31 Days of Nancy Drew #1 - Collecting the Books & Formats 101

31 DAYS OF NANCY DREW #1 - A brief overview of What is it, what's it worth? Nancy Drew Book Formats 101. 

I have a section on my Nancy Drew website which breaks down the formats, art, and texts of the various Nancy Drew books over the decades - the classic Nancy Drew books 1-56 - between 1930 and 1979. I've got a few screen captures here to also highlight these. And a couple of the charts/checklists from the website. As you can see there are a lot of styles and formats these books went through from the boards to the dust jackets to the endpapers (images inside the covers). There were cover art changes, illustration changes inside, text changes (for the first 34 but that's a topic for another post!) These images will help you gauge what decade your book is from for the most part which will help you date it. If you have dust jackets - the last listed Nancy Drew title and other series titles as a general rule will give you an idea of what year approx. give or take, it may have been printed. If your book has lists pre-text (not copyright page lists--don't go by those) or post-text ads - as a general rule you can narrow down close to a printing year but there are exceptions to that. What's it worth? What you're willing to pay. Collecting has changed over time. You can search sites like eBay to see how things are selling and get an idea of value as to market value. But I think a lot of seasoned collectors will tell you, that it's worth what you're willing to pay, as a general rule. A first printing is going to be worth more than a later printing, but condition is also a factor--terrible condition doesn't equate to high value, it devalues. Even for scarce books. But the scarcity may make one be willing to sacrifice to acquire it and pay more. Every collector is unique and everyone has an idea of what they want and are willing to pay - so your collections will always be unique to you and that makes them special. Here are images to get you started but check out my website for more in-depth information on formats and collecting!