S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

I have a set of five S.S. Van Dine books. They are The Greene Murder Case, the Gracie Allen Murder Case, the Bishop Murder Case, the Garden Murder Case and the Kidnap Murder Case. They are all hardback--grayish green covers with red spiderwebs, and all are published by P.F. Collier and Son Corporation. There are no dustjackets but they are all in pretty good shape. Does anybody have any info on what they might be worth? I would appreciate any help. Thank you.

Those are reprints and not 1st editions. My guess would be that they wouldn't be priced more than reading copies.

Useful rule of thumb is that Collier are always reprints. Good reading copies, maybe, but nothing more.

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

What is the difference between the red hardcovers with no page numbers and the black ones w/ page numbers? I have one of each for the Scarab Murder Case, and a whole bunch of the black ones.

It's hard to tell because the publishing information is misleading. (That's no doubt why Gina thought she had first editions -- I used to own a couple of the spiderweb ones and from the publication info, you'd think you had a 1st edition. Very tricky.)

Cheers,
Brian

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

Are you talking about the US editions? They should all be publised by Scribners and all in black binding (except Gracie Allen, which is yellow). Scribners usually stated if it was a later printing. From the Scarab Murder Case on, they should have the letter "A" on the copyright page.

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

Most of the books I have fit that description. However, I also have a beautiful red h/c of Scarab that lacks page numbers. Any idea what the provenance of this edition might be?

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

No, I don't think I've seen one of those. No page numbers, huh? That's out of the ordinary.

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

Does this mean for Carr as well? I have a couple of Collier HBs for Carr with skulls on the front surrounded by question marks -- really delightful design. So these are basically worth a few dollars, nothing more?

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

Yes, the Collier editions are reprints so they would sell at a reading copy level.

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

Not that I need to add anything to Dave's succinct response, but I concur. I've got several Van Dine and about half a dozen of those decorative Carr reprints myself. They look nice on the shelf and are good reading copies, but you don't have to lose any sleep if you leave one on the bus.

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

My question is somewhat related, as it concerns Collier reprints. I recently received a set of Carr reprints and would like to know if these books are of the same size as the original publications. At the moment I'm considering "dressing" them with facsimile dust jackets. I'm aware these are just reading copies not collectibles, but I'm thoroughly liking the idea. So, would any one know if the Colliers are as tall, wide and thick as the originals? Thanks.

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

I'm not sure about the size. However, I do know that Mark from www.facsimiledustjackets.com will resize the jackets to fit the book if you give him the dimensions.

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

Thanks. I found the site weeks ago but is unaware that they do resizing. :)

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

I believe the Colliers may be "skinny" compared to the 1st editions, so I'm not sure how successful the resizing would be.

Re: S. S. Van Dine Collection
 

Books vary so much that a generalized answer would prove inaccurate, I should think.

The only skull-backed Carr Collier that I have duplicate in a first edition is "Case of The Constant Suicides". That reprint appears to be pretty close in size to the original.

However, the bindings on those cheap editions are so decorative that I wouldn't know why facsimile first edition dust jackets would be desired.