to write a name inside the book.  Otherwise, the book is in pretty good shape.  Sure, I wouldn't mind one with less wear and without the black marker, but I am quite satisfied with the condition of this book.

This is one of those printings which is more likely a variant.  The bindery probably ran out of original texts before running out of the Tandy cover art.  This means that the remaining Tandy covers were used for the new 1967 revised text.*

I am not sure of the exact scarcity of the first revised text printing, but it seems to be harder to find than the "man with pipe" Broken Locket cover art that is paired with the 1965 text.  I welcome any thoughts you have on the scarcity of Blackwood Hall with the Tandy art and 1967 text.  I have never tried hard to find this variant, but at the same time, I know I would have spotted it if it had passed through my hands.  I have had quite a few extras of the Tandy cover art, and this is the first one that I have spotted with the revised text.

How many of you have managed to find a Blackwood Hall book with the Tandy art and 1967 text? Respond here or on Facebook at the recent post about this book.

.........................................................
*Upon examining Farah's Guide, I found that it renders my statement about the bindery running out of Tandy cover art to be false.  Farah's Guide seems to show two printings of the Tandy art with the 1967 text.  However, if that is what Farah means, the printings listed in the guide do not quite make sense.

1967A-31
1/3/ND#1-42
syn/pf/tp/cp/tc/bl//none
note: introduction of the 1967 text
 
1967B-32
2/3/ND#1-44
syn/pf/tp/cp/tc/bl//none

1967B-33
2/3/ND#1-44
syn/pf/tp/cp/tc/bl//none
note: introduction of the second cover art

I have highlighted the parts that bother me.  I don't even know where in Farah's Guide that the print designation for the picture cover books is explained.  The print designation is explained for the dust jackets, but the picture covers are not listed in the same fashion.  By comparing volume to volume, I can conclude that "1" must mean first cover art and that "2" must mean second cover art.  Some books have a "3" for the third cover art, and the number changes in Farah's Guide when the cover art changes.  At least, the number changes for volumes other than Blackwood Hall.  Here, the number does not change at the right time.

Since 1967A-31 has the first art, then 1967B-32 must also have the first art.  This is because 1967B-33 is the introduction of the second art.  Except, the 1967B-32 listing has a "2" which means second art.  Does the 1967B-32 printing exist, or is it listed in error?  If the listing is not in error, then the "2" needs to change to a "1,"  and my statement about leftover Tandy covers is false.  If the entire 1967B-32 printing is an error, then my statement about leftover Tandy covers being used is valid.

I also notice that both 1967B-32 and 1967B-33 are a "B" printing.  The letters denote which time of year the printing occurred, but normally when a year has multiple printings listed, Farah's Guide does not use the same letter for more than one of them.  This is another indication that the 1967B-32 printing might be an error.  If the 1967B-32 printing is not an error, then the 1967B-33 printing should be denoted as 1967C-33.

Does anybody have a Blackwood Hall book with the Tandy art and the revised text that actually lists to Crossword Cipher on the back cover instead of to Pine Hill?

.........................................................
Here is a scan of the frontispieces for the 1967A-31 (left) and 1967B-33 (right) books.  Click on the image to see a larger version.  Please read the comments for an explanation.

This Weekend's Book Finds

Each weekend I visit estate sales. I do not visit all of the sales and tend to try to go to ones that are clustered together. Often, there are more estate sales than I can feasibly attend without getting exhausted.

I normally do not see series books, although I am always hopeful. Typically, I purchase various items that can be used around the house.

At one estate sale near where I live, I found some Scholastic and similar books. The books felt grubby and were not in very good shape, but they were extremely cheap. I decided to purchase them.

After attending this and one other nearby sale, I next had to decide if I felt like driving 15 miles to go to a group of sales. I decided to go. Due to missing an exit on the interstate, I ended up more than two miles to the north of where I wished to be and was a bit annoyed about that. Saturday seemed to be a day of wrong turns and wasted time.

It just so happened that I ended up driving by a sale that was in a strip mall, which I had decided not to attend. Since I inadvertently found myself driving by it, I decided that I should check it out, even though I hate estate sales that have been moved to strip malls. I find sales in the actual houses to be much more interesting, and I seem to have more luck in finding items at those.

You probably already have guessed where this is going. I entered the store and discovered a large quantity of Hardy Boys and other miscellaneous children's books. Apparently, I will have to make certain I force myself to attend these sales in strip malls from now on just in case.

The price per book was a bit too high for most of the Hardy Boys books. I determined that no first printing picture covers or $1 box books were present. I noticed some Three Investigators books and one Judy Bolton book and grabbed those. I then had to consider whether I wished to purchase any of the Hardy Boys books. I decided to purchase some high-numbered books that were likely to be first printings. I did not know for sure on any of them and almost considered putting all of them back.

I knew that on Sunday that all items at the sale would be at half price. I was pretty confident that few of the Hardy Boys books would sell at the original price. The trouble was whether anyone else was interested at half price. I had no guarantee that I would be able to purchase any books that were left behind. For that reason, I did purchase the Hardy Boys books that I had selected.

I purchased these books at the original price on Saturday.

The Three Investigators hardcover books seem to be mostly unaffected by the downturn in series book prices. Anytime I can find Three Investigators books, I am thrilled. The Judy Bolton book was also a good find and is probably the third printing.

I checked the Hardy Boys books in Carpentieri's guide and discovered that #46 and #48 are second printings and that the rest are first printings. At least I was correct about most of them.

My main thought was that I had to try to get the rest of the books at half price. I planned to arrive at the sale on Sunday at around 20 minutes before it opened. This is exactly what I did. I nervously waited, wondering if any of the other people were there for the Hardy Boys books. I knew that as soon as the door opened that we would all quickly go and grab whatever we wanted.

I was in luck, since it appeared that all of the Hardy Boys books were still there. After I had stacked all of them on the floor, I quickly glanced around the store. I saw one man balancing a stack of dishes in his right arm as he selected more of them. Everyone was grabbing whatever they wanted fast!

I took the books to the sold table, where a ticket was written up. I then walked around, not expecting to purchase anything else. I saw some Scholastic soft cover books and selected some. Why not, at half price? I paid for my books and left.

This is what I brought home.

I spent quite awhile going through all of the Hardy Boys books to see if any of them are the first printing of the revised text. Many of the books are the second or third printing of the revised text. The only books that are the first printing of the revised text are Twisted Claw, Phantom Freighter, and Wildcat Swamp.

If you are familiar with any of the Scholastic books, let me know whether any are particularly good stories. I already know that some of them are not of interest to me, but others might be.

4/7/12 Book Finds

Central Oklahoma has three Barnes and Noble locations. I had visited the two that were closest a couple of days ago in search of the Nancy Drew bag. Only one of those two stores had the bag. Today, I checked the third store, which is farther away than the other two stores. The third store did not have the bag. This matches what others have reported. Many of the stores do not have the bag.

The trip was not wasted, since I took the opportunity to check one antique shop and two book stores.

Jill at Hazelmere is a UK children's book that remember seeing previously in that antique shop. This time, I decided to buy the book. Since purchasing books from other countries is quite expensive, I decided that this would be a good opportunity to read a book that I would not otherwise purchase. From the synopsis and first few pages, the book sounds like it might be a good story. The book is from the same publisher and set as the UK edition of Mildred Wirt Benson's book, Quarry Ghost, titled Kristie at College in the UK.

The Judy Bolton book, Double Ring, has the four glossy illustrations and is the first printing. I also found two Tom Swift, two Trixie Belden, one Hardy Boys, and one Sandy Steele book. I might decide to read the Sandy Steele book to see what I think of it.

It's always fun to come home with a few books.

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

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.