Vanishing Treasures

It’s time to revisit that article I wrote a few months ago about the relative scarcity of each Three Investigators title, bloggers. As I have been focusing on the hardback editions, let’s look at those. This is what I have found when looking for large hardbacks during the last five months:

Terror Castle

I have seen six of these listed on both Amazon and AbeBooks, but they have either been too expensive (for example, check out the copy that is currently listed on AbeBooks for the princely sum of £78.20) Even ex-lib copies have been listed at well over £20, so unfortunately, I haven’t bought myself a copy yet.

Stuttering Parrot

I have seen five of these available; the most recent one was on Amazon for just under £15. The condition didn’t appear to be fantastic, and the other copies I have seen have all been far too expensive.

Whispering Mummy

Three of these have appeared on eBay and a half a dozen on Amazon. There is one listed as we speak on abebooks, not badly priced at £12:

. A fairly common early title.

Green Ghost

Another relatively common book, I have seen three on eBay and several on Amazon / Abebooks. There is an ex-lib copy currently on Amazon for a few quid, and one with the stunning price tag of over £40 including postage on Abebooks. I would be hoping for a copy signed by Alfred Hitchcock for that price.

Vanishing Treasure

This one has proved to be not quite as easy to find as the previous couple of titles and I have only spotted two on eBay and the usual stupid priced ones on Abebooks (eg the “good” condition one currently there for £57. Why anyone in their right mind would pay this god only knows. I must do a posting about these crazy prices, watch this space bloggers.

Skeleton Island

I still don’t have one of these as any I have seen have been either too expensive or too tatty. Relatively uncommon, this one.

Fiery Eye

Apart from the one I bought myself recently, I have seen five other copies of this, including the possible one I see listed on Abebooks, thus:

Bloggers, this is another example of how difficult it is to work out exactly what book some of these dealers have for sale. Described as a “1971 impression”, in the description, but stating, “Publication Date: 1973” in the Bibliographic Details section, how are we to know what we are dealing with? What difference does it make, dotch? I hear you ask, we’ll I’ll tell you. The large Fiery Eye had its second and final printing in 1971 and the small Fiery Eye had its first printing in 1973. So from the evidence in the listing, we really have no way of knowing for sure if it is a small or large hardback that is for sale. Knowing my luck, if I bought it, it would probably turn out to be a first edition paperback with tatty covers.

But I digress. This has been one of the more easily found books so far.

Silver Spider

I haven’t seen too many of these, bloggers, only three in total, however for some reason they all appeared to be in excellent condition, including the one I bought for £2.50 on eBay. There is a really nice one listed at the moment, why not check it out if you are interested:

Screaming Clock

This has been a fairly common title, however dealers appear to be generally a bit ambitious with the prices they expect to achieve from it, for example the copy currently listed on Abebooks priced at £78.75. The cheek doesn’t end there, folks, as he is also asking for £3.35 postage within the UK. At least it must be in mint condition for that price? I hear you ask. It is, in fact, honestly described as having “damage to spine”. Does anyone ever fall for it? I have seen half a dozen copies in various states.

Moaning Cave

This has been a scarcer title over the last few months, with only three copies having been listed, including my one from that huge job lot I got some while back.

Talking Skull

There are two of these listed at the moment on Abebooks, for the usual daft prices. I.E. £51 and £38 respectively. There have been another couple on eBay and some on Amazon too, giving a total of 8 copies.

Laughing Shadow

More fucking mental prices on Abebooks, folks. If you have £97 burning a hole in your pocket you could buy the one listed by Revival Books (so named because they are always having to revive their customers after they have fainted when told the price of their books) that is described as having “shelfwear”. If you feel that’s a ridiculous price to pay, don’t worry, as another dealer has one listed (described as having “wear to corners”) for only £72. This may seem like a bit of a bargain after the Revival copy. How do they get away with it?

What I really don’t understand is that these prices bear absolutely no relation to the relative scarcity of the book. Apart from the five I’ve seen listed on eBay, there are currently three listed on Amazon and there have been at least half a dozen others sold during the last few months. In fact this is both the most common and most expensive title so far.

Crooked Cat

Not so common a title, this one, with only four copies definitely identified as large hardback copies. I see good old Revival books have listed a Crooked Cat described as in “unknown binding” and published in 1971. On the face of it, this may be a large hardback copy, but how can you tell? The person who list it may just have looked at the copyright date rather than the date of publication. Also, what the fuck does “unknown binding” mean anyway? If you’ve got the book in your hands, you can surely tell if its hardback or paperback, no? Even if you’re blind, it shouldn’t be beyond you as you could always feel it. I suppose if you had no hands to feel the book and were blind so couldn’t see it, you may have an excuse for not knowing what the binding consists of, but if you suffer from these afflictions, surely listing books on Abebooks is not the most appropriate occupation for you.

Coughing Dragon

This has proved to be a difficult book for me to track down. There was one listed a few months ago on Abebooks by Barter Books in Alnwick, which is a truly excellent shop that I recommend you all check out – you can also do some celebrity spotting as Chris Donald, Viz Comic creator works there (at least that’s what he claimed in his recent autobiography Rude Kids). Anyway, it was described as having “warped boards” and who wants that, eh? Otherwise, apart from the odd crazy priced nonsense on Amazon (currently four copies available for between £35 and £50) they have been thin on the ground, with no eBay sightings at all.

Flaming Footprints

If you want to pay over £50 for a copy of this book, bloggers, you will have no difficulty in finding a copy, as there are three listed at the moment on Abebooks and Amazon at such a price. This makes the last copy look good at £29, but as it has “read wear and page discolouration” I would probably give it a miss. Here’s my top tip for the day, bloggers. Any hard back book that is described as having “page discolouration”, or “tanning” is in all likelihood a small hardback as opposed to a large hardback. The earlier printings (up until 1975) used lower quality paper that is prone to discolouration. The large hardbacks and small hardback reprints printed after 1975 all used better quality paper that will not be prone to this browning,

This is a slightly more common book than some others, as I have seen eight copies in total for sale.

Nervous Lion

There is a very well priced copy on Abebooks at the moment, folks, at around £8 including postage. Other than that, I’ve seen a few listed here and there, about 6 in total.

Singing Serpent

You may find it quite difficult to come across a decent copy of this one, bloggers, although I see something listed on Amazon that may be a bargain, with the exhaustive condition report stating that the book is, “in stock”. Really, is that the best you can do? How about, Publisher, year of publication, condition, ex-lib status, etc etc. I could go on. Have these people no idea how to do their job? Alas, it would appear not. But I digress. I have seen four of these offered, including my most excellent copy, see below.

Shrinking House

This would appear to be one of the harder titles to find. I have seen only five copies listed, and that includes the one I found in that charity shop in East Kilbride. There are currently two available on Amazon, both reasonably priced at around £18.

Phantom Lake

This is where things start to get a bit tricky. This has been a very scarce book indeed, as I have only seen two copies, both of which have already featured in this blog. The first was the job lot with Monster Mountain, the other was the one I bought (see Treasure of the Argyll Queen).

Monster Mountain

For some reason, bloggers, this is a hugely common book. Aside from the four I have seen on eBay, there have been at least another eight listed elsewhere. At the time of writing, there are five available online, some with and some without dustjacket. Honestly, these things are everywhere. If I were you, I would hold out for a better condition or better price as there will no doubt be another one along any minute.

Haunted Mirror

A bit like Phantom Lake, this book is a rare beast indeed, as I have seen only two listed, including the one I got for a bargain £12.80.

Dead Man’s Riddle

There have been two of these listed on eBay and if there have been any listed on Abebooks or Amazon, then I have missed them. I won’t count the one Big Tiny gave to me as it was bought about a decade ago.

Invisible Dog

A few months ago, I blogged about the great large Invisible Dog that was listed on Abebooks, bloggers, a book I regret not buying. Apart from that one, I have only seen the one that I ended up buying myself.

Death Trap Mine

I blogged about the rather nice copy that had been list on eBay a few months ago, bloggers. The same seller promptly listed another copy, this time an ex-lib one. These are the only two appearances of this title.

Dancing Devil

The only copy I have seen anywhere is the one that I bought from Amazon myself. Nothing on eBay or Abebooks, making this one of the rarest titles in my experience.

Headless Horse and Deadly Double

I have yet to see any copies of either of these titles.

Magic Circle

For some reason, there have been several of this title listed on eBay, Amazon and Abebooks, making it almost as common as Monster Mountain. There is one on eBay at the moment, one on Abebooks and two on Amazon. Not sure why this one is so easy to come by.

Here is the above information shown graphically:

Now, bloggers, I am not a statistician, I leave that work to the professionals, so I will not pass comment on this, frankly rather useless, graph.

Phantom Lake Menace

I am facing a bit of a dilemma, bloggers, regarding this book that I see listed on Abebooks this week:
A small Phantom Lake in fairly poor condition ie a bit knackered around the edges. It is priced fairly reasonably, at around £11 including postage, but is it really good enough for the collection? I am stuck between buying it and plugging a gap, or waiting for a nicer copy to come along, who knows when that may be. I think the fact that I didn't buy it immediately means that in all likelihood my decision has been taken, so if you are in need of a small Phantom Lake, why not check out Abebooks and see if it's still there.

On the subject of small Phantom Lakes, I see that the Amazon copy at £28 has been sold, I suspect that Hugh may now have a complete small hardback collection, if so, let us know about it, Hugh.

Carry On Screaming Clock

If my local chippie is frying tonight, I'll nip out for a fish supper and settle down with a bottle of buckie and read this cute little number:
An absolutely super small Screaming Clock, at the completely bargain price of £2.50 including postage! Possibly my best buy yet. Clean, tight and just about perfect. One of the best Robert Arthur stories, this, and imagine my surprise when the villain was none other than Hugenay! That cheeky bastard was up to his neck in more fine art thievery, I wonder what his day job is?

The Incredible Shrinking House

This is the last of the three books from the same seller. Incredible doesn't do justice, folks. Same condition or better than the other two, including price sticker.Lovely biscuits. Of course, this is an upgrade for me, and means that I can get rid of my other large Shrinking House that is covered with dire biblical epithets. If anyone wants it, let me know, I can't imagine getting anything for it on ebay.

The cover for this book is famous for bearing no relation whatsoever to the book's narrative. It is a cracker, though, eh? It's good to see Jupiter wearing his standard fat guy shirt, but where in the name of fuck did Bob get that waistcoat? Honestly I know he's a bit short sighted but surely he's not completely blind. You would think that someone would have had a word with him.

Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot The Works

Unless she's German, in which case she is out of luck as this title was not released there. Never mind they have hundreds of other titles that we never got to see.
Another as-new book that has been spoiled somewhat by the disgraceful polythene bag packing used by an ebay dealer. Still, never mind, eh? It's better that the copy I had, ie none.

Be The Singing Serpent Under it

My fellow innocent flowers, don't be put off by the terribly scary picture on the cover of this book. I know that the boys look scared shitless; you'd think by now they would realise that The Three Investigators stories all follow strict Scooby Doo plot principles. This is of course the latest large hardback to grace my collection:
From the same collection as my large Flaming Footprints, see below. I remember reading this book as a lad, back when the small hardback was published ie in 1975. My thoughts were not "what a nectar opening to a book", but "what the fuck is an Appaloosa?" This also had a female character in it, I mite hav known it was written by MV Carey. Yah boo sucks.

The quality of this copy is as good as you could ever expect. As with the Flaming Footprints, it is clean, tight and features the gold Collins sticker. I will not be able to upgrade this one.

That Talking Skull Had A Tongue In It

And could sing once, but all it really did was mutter to Jupiter in his bedroom at night. Yes, folks, this is of course my fab large Talking Skull, freshly through my letterbox from an ebay dealer.
Really nice condition this one, suffering only from the removal of the original price sticker from the front board. This is a frequent fault with these books, as the gold Collins stickers were quite sticky and sometimes the boards could be worn when they were peeled off, using thumbnails etc. This has a great spine with vibrant colours on it, and looks great on the shelf. I love the cover art to this one, the scene of the boys discovering the skull in the old chest is used on all of the UK edition covers, none as well realised as this original (or at least based on the original).