RWF wrote:
"Mr. Jaggers" lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com wrote in message
...
RWF wrote:
"oly" wrote in message
...
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.

Or efface bad moments from youth.

Yeah, that all makes sense, but I would think that a lot of people my (our?)
age would view 1950s editions with dj as highly desirable. Very few of us
could have afforded to put a complete set together back then, and only now
do we have the ability to do so (maybe), for a variety of reasons.

A friend of mine has the complete series of Tom Swift books, and he's in
ecstasy about it. I have no idea what vintage, or the dj situation, but I'd
guess there are more guys around like him.

Would I be correct in guessing that those early editions under dj normally
sell for more than any "price guides" might indicate?

James