the_rck | (no subject)

I didn’t wake completely this morning until my phone rang. It was a call from my sister, so I had to pull my head together quickly. Her doctor has decided that she, too, needs a colonoscopy ASAP and has ordered a pelvic ultrasound as well. Basically, her doctor has decided that she needs to be watched very closely for signs of other cancers, given the breast cancer situation. My sister thinks my situation is different, but I’m not so sure. I’m not enthusiastic about all of the screening tests, but I’d rather have them and not need them than the other way around.

Cordelia hasn’t been doing much reading at all. Mostly, she’s playing Minecraft with other kids from her class. From what she says, they’re working hard at planning the things they build. I don’t think she even talks to her friends on the phone. It’s all online.

I’m trying to decide whether or not I should offer some Dr Dolittle books to Books By Chance. They’re too old by their standards, but they’re very pretty. I’m just not sure that they’re collectible which would likely be the only reason Books By Chance would consider them. They’re the Lippincott 1956 edition with pretty art on the boards. They don’t have dust jackets, but I’m not certain they ever did, so I don’t know if that matters. I wrote my first name inside each one in ink which also detracts from the value (I was about eight at the time and, if I recall correctly, trying to make sure that my sister couldn’t claim any of the books I considered mine). At any rate, I don’t see a point in keeping the Dr Dolittle books. I never read them, and Cordelia’s not going to. They’re just taking up space.

I’m iffier on giving up my Nancy Drews and Trixie Beldens and such. They’re all too old for Books By Chance, and some of them are from my mother’s childhood and so are really, really brittle. I’m not even sure those brittle ones are worth donating. I suppose I could look them up to see if some collector might be interested and find them at the Friends of the Library book shop, but… I don’t know. None of them have dust jackets. But Cordelia has sworn that she will never willingly pick up another mystery, and I’m not convinced that the ones I inherited from my mother would last for Cordelia’s entirely theoretical children (she’s currently certain that she doesn’t want to deal with pregnancy, and, well, she may or may not change her mind. It’s her body and her life. I think she should wait until she’s older than twelve before she decides definitely).

Okay, I’m poking at AbeBooks in terms of Nancy Drews. Some of the old ones may be collectible. At least, the seller descriptions have the sort of detail that only comes with people trying to identify very, very specific editions. Things are very muddled, though, because there are a bunch of sellers offering copies that are obviously from much later (they have ISBNs. Some of them have thirteen digit ISBNs) as published in, say, 1930. It annoys me because the stories changed pretty much completely between the versions published in the 1930s and the versions published in the 1970s. I read both versions of some of those stories, and the plots were completely different. Unfortunately, none of the collectible copies seem to be worth more than about $10.

My guess is that the Trixie Beldens, which are almost all paperbacks that I bought myself during the late 1970s and early 1980s, aren’t going to be worth much at all. The three or four that my mother passed down to me were all in really terrible shape, and I can’t imagine that thirty or forty years has made an improvement.

PT went pretty well yesterday. I have minor lymphedema along my side, and the therapist massaged that out and used lasers on it. It wasn’t enough to affect my mobility, but I noticed a mildly uncomfortable stretch when I raised that arm over my head. The laser therapy feels kind of like some sort of magical ritual because I can’t see or feel anything actually happening. I just have to assume that the therapist wouldn’t waste an hour of her time on it if it did nothing at all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

heavenscalyx

I can't recall if you mentioned this, but I just tripped over this site: The Michigan PBB Registry.

From:

the_rck

My sister linked me to them a while back, and I filled out the form to say that I'm interested in participating if they're able to get funding. The original registry only included people who worked at the plants that manufactured the stuff and who lived/worked on the farms that received the contaminated feed, and nobody's currently willing to pay to expand the scope.

But thank you for thinking to mention it to me!

From:

melannen

There are people who are very, very into collecting vintage children's books (both the mysteries and the Dr. Doolittle.) I know this because I am *sort of* one of those people. They're common enough that they're unlikely to sell for a lot of money unless they're absolutely mint condition, but if they're in readable condition, they will probably eventually sell at a used book store or thrift shop. (Possibly even the paperbacks, it's hard to find a lot of Trixie Beldens in any edition these days.)

The 1930s Nancy Drews had a recent facsimile re-release, so that might be what you're seeing on the sale sites, recent printings of the original text.

From:

the_rck

Well, I think that part of the problem is that Grosset & Dunlap reissued the books, with new covers, without changing the date of publication. I've got a copy of The Clue in the Jewel Box that can't have been put out before 1970 because it lists The Mysterious Mannequin, which came out that year, on the back (and probably didn't come out after that as it doesn't list anything after that). The only date I can find in the book itself is 1943 which seems to be when the first edition came out.

Looking at descriptions on AbeBooks, there seem to have been at least two very early editions of most of the Nancy Drew books that vary in terms of the color combination on the cover and the appearance of the end sheets. My guess is that would be collectors need a lot of fairly detailed descriptive information in order to pin down which edition is actually being offered.

The main question is whether or not Books By Chance would be willing to take the books to try to sell them. They're pretty adamantly convinced that selling pre-1985 books that might be given to children is illegal.

I looked up the actual statute, and it's only illegal if the books are meant for children under the age of three. Books are very specifically exempted from the lead testing requirements that apply to other products and from sale/lending/gift bans. The major factor in that exemption seems to be consideration of all of the libraries that would have had to pulp all of their children's books and start over.

From:

melannen

There are... a lot of editions, with variably accurate dates on them, and you can't even go by the lists of other books in the series, because they didn't always update them. Some of them even the really intense collectors don't have accurate printing dates for. I do Bobbsey Twins by the same publisher more than Nancy Drew, so I don't know the details on Nancy Drew editions, but there were even pirated editions of some of them, with all the info deliberately falsified. So yes, it's a mess, and it's usually only collectors who know enough to care. (With Bobbsey Twins, the revision was done piecemeal, and there's an edition with green boards where some of the books were the revised text and some were the original text, just to make it more fun.) But you're correct, in most of them the only date will be the last time the copyright was renewed, which could have been decades before that edition was published. But if they have ISBNs, they're probably relatively recent reissues - with the Bobbseys, even the purple edition that was still being printed in the 80s didn't bother with ISBNs for all the books.

I don't know if Books By Chance would care, but if they're not actually falling apart, they'd probably sell at Friends of the Library, regardless of edition; a lot of the buyers there are people looking for things they read in childhood or to complete an inherited set, not people looking for collectors' pieces.

Edited Date: 2016-02-18 03:06 am (UTC)

From:

the_rck

::nods:: I think the Friends of the Library is the way to go. They can decide whether or not to price the books higher than the normal $2 for a hardcover.

From:

melannen

Yeah, the only ones likely to be really valuable above standard old-used-book-prices would be mint-condition-with-dustcovers first editions from 1930, so I don't think you'll be missing out on a big payout or anything. (I have a LOT of Bobbsey Twins books in every edition and condition you can imagine and none of them are actually worth anything to speak of.)

From:

the_rck

I found a couple of Bobbsey Twins books in my tub of children's mysteries. If you're interested, I'm happy to send them to you. Neither is in particularly great shape, but everything seems to be there that should be there.

The first is a blue paperback. The Blue Poodle Mystery. 0671955543. c1980. It's got some creasing on the cover, and a used book store (I assume) stamped their name and address inside the cover in green ink.

The second is a hardcover, no dust jacket, and a fair bit older. The Bobbsey Twins Solve a Mystery. The cover is green with blue print. The end sheets are orange with three children and a large dog sketched in, very faintly, in white. The top of the spine has a bit that's faded, and I suspect it was exposed to water. I see no sign of mildew, however, and the books smells the way I'd expect a book that age to smell. A previous owner wrote her name in the 'This Book Belongs to' box in pen, and there are a couple of other marks on the end sheets. The binding is a little broken between the frontispiece and the title page. Everything's still attached, but I can see the netting that's holding things together. The upper edge of the page block is red, but the side and bottom of the page block have not been dyed.

Anyway, let me know if you're interested in either or both. If I find more Bobbsey Twins books, I'll let you know.

From:

the_rck

I found one more.

The Bobbsey Twins on the Deep Blue Sea. Light green cover with a color picture on it (I think of Freddie and Flossie. They're sitting together in a meadow with flowers). No dust jacket. This is also loose between the frontispiece and the title page and between the back board and the page block. The print on the cover is a slightly darker green than the cover itself and has faded to almost illegibility on the spine. There are three names (one of them mine, sorry) written in ink inside the front cover.

I might have others in other boxes, but I think I had all of my children's mysteries in one box. Except that I seem to be missing at least six Trixie Beldens that I know I used to own, so who knows?

From:

lemon_badgeress

. . . how many of the Trixie Belden books do you have, and are they readable? My complete collection was lost in a move.

From:

the_rck

I stopped buying around 1980, but I don't remember which volume was the last one I bought. The first three books may not be in great condition. I've got the first book upstairs right now because I brought it up years ago, hoping that Cordelia would try it. It's a hardcover, but the cover is loose because the spine has fallen off. The back cover is just barely attached. All the pages are there, however, and they're in a firm block.

I think that more than half of what I've got is in the paperback editions from the 1970s. I don't think I've got more than twenty of them, though, so I don't have anything like the complete run.

I'll check the basement tomorrow (they're all in a tub, and I'm 90% sure I know which one) and make a list of what I've got and what condition it's in. If you want 'em, they're yours. Given how many of them there are, I may ask for help with shipping costs.

From:

lemon_badgeress

*!!!* Happily. Thank you!

From:

the_rck

I haven’t noted all damage, and I didn’t check inside all of the books to see which ones I wrote my name in. I think it’s more likely that I did in the hardcovers than in the paperbacks because I got the paperbacks later. The paperbacks are all in relatively good shape. Some have creases on the cover, but I don’t think most of the spines are cracked. Some of the hardcovers feel kind of grimy and may need to be wiped with a damp cloth.

There are three that I should have and can’t find:
The Mystery Off Old Telegraph Road (20)
The Mystery of Mead’s Mountain (22)
The Mystery at Saratoga (24)
I’m absolutely certain that, if I find them, they’ll be paperbacks.

I also don’t have v.35-39 which I probably never bought since 35 came out, after a gap of four years, when I was either a junior or a senior in high school. I probably didn’t even see that it existed.

Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion (1) - hardcover, missing spine cover, front and back cover loose
Trixie Belden and the Red Trailer Mystery (2) - hardcover, missing front cover and spine cover, but all pages seem to be intact
Trixie Belden and the Gatehouse Mystery (3) - hardcover
Trixie Belden and the Mysterious Visitor (4) - hardcover
Trixie Belden and the Mystery Off Glen Road (5) - hardcover
Trixie Belden and Mystery in Arizona (6) - hardcover
Trixie Belden and the Mysterious Code (7) - hardcover, missing spine cover
Trixie Belden and the Black Jacket Mystery (8) - hardcover, spine cover missing, quite a bit of writing inside front cover
Trixie Belden and the Happy Valley Mystery (9) - hardcover, spine missing, some pages loose, but I think they’re all there.
Trixie Belden and the Marshland Mystery (10) - hardcover
The Mystery of Bob-White Cave (11) - paperback
The Mystery of the Blinking Eye (12) - paperback
Trixie Belden and the Mystery on Cobbett’s Island (13) - hardcover, lots of sticker residue on the cover, and I wrote my first name inside the cover
Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Emeralds (14) - hardcover
Trixie Belden and the Mystery on the Mississippi (15) - hardcover
The Mystery of the Missing Heiress (16) - paperback
Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Uninvited Guest (17) - paperback
The Mystery of the Phantom Grasshopper (18) - paperback
The Secret of the Unseen Treasure (19) - paperback
The Mystery of the Castaway Children (21) - paperback
The Mystery of the Queen’s Necklace (23) - paperback
The Sasquatch Mystery (25) - paperback
The Mystery of the Headless Horseman (26) - paperback
Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Ghostly Galleon (27) - paperback
The Hudson River Mystery (28) - paperback
The Mystery of the Velvet Gown (29) - paperback
The Mystery of the Midnight Marauder (30) - paperback
The Mystery at Maypenny’s (31) - paperback - 2 copies
The Mystery of the Whispering Witch (32) - paperback
The Mystery of the Vanishing Victim (33) - paperback
The Mystery of the Missing Millionaire (34) - paperback

From:

the_rck

I managed to get all of the books into one largish Amazon box. I only put in one copy of The Mystery at Maypenny's. There's room for the second copy if, for some reason you want it, but I picked the one in better condition, and I didn't think you'd want two copies since you were talking about reading copies.

From:

lemon_badgeress

oh, BRILLIANT. From what I remember the last four were stupid? or maybe it was just that I'd aged out of them before they came out. We'll go with stupid so both of us feel better about not having/having read them :D

I want them! With one caveat. If they smell of must/mold, they'll set off my allergies, and I'd just have to get rid of them. But I think you'd have mentioned that. I can do paypal or check, I'll pay the shipping and anything you want to charge that seems reasonable?

I'll want the other three if you find them later, but given your goal is to get things out of your house, I will happily pay shipping now and later?

EEEEE. I have no idea WHY, they weren't that good, but I've wanted to reread these for years! Thank you!

From:

the_rck

I didn't notice any smell when I was going through the books to make the list, and I've now stuck my nose in very close to the books, trying to judge if they're musty. They smell a little dusty, what I'd consider old bookish and wouldn't be surprised by in the stacks of a research library like U of M's. They've been dry the whole time they've been in storage. I'm very, very certain of that.

Is the dusty too much? I can't judge.

From:

lemon_badgeress

Dusty is not a problem! :D :D :D

From:

sallymn.livejournal.com

The tests are a pain, I know, but if the doctor thinks they will keep you safer... a good pain.

I vaguely recall reading Trixie Belden when I was a kid (though I admit, I read pretty much everything and anything I could get my hands on :)

Edited Date: 2016-02-17 08:19 pm (UTC)

From:

the_rck

I will see my primary care doctor in May, and I'll talk to her about what tests might be necessary then. Hopefully, I'll have the genetic testing done by then and know whether or not I have the variant gene that my sister has (or any others).

I suspect that the library book sale is the best destination for all of these mysteries. I'm not convinced that any of them are worth enough money to be worth the effort of arguing Books By Chance's policy on children's books.

From:

rosiedlotrfan.livejournal.com

How many of the Doctor Doolittle books do you have? I used to love those as a kid and I'd be interested in buying them from you. If you think that might work, could you pm me to discuss it? Thanks!