 |
Random House
The Original 43: Paperback
Windward Books: 1972 - 1973
The first Random House Three Investigators
paperbacks consisted of just two published under the Windward
Books division:
#1 The Secret of Terror Castle in 1972 and #2
The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot in 1973. This was the First
Paperback Edition for the two titles and they were slightly smaller than
their hardcover counterparts (5 1/4" x 8 1/16", essentially the same size
as the hardcover's textblocks) and contained Harry Kane's internal
illustrations with brand new cover art by Ed Vebell. The background
of the covers was initially reflective silver; therefore, the books were
also called the Silverback Editions. The price of the books was marked in the upper right hand corner of the cover. Covers with two prices can be found: $0.95 and $1.25, which probably represent the First and Second Printings of the books. There was also a very hard-to-find circa 1976 issue
of both titles that had a plain white background. This was most likely a
Third Printing. It is interesting to note that Terror Castle
contained the revised Alfred Hitchcock introduction that appeared in Scholastic's
1971 Paperback Edition (see Scholastic). This was quite an oversight
by Random House.
The Marchesi Twelve: 1978
In 1978, Random House decided to
permanently convert its retail/trade format from hardcover to paperback
and began that process by publishing a First Paperback Edition for ten
more of the existing titles, plus a Second Paperback Edition of
#1
The Secret of Terror Castle and #2 The Mystery of the Stuttering
Parrot to replace the Windward Books. The twelve new books featured new cover art drawn by Stephen Marchesi and they retained their internal illustrations. Because of the Marchesi cover art, the books are often referred to as the "Marchesi Covers" or "Marchesi Twelve." To identify
them on book store shelves as part of the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Series, there was a silhouette of Hitchcock's
head on the upper spine. In terms of dimensions, the books measured 5 1/8" x 7 9/16"; the size Random
House would use for every forthcoming paperback edition of the original
43. Including Terror Castle and Stuttering Parrot, the twelve published were:
#1 The Secret of Terror Castle
#2 The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot
#3 The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy
#6 The Secret of Skeleton Island
#7 The Mystery of the Fiery Eye
#8 The Mystery of the Silver Spider
#9 The Mystery of the Screaming Clock
#10 The Mystery of the Moaning Cave
#11 The Mystery of the Talking Skull
#12 The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow
#15 The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints
#18 The Mystery of the Shrinking House
Random House most likely published only
those twelve in paperback (instead of all 28 books) because of partial
conversion: significant stock of the remaining sixteen titles still existed
in the Trade Hardcover Edition and needed to be sold before a First Paperback Edition could be published. This practice
continued on through 1981, as Random House slowly brought out a First Paperback
Edition for the remaining sixteen titles.
Hitchcock Covers: 1979 - 1983
By 1979, the Trade Hardcover Edition
was extinct, so that year's two new titles, #29 The Mystery of the Sinister
Scarecrow and #30 The Secret of Shark Reef, were instead published simultaneously
in both First Paperback and GLB Editions. As explained in the hardcover
page, there were no internal illustrations. In addition, the paperback format was new, with covers
identical to those on the corresponding GLB books, featuring art
by Robert Adragna (who was now the exclusive artist for the series) and
the silhouette
of Alfred Hitchcock's head in the upper right corner of the cover,
as well as an additional, matching silhouette on the upper spine. Because of the two silhouettes, collectors usually refer to titles in this paperback format as "Hitchcock Covers."
Why Stephen Marchesi was not retained as the series' cover artist is quite
a mystery. His style was somewhat abstract and perhaps Random House was
looking for a more realistic approach like the series had always enjoyed
with the other artists.
From 1979 - 1981, Random House also published
a First Paperback Edition for the remaining sixteen titles of numbers 1
- 28. All followed the same format as #29 The Mystery of the Sinister
Scarecrow and #30 The Secret of Shark Reef, featuring new cover
art by Robert Adragna, the Hitchcock silhouettes and no internal illustrations. As a result of of partial conversion, the books were not published in order, but instead appeared each year as follows:
1979
#4 The Mystery of the Green Ghost
#19 The Secret of Phantom Lake
#20 The Mystery of Monster Mountain
1980
#5 The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure
#21 The Secret of the Haunted Mirror
#22 The Mystery of the Dead Man's Riddle
#24 The Mystery of Death Trap Mine
1981
#13 The Secret of the Crooked Cat
#14 The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon
#16 The Mystery of the Nervous Lion
#17 The Mystery of the Singing Serpent
#23 The Mystery of the Invisible Dog
#25 The Mystery of the Dancing Devil
#26 The Mystery of the Headless Horse
#27 The Mystery of the Magic Circle
#28 The Mystery of the Deadly Double
By mid-1981, all of numbers
1 - 28 were finally available in paperback and the Trade Hardcover Edition was
probably completely gone from book stores shelves. There was a problem,
however, as the series was not uniform: the twelve paperback titles
from 1978 with Stephen Marchesi covers were glaringly different from the eighteen "Hitchcock Covers." Therefore, from 1981 - 1983, Random House made an attempt at uniformity by issuing late printings of at least ten (see below) of the twelve titles in the now standard format: new cover art by
Robert Adragna and the two Hitchcock silhouettes. Incredibly, however,
these late printings retained their internal illustrations.
The details of the late printing "Marchesi Covers" to "Hitchcock Covers" conversion are quite fascinating and invite much more in depth discussion. Click
here for a closer look, including some details on how two of the twelve, #7 The Mystery of the Fiery Eye and #8 The Mystery of the Silver Spider, were probably never converted.
Keyhole Covers: 1981 - 1987
As discussed in previous sections,
Alfred Hitchcock passed away in 1980 and was replaced by Hector Sebastian
in 1981's #31 The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar. That title, along with all subsequent new
titles (through 1987's #43 The Mystery of the Cranky
Collector), were instead simultaneously published in Paperback and GLB Editions as part of
the The Three Investigators Mystery Series. The keyhole design
replaced the Hitchcock silhouettes on the cover,
as well as on the spine (thus, titles in this format are referred to as "Keyhole Covers") and Robert Adragna provided the cover art with no internal illustrations.
In 1983, possibly to keep the series
fresh and to eliminate the costly royalties going to Alfred Hitchcock's
estate, Random House decided to update the writing style and completely
remove any reference to Hitchcock from numbers 1 - 30. Thus, in 1984
and 1985, the Revised Edition was published in paperback only, with Reginald
Clarke (for
#1 The Secret of Terror Castle only) and Hector Sebastian
replacing Hitchcock.
Like #31 The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar
and subsequent titles, the books were now part of
The Three Investigators
Mystery Series and the keyhole design was used on the front cover and
spine instead of the Hitchcock silhouettes. The Adragna cover art
remained unchanged and there were no internal illustrations. It is very interesting to note that Random House
only revised Terror Castle through #30 The Secret of Shark Reef.
Scar-Faced Beggar, which actually introduced Hector Sebastian and
#32 The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs, which has a Sebastian introduction
where he mentions knowing the boys "only briefly," were not changed.
Important note: no GLB books were published with the revised text.
Although the Revised Edition is not very popular with fans, its existence provides the only opportunity for collectors to have a complete, uniform, set of paperback Three Investigators books: Robert Adragna cover art, no internal illustrations and the keyhole design on the cover and spine.
Bullseye Books: 1991 - 1992
In 1991 and 1992, the original Three
Investigators series returned in a high quality Bullseye Paperback Edition (referred to by collectors as the Bullseye Books) under Random
House's Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. division. The books featured new cover
art by either Roger Loveless or Dominick Finelle, no internal illustrations and a brand new typeface for the text.
As the Bullseye Paperback Edition was simply intended to be a new edition of the 43 "Keyhole Covers", the Revised Edition's text was used for the titles before number
31 (i.e. no Alfred Hitchcock).
The cover art was surrounded on three sides by a brightly colored border
containing question marks and the question mark was also the new symbol
used on the spine.
Unfortunately, only twelve of the
original 43 books were published in the Bullseye Paperback Edition before
it was discontinued. The twelve were:
#1 The Secret of Terror Castle - June 1991, Roger Loveless
#2 The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot - June 1991, Roger Loveless
#9 The Mystery of the Screaming Clock - October 1991, Roger Loveless
#10 The Mystery of the Moaning Cave - June 1991, Dominick Finelle
#11 The Mystery of the Talking Skull - December 1992, Roger Loveless
#21 The Secret of the Haunted Mirror - June 1991, Dominick Finelle
#26 The Mystery of the Headless Horse - April 1992, Dominick Finelle
#32 The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs - November 1992, Roger Loveless
#33 The Mystery of the Purple Pirate - June 1991, Dominick Finelle
#35 The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale - June 1991, Roger Loveless
#36 The Mystery of the Missing Mermaid - May 1992, Roger Loveless
#39 The Mystery of the Trail of Terror - October 1991, Dominick Finelle
Interestingly, the back of each book
listed all 43 titles in the series, suggesting that Random House's intent
was to publish the entire series in this edition.
Dodge Issue: 1998 - 2000
From 1992 - 1997, Random House, along
with Robert Arthur's daughter Elizabeth Arthur, renewed the copyrights
of the first eleven titles. That process culminated in a re-issuing
of those titles in order from 1998 - 2000. The new books again contained
the Revised Edition text, with either Revised Edition or Bullseye Paperback
Edition typeset, depending on what was most recently published. Cover
art was by Bill Dodge and featured a Sherlock Holmes style symbol on both
the cover
and spine.
These books were not a new
edition, but simply a "current" issue of either the Revised or Bullseye Paperback
Editions with different cover art. The typesets and ISBNs remained
the same. In terms of printing identification, several titles have
copyright page numberlines that appear to continue where their Revised
Edition printings stopped, while others contain completely new numberlines
in the form of 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11. The rational behind
all of that is quite a mystery.
To complicate matters even more, all eleven Dodge Issue titles were also available in a hardcover library binding known as the Econo-Clad Edition. These books were not published by Random House, but were simply the Dodge Issue with a new binding (rebound). The company that provided this product was Econo-Clad Books (now known as Sagebrush Education Resources). Physically, the rebound books are slightly larger in size than the paperbacks, identical cover art. The spines are a solid color with simply the author and title printed; the Sherlock Holmes symbol is not present.
The new binding was added before the books were sold to end-users (e.g. libraries) and put into library circulation. In other words, the books were rebound-from-new. Therefore, all eleven rebound titles have a new Econo-Clad issued ISBN that distinguishes the books from the original paperback issue. That technically makes the rebound titles a new edition, but the situation is complex. Inside the covers, the original paperback ISBN still applies and is present as the textblock was not altered.
So which ISBN identifies the book? Both: the internal ISBN shows that the book was published by Random House and the external ISBN shows it was rebound by Econo-Clad Books before being distributed. Which ISBN is used to sell the book and list it in the Library of Congress? Econo-Clad's, because it is on the outside and represents the most recent change.
I'm sure you're wondering why other rebound books don't have an ISBN. The answer is because they are rebound by the end-user (via a bookbinder such as Permabound) after being purchased by the end-user.
The Econo-Clad edition is now out of print. When it was available, prices were $12.00 per book, as opposed to the $3.99 price of the paperback. The collectible value of the Econo-Clad Edition is hard to determine, because after all, they are just rebound paperbacks. Because of that, in this website, I have chosen to not distinguish them as a new edition on each book's link on the left, but for completeness have included all their pertinent information.
Printing Identification
It is simple to determine the printing
of almost all of the Three Investigators paperback books. Like the
post-1973 hardcover editions, the copyright page numberline gives all the
necessary information. The only exceptions are the Windward books,
which were published before 1974. Unfortunately, it is very difficult
to identify their printings because, other than the noted price change and cover change
from reflective silver to white, no additional changes were made during
their print runs. These two titles are actually somewhat difficult
to acquire and it may very well be that only three printings exist.
Inner List
With the exception of the Windward
books, all of the paperback titles contained an inner list, usually at
the back of the book. Except for the Bullseye Edition, this list
only contained the number of titles available at a particular book's printing.
Like the hardcover editions, paperback titles were reprinted with each
new set of books (as necessary, i.e. partial conversion) and the lists
were updated accordingly. For collectors, this allows for the estimation
of a paperback title's printing date. As mentioned above, Bullseye
book inner lists contained all of the books in the series, whether they
were available or not.
Notes
All paperback titles printed in 1978
and 1979 did not have the book's number on the spine. For example,
a First Printing of the First Paperback Edition of #11 The Mystery of the Talking Skull (printed
in 1978) does not have a number on the spine, but the Eighth Printing (most
likely printed in late 1980) does.
All of the paperback titles published
in 1981, with 1981 printings, had an insertion placed inside the front
or back cover consisting of a Mystery
Quiz with a removable bookmark. The bookmark featured Stephen
Marchesi's cover art from
#10 The Mystery of the Moaning Cave and
its back listed the 30 or 32 titles available (titles printed in the latter
part of 1981 had 32 titles listed to reflect the publishing of numbers
31 and 32). The Mystery Quiz consisted of a set of three questions
and there were two variations of the sets: the first with answers
1) Magic Circle 2) Vanishing Treasure 3) Invisible
Dog and the second with answers 1) Haunted Mirror 2) Sinister
Scarecrow 3) Skeleton Island. Higher quality images
of the Mystery Quiz pages can be downloaded as a zip file here: mq.zip.
Note: an interesting anomaly is that First Printings of #17 The Mystery
of the Singing Serpent can be found without the bookmark; in fact,
this appears to be the more common variant.
In 1983, a variation of the Mystery
Quiz bookmark was available for free in libraries that carried Three Investigators
books. Although the bookmark
featured the same Marchesi art, it was larger and contained the phrase
I
Love Mysteries! on the front. The back listed all 36 paperback
titles available at the time, with a noted price of $1.95.
There were two paperback boxed sets
released by Random House. The first probably became available in late 1978 or early 1979. That set originally contained the 1978
paperback editions, with Marchesi cover art, of numbers 1, 7, 8, and 10
in a dark blue box with additional Marchesi art on its sides. At least one late issue of the set can be found with Robert Adragna's cover art on #1
The Secret of Terror Castle. The second
boxed set became available in 1984 and contained numbers 3, 26, 27 and
37, all with Adragna cover art. The box was the same as the first
set, but a decal on the spine listed the different titles.
Collector's Notes
If a complete Random House paperback
collection is desired, the following is available:
-
Numbers 1 and 2 in the Windward Edition,
with both reflective silver and white covers by Ed Vebell; internal
illustrations
-
Numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
12, 15 and 18 with Stephen Marchesi cover art; internal illustrations
-
Numbers 1 - 6 and 9 - 30 with Robert Adragna cover
art and Hitchcock's silhouette on the cover and spine; internal illustrations
only in numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 and 18; 7 and 8 are probably not available in this format
-
Numbers 1 - 43 with Robert Adragna cover
art and the keyhole symbol on the cover and spine; no internal illustrations
and all have Hector Sebastian
-
Numbers 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 21, 26, 32,
33, 35, 36 and 39 in Knopf Bullseye Edition with Roger Loveless or Dominick
Finelle cover art; no internal illustrations and all have Hector Sebastian
-
Numbers 1 - 11 with Bill Dodge cover
art; no internal illustrations and all have Hector Sebastian
Most of the paperback titles are fairly
easy to acquire and are typically around $3.00 - $8.00 per book.
A few are very difficult to find, such as both Windward titles with white
backgrounds, many of the "Marchesi Twelve" with Robert Adragna covers
and the last title in the series, #43 The Mystery of the Cranky Collector.
Home<< Previous | Next >>
This page last updated on 02-Sep-03
|
|
){kind=link}
