A Short Introduction

I'm starting this blog to talk about the hobby of series book collecting. I have been a series book collector for around ten years now. I began during the heyday of Ebay, the days when you could bid on a book and not have it sniped at the last minute. The days when you could find deals and watch in awe as a book rose way above the money you or anyone you know would pay for a "kid's book".

I actually started collecting Oz books, and this was actually 20 years or more. I have 39 of the original Reilly and Lee canon in Reilly and Lee printings. I still need a "Handy Mandy" to complete the set. I upgrade occasionally, but they are not my main passion.

Personally I love the Grosset and Dunlap/Stratemeyer Syndicate series of the 1920's,30's, 40's 50's and upward. Nancy Drew is a personal collecting favorite, along with Ken Holt, Rick Brant, Judy Bolton, the Dana Girls, and Hal Keen. Mix that with Penny Parker, Trixie Belden, Beverly Gray and The Three Investigators, and you get an idea of what my bookshelves look like.

Of course, the internet has helped tremendously in fueling my passion. I live right outside Ocean City, Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula. This is not a hot bed of used bookstores chock full of series books. Instead, my mail lady Rachel is constantly delivering boxes of books, while I am at work teaching tenth grade students English. I love coming home to a mailbox with a book or books purchased from somewhere on the internet.

Currently, I have set up a Bonanzle booth to start selling books that I may have duplicates of, or items I no longer want or have upgraded. My booth is called SeriesBookLover's Bookshelf and it can be reached by clicking on the Bonanzle link at the top of the page. I'll be adding more, so come back and check things out. I've just started adding.

Tomorrow I leave for Cape May, NJ for the weekend. Robert Arthur, author and creator of the Three Investigators series lived there. Thanks to Seth Smolinske (sp?) of the The Three Investigators web site, I know the address of the house. I'll post some photos when I get back, and share my thoughts as I roamed the streets of this great author. I plan on taking my copy of Ken Holt #1, "The Secret of Skeleton Island", and I will be perusing antique stores for that elusive first printing of "The Secret of the Old Clock". Wish me luck!