Booksleuth's Series Book Collection: HAPPY HOLLISTERS FOREIGN EDITIONS

Friday, January 2, 2009

HAPPY HOLLISTERS FOREIGN EDITIONS

In all the years of collecting The Happy Hollisters, I had never seen a foreign edition until I saw the Spanish version of The Secret Fort, or "El Secreto Del Fuerte."

Pictured in these scans are two different types of Spanish Happy Hollisters books and a set of French Hollisters. In both sets, you can see the artwork is nothing similar to the US edition, in fact the Spanish and French books pictured here are of different artwork altogether.

The French books, at the top, are of the Sea Turtle Mystery (l) and on a River Trip (r). They are very unique in size, about 5x7 inches across, and slick picture cover editions. They have black and white and full color artwork inside. Below them are two Spanish versions of at Circus Island (l) and Punch and Judy Mystery (r). They are titled simply at the Circus and in Italy.

The white volumes below them are Spanish, too, but you can see of different artwork, although published by the same company, Ediciones Toray, S.A. The stories pictured in the white volumes are from the books, Mexican Idol, Pony Hill Farm and Ice Carnival respectively.

Some time ago I came across a British Happy Hollisters (through a bookdealer from Australia) and several Norwegian Hollisters. The British editions, published by World Distributors, has exact artwork as the US books, but the size of the books are roughly one-third smaller. They come with dust jackets where as the Spanish book and the Norwegian books are picture cover versions similar in style to the 1950 Whitman picture cover books. The British editions have illustrated endpapers similar to the US books, but the Spanish and Norwegian books have blank endpapers.

The British editions, which are not pictured, contain the same interior artwork as the US editions. The Spanish books have lots of artwork. The Norwegian books contain artwork exactly like the US books, but not every illustration is used. I counted only six illustrations in the Totem Faces book from Norway. The US books have a full-page illustration in every chapter. I will be adding pictures of the Norwegian books in the near future.

I would welcome input from other collectors who might know of other foreign editions of The Happy Hollisters.

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DEDICATION

In September 1996, I spent a week's vacation touring from Oklahoma City through Kansas to Kansas City, then across Missouri to St. Louis, and then south from St. Louis to New Madrid, Mo., my hometown and still the home of my parents.

Along with visiting my brothers in both major cities, I stopped at as many antique malls and bookstores as possible. It was at one such store near Boonville, MO, that I found a box of Happy Hollister books, half with dust jackets. They were in great shape and per book my cost was less than about $2 a book. I bought them, knowing that I could sell the dustjacketed ones for quite a bit more and recoup my investment. And perhaps, sentimentally, I hated to see them just sit on the floor of this concrete-floored antique mall.

Upon arriving in New Madrid a few days later, I put aside collecting to spend time with my parents. At some point my mother Zoe' asked me to accompany her to the local library to visit with her "girlfriends," the two local librarians. She was always proud of me and wanted to share that pride with these two fine ladies. Like any man, I hesitated, not wanting to be a part of such "silly" ventures. But I went along, knowing this would make her happy.

At the library I reminisced about the joy I had as a kid there, especially checking out the Happy Hollister books they kept. These books and my fondness in reading them started this hobby. I was surprised to learn the library still had volumes from the series, but they were in bad shape. The head librarian mentioned that recently a childhood friend of mine, who also read and enjoyed the series, had offered to cover the cost of purchasing new copies. I then offered the non-dustjacketed Hollister books I had bought to her and said if she collected the money, give it to my mother. They were pleased to have the new books. I enjoyed the rest of my visit with my parents and returned to Oklahoma City a few days later.

Within a few weeks my dear mother passed away in her sleep.
At her wake I asked the librarian to keep the money for the books and place a dedication in the books to my mother. They will serve as a reminder of her, and this dedication will, too. =

I owe my love of mystery books to her and she always encouraged me to read. Ironically, my mother had the mindset that would not have understood the internet, much less used it. Yet, now she has her "place" on the World Wide Web.

IN THE BEGINNING.....

SERIES BOOKS I COLLECT AND RECOMMEND

As related on another section of this blog, my interest in children's mystery series books began with The Happy Hollisters, because it was the only series at my local public library. I then went on to acquire and read Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew picture cover books. At sometime I sold those books and concentrated on buying the early Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books with dust jackets. My collection now consists of mostly white spine Nancy Drews and I have the orange spine Hardy Boys dust jackets.

Although I grew up with the 1960s Hardy Boys blue and Nancy Drew yellow spine picture cover books, I have no special affection for those books. I enjoy the early books because I just like the era they represent. Along with the above mentioned series I collected and read Trixie Belden, Power Boys and the Bobbsey Twins.

During my high school years I put aside children's mystery series books, but returned to collect those books sometime in college. The spark that relit my fire was oddly enough one of The Outdoor Girls books written under the name of Laura Lee Hope. While working part-time at the library of the Missouri State Historial Society, I came across one of the volumes of that series and during breaks, I would read several chapters a day. Why this book was even there was a true mystery to me. But I enjoyed the simple storylines, the slight mystery and adventure these girls enjoyed, and most of all the depiction, although very unrealistic, of the lifestyle of the years 1910-1930. A few years later I would happen upon seven or eight dustjacketed volumes of the series at an Oklahoma City antique store, and the urge to buy was impossible to resist.

Through the decade of the 1980s I would add one series after another to my list of interest including, in no particular order:
Mercer Boys, Ken Holt, Rick Brant, Tom Quest,
Walton Boys, Don Sturdy, Ted Scott

In particular, I fell in love with the stories of Capwell Wyckoff, author of the Mercer Boys, and the Mystery Hunters, and numerous unrelated book.
In the 1990s, I added the following series:
Penny Parker, Judy Bolton, X Bar X Boys, Dana Girls, Hal Keen Brains Benton, Biff Brewster, Andy Lane, Kay Tracey

I especially fell in love with the stories of Mildred Wirt Benson, the first "Carolyn Keene" and prolific author of dozens of other books. Most especially I enjoy her Penny Parker series.
Many times I would add a series just because I came across nice copies, with dustjackets. Such was the case with the X Bar X Boys. The best piece of luck I ever had was finding 12-14 Ken Holt books, with djs, at an antique fair at a local mall. Each book cost about $2.50. I rank Ken Holt among my most favorite series books. The sign of a favorite series is when I look forward to reading the next few chapters, and finish the book quickly. If a book is not as exciting, I may takes weeks to finish. Series that rank among my favorites include, as mentioned, Ken Holt, Penny Parker, Tom Quest, Rick Brant, Mercer Boys, Biff Brewster, and Brains Benton.