What's the last book or item you added to your Hardy Boys collection?

[MacGyver]

Here's the front as well. It's nice to finally see the full cover art without a banner running over it.

[VLoneWolf]

I recently got number 50 Danger On Vampire Trail

[tomswift2002]

Just got in the mail today a rather scarce Hardy Boys book—-even though the book is very well known and is still available brand-new nowadays. 

It is The Hardy Boys Ghost Stories!  However the cover art is the Wanderer cover art cropped within the Minstrel border and flag (someone uploaded an image of one at the Hardy Boys Wiki, I seem to have a variant, as mine is more centered than the HBW scan since the banner doesn't go as low and there is not as much purple at the top but there is more purple at the bottom.)

For decades people thought that the first Minstrel cover art was the familiar orange one with Frank and Joe opening the chest and being surrounded by the ghosts.  That cover art was issued sometime in 1987/88.  The second Minstrel artwork was released around 1996 (I have a 11th Minstrel printing that lists to "Slam Dunk Sabotage" which came out in October 1996, while I have a 9th printing with the chest cover that lists to "Day of the Dinosaur" from October 1994).  Then the third Minstrel artwork (scarecrow cover, not to be confused with the 1984 Armada Scarecros cover from the UK), which was also used on the current Aladdin editions, was released in 2001, with the first Aladdin printing appearing in May 2002 (between "Trouble In Warp Space" & "Speed Times Five") with the book's 15th Minstrel printing.  Also of note, for some strange reason, between 1989 and 2001, the copyright page for "Ghost Stories" contained a 'Copyright 1989 Simon & Schuster' line even though it was first released in 1984.  This Wanderer/Minstrel hybrid contains a 1984 copyright, although by this time the internal artwork has been removed.

But clearly, that was in error, as "Ghost Stories" falls into that odd Wanderer/Minstrel hybrid category that only one other Hardy Boys book fell into: The Four-Headed Dragon's first Minstrel printing used the Wanderer artwork (this is another scarce Hardy Boys book) and didn't get its second artwork until 1988.

Before this cover I thought the scarcity of GS covers was like this:

Aladdin Scarecrow (extremely common)
Orange Chest (extremely common)
Wanderer Paperback (hard-to-find)
1996 - 2000 "Scarecrow Face" (difficult to find)
Wanderer Hardcover (scarce)
Minstrel Scarecrow 2001 cover (scarce possible due to one print run before switch over to Aladdin)

But now I'd put this Hybrid edition in with the Hardcover & 2001 editions as "Scarce". 

I can't date my copy any more than after July 1987 but before the end of 1988.  There's no sign of pages being ripped out, but there are no order forms or even a series list, and no teaser page.  1st Minstrel printings would, if there was a list, only list to The Skyfire Puzzle, as The Mystery Of The Silver Star wasn't released until September 1987.  But my book's a 2nd Minstrel printing. 

Also the title page is different from the later Minstrel editions.  It looks like it came from the Wanderer edition but with the Minstrel info; the later ones use the stylized GS title from the orange edition (even both copies of the FACE one I have), and then the Aladdin uses the file folder fonts.  Also the page order is title page, copyright, forward, blank, contents, blank, first story page.  The later editions go (after teaser/series list) title, copyright, contents, forward, first story page. 

Also the hybrid edition uses the Wanderer tagline of "Will Frank and Joe survive the supernatural spirits that torment them?" rather than the later "Six spine-tingling adventures of supernatural mystery!" Or the Aladdin one: "Six Bone-Chilling Tales of Mystery and Terror!".


https://hardyboys.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hardy_Boys_Ghost_Stories?file=HBGhostStoriesMinstrel.jpg

[tomswift2002]

Oh and a few more things, on the hybrid there is no reading level or age range on the back cover (later ones have a 6.3 RL and 8-14 while the Aladdin gets rid of the RL).  And the spine has the Minstrel Logo at the bottom, above the ISBN & $3.50 price (my orange one is missing the ISBN & price), and the Hardy Boys logo at the very top (so close that it was almost cut off!)

[MacGyver]

Cool find!
Is this book the same size as a standard Digest? I have seen a pocket size variation that is almost the size of a Case file with the Wanderer artwork. (I think it's the Minstrel purple background print.)

[tomswift2002]

Yes it's the standard Minstrel size.

[MacGyver]

Okay. Nice.

[tomswift2002]

Just got over the past week both the paperback and hardcover version of "As The Falcon Flies", the new Adventure book.  Don't know when I'll get around to reading it, as I still haven't read "Troublesome Tide" or "Mystery on the Mayhrm Express".  The Adventures seem to be very clumsily written and not that interesting for adventure stories.

[MacGyver]

I recently picked up a copy of this 3-in-1 book from Grosset & Dunlap.


(I mentioned finding a copy before but that was a badly damaged copy. This one is in much nicer shape and the spine isn't held together with brown tape on this one!)

[SkyWarp]

The Shadow Killers
Breakdown in Axeblade
Sabotage at Sports City
Past And Present Danger

[MacGyver]

The Shadow Killers
Breakdown in Axeblade
Sabotage at Sports City
Past And Present Danger

Awesome! The two in the middle in that list are some of my favourites! (#94 and #115)   

[tomswift2002]

The Shadow Killers
Breakdown in Axeblade
Sabotage at Sports City
Past And Present Danger

Both The Shadow Killers & Breakdown In Axeblade seem to have been written for the Casefiles but then changed into Mystery Stories.

There's not much to say about Sabotage At Sports City. 

But Past and Present Danger is an interesting book, as it focuses on Aunt Gertrude, kind of like the Casefiles[/b] A Killing In The Market, 13 years earlier. It also fleshes out Gertrude's engagement that Fenton Hardy mentioned in The Phantom Freighter.

But PAPD's claim to fame is that it was the first Hardy Boys book ever to have Digital release and that Digital release is still available now, 21 years later (although I'm not sure if it's still in the same Microsoft e-reader format as it was released in 21 years ago, or if S&S has discontinued that format).

[MacGyver]

The main thing I say about Sabotage at Sports City is that it's a mystery set at the Olympics that seems huge and daunting in scope at first but turns out to be a smokescreen for something else, which involves some interesting observation skills and arguments in court to make the case stick. I like all those aspects, along with the general sports theme. It's just one I've enjoyed reading and rereading at various times.  

[tomswift2002]

Just got in the mail yesterday, a 16mm print of Episode 10 of the Disney serial "The Mystery At Ghost Farm" called 'Detectives In Trouble', that aired October 14, 1957.  This 16mm reel has the whole Mickey Mouse Club episode on it.

[MacGyver]

Wow! That is pretty cool! I assume you have a projector to watch it on too?
I have a VHS and DVD release that have segments from "The Mystery of Ghost Farm" and those are the only official releases of any portion of that Hardy Boys serial as far as I know, outside of the 16 mm reels. I'd still love to see it on DVD or at least streaming on Disney+.