"Mr. Jaggers" lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com wrote in message
...
RWF wrote:
"oly" wrote in message
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There was a fellow who had scads of Hardy Boys (in tan-colored hard
covers) out at the flea market today. My guess is that they were
vintage 1946-1955. When I got around to reading the H.B. in the
late
1960s, the covers were illustrated in color.

I've never followed these things. Is there any thing in that
vintage
of H.B. that one should look for? The seller wanted $2.50 each,
probably could have bought the lot for less than that per copy.

Tan covered books without dust jackets are practically worthless.

As a bibliophile, I share the phobia about antiquarian books that lack
dj. But why is this? Numismatists have their cleaning issues, but why
do book collectors often pay more for a dj than for the book itself?
There's gotta be some deep, philosophical, psychological cause.
'Splain that one, if you can.

Why do people pay thru the nose for DJs?
In the realm of juvenile book collecting, finding books with decent DJs
is not so simple given their initial target audience.
The attrition rate among juvenile book djs is truly appalling.
As in coin collecting, condition is everything (well almost everything).
Furthermore the DJ is critical in dating the publication year of the
book (they were reprinted for years on end).
Witness the Hardy Boys: they've been in print continuously since 1927.
Nancy Drew likewise since 1930.
Early first editions with DJs are extremely valuable, going into the mid
to upper 4 figure range.
OTOH common 1950's editions with decent DJs are lucky to sell at all on
eBay.
Why do people collect juvenile series books? In part it may be an effort
to recapture pleasant moments from youth.