| About the only help I can offer, you probably already know, but...
1. There are a few book stores/dealers listed in the SF mags that offer
search services. (There's also previous note that lists some, I think).
2. Find some bookstores that deal in used books. DON'T stick to ones that
that have lots of SF. Some of my best "finds" were in small stores that
had picked up a batch of books from a library, that just happened to have
an odd SF book thrown in.
3. Try the little-bitty "antique" shops. They sometimes have some wonderful
books just sitting around. And they're almost always cheap! (How about
a Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, circa 1890, gilt leather cover, gilt edged
paper, $2.00!)
4. As bad as it sounds, try K-Mart or the local equivalent! The Tom Swift
and/or TS Jr. books were re-released within the last few years,
unfortunately with those horrid cardboard covers. Check the "young adult"
section, rather than SF.
/s/ Chuck
|
| OK, let's see.
(1) There are 38 books in the original Tom Swift series. The first 35 were
written by Howard Garis, the other 3 unknown. These have been out of print
for ages. Contrary to .1 (sorry, Chuck), they haven't been reissued anytime
in the last 30+ years.
(2) There are 33 books in the Tom Swift, Jr. series. If memory serves, I
have all but the last one. Harriet Adams wrote the first 17-18 of them (this
is my guess, the writing style seems to change about this time). These also
are long out of print.
(3) There is a new series, with 11 books so far, in trade paperback. These
are, like the first series, labelled only "Tom Swift" (no "Jr.") by "Victor
Appleton" (no "II"). Unlike the TSJ series, which was clearly connected to
the original TS series, this new series doesn't seem to be connected to the
previous ones at all. The true authorship of these is varied; I know that
some of the writers involved are Sharman DiVono, Bill Rotsler, Andy Offut
(I think), and Bob Vardeman [this info was passed onto me by Vardeman].
As far as collecting them goes, well, Chuck is right in that the best thing
to do is go to used bookstores that *don't* specialize in sf. Or go to flea
markets. I see them around here and there. Some specific points follow:
(1) The original Tom Swift series seem to go for about $4-6 *without* dust
jackets, and about $10-15 *with*. These are for the original Grosset and
Dunlap editions. Whitman Books reprinted some of them (I believe in the 40's),
and these go for about the same price or a little less, mostly because the
bookstore owners don't know that they're reprints. It's very hard to come
across any of these original Swifts with dust jackets, though they are somewhat
plentiful without.
(2) The Tom Swift Jr. books come in 3 distinct editions. The first are those
that were issued with dust jackets. As far as I've been able to tell, this
edition only went up to #17. These aren't all that easy to find, but they are
out there, if you look hard enough. Oddly enough, finding these sans jackets
isn't much easier than finding them with. These tend to go for about $2.50-3.00
(with jackets). These first 17 books were reissued with the cover paintings
printed right on the boards, and with blue spines (this is what I refer to as
the second edition). The third edition is the same, only with a yellow spine.
Of course, #19 on up appears only as yellow-spined books (#18 had a spine that
originally continued the cover illo). Both the blue and yellow editions go for
about $1.25-2.00.
Note that each edition has a number of printings, the difference between them
only determinable by how many of the other books in the series are listed on
the back cover. If your copy of #20 has 20 books listed, it's probably (though
not guaranteed to be) a first printing; if it has 25 books listed, it defin-
itely is not a first printing.
You might also be aware that at least 4 of the books were issued by G&D in
trade paperback under the Tempo Books imprint. These go for about $1.00. There
were also six mass-market-sized paperbacks, which go for about 50 cents.
I don't know if any of this edition/printing business matters to you at all,
but I never pass up an opportunity to pontificate.
Have fun! The thrill of the hunt is the best part.
--- jerry
P.S. In case you're interested, the pricing for the TSJ series also applies
to the other kids' series of the same vintage, though the only other sf series
were the Rick Brant and Tom Corbett series.
|
| In looking back in the directory I saw note 176 on Tom Swift.
Boy did this jog a few memories! As this was writen in 1985,[the note],
I felt I could start another to ask a few questions of Jerry.
Was the TS series of 30 years ago writen by Victor Appleton II a group
effort of other writers? Because I have a book writen by Victor
Appleton I , a Tom Swift senior, Titled, " Mid Ocean Airport"
and I always thought it was a continuation of the series writen
by his son.
These plus Tom Corbett, are what first started a life long addiction
to sf!
Frank
|
| Re .0 (Frank):
>Was the TS series of 30 years ago writen by Victor Appleton II a group
>effort of other writers? Because I have a book writen by Victor
>Appleton I , a Tom Swift senior, Titled, " Mid Ocean Airport"
>and I always thought it was a continuation of the series writen
>by his son.
"Victor Appleton II" was a house name. The new Tom Swift books
made a debut on the old _Today_ show (when Dave Garroway was host
and I was in high school) and was contrasted to the original Tom
Swift books (a passage was read from one of the older ones to compare
to one from the then-new books). The point was (correctly) made
that to a youngster of the 1950s, trying to read the original TS
books was something of a chore, so the style had been modernized.
Steve Kallis, Jr.
|
| If you use the , key on the far right keypad on your keyboard,
this is the NEXT UNSEEN key, which allows you to check out all the
current Notes in the Conference, wherever they might be posted.
Also, if you do the command SET SEEN/BEFORE=YESTERDAY, and press
the ENTER key when reading SF, you will bring your Notebook up to date
with this Conference, producing the same results as above. Jerry and
everyone else who does this will see your Note if you post it in
Topic 176, as this will also avoid redundant Topics.
Thanks.
|