Sat 15 May 2010
ANNOUNCING: A Checklist of Harper’s Sealed Mysteries, by Victor A. Berch.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Covers , Publishers[7] Comments
It’s taken me longer than it should have, but this afternoon I finally finished the formatting of a checklist that should be of interest to everyone who reads and collects mysteries published during the Golden Age of Detection.
Compiled by Victor Berch, the title is “A Checklist of HARPER’S SEALED MYSTERY SERIES,” and to tempt you even more, here are the first two paragraphs of Victor’s introduction to the list:
Should the reader lose interest in the author’s story and returned the book to the bookseller with the seal intact, the reader would be refunded the cost of the book.
This series of books, obviously very collectible today, was published between 1929 and 1934. The most prominent author included in the series was beyond a doubt John Dickson Carr, with nine books in the series (in six years!). It’s the cover of one of these that you see here up above. Other authors include Freeman Wills Crofts, Milton Propper, Mary Plum, Hulbert Footner and Albert Payson Terhune.
Thanks to Bill Pronzini and his collection, covers of some two dozen or more are included. The list is too long to have posted on the blog. You’ll find it instead here on the main Mystery*File website. (Follow the link.)
And just how many of the books were returned to Harper’s for a refund? You’ll have to read Victor’s article.
May 15th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Over the years I’ve seen copies of these with the seal strip, but never saw one with an unbroken seal. Considering the writers I wonder if such a thing exists outside of some really obsessed collector’s library?
May 16th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
The seal on my copy of IT WALKS BY NIGHT is all there but has been opened, alas.
But I’m fortunate to be one of those obsessed collectors David mentions: I have two other HSMs with unbroken seals: Carr’s THE CORPSE IN THE WAXWORKS and Crofts’ PURPLE SICKLE MURDERS. I’ve seen a couple of others, the titles of which seem to have sifted out of my porous memory.
May 17th, 2010 at 10:46 am
I don’t have any of the series with unbroken seals, but I have two of the Carr novels “Castle Skull” and “The Corpse in the Waxworks.” Neither has a jacket but both books still have the certificates neatly tipped onto the back free endpapers.
The title that really jumped out at me, however, was Rayburn Crawley’s “The Valley of the Creeping Men.” My copy is not the Harper edition but it does sport a jacket with a striking if somewhat primitive illustration.
At the time that I acquired, read and then reviewed “Valley” in my DAPA-em newsletter (September 1990), I was unable to track down the identity of the author or authors hiding behind the Crawley pseudonym. As you can imagine, I was delighted to learn that the joint authors were Laura Spencer Portor Pope and Dorothy Giles.
I will add that I also have a copy of “Chattering Gods,” which I have yet to read.
May 17th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Bill
So at least two books with unbroken seals still exist! Congratulations are in order, I’d say. I’m willing to wager that there aren’t many others around.
Walter
I don’t know when it was (or who) learned who was behind the Rayburn Crawley moniker, but I’m certainly glad you finally found out, some 20 years later. I hope wondering about it wasn’t keeping you up at night!
You might have to send me a copy of your VALLEY review to me before I can post it, which I’d love to, of course. I have a huge stack of old DAPA-Em mailings, but so far I haven’t located the one that it’s in.
— Steve
May 19th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
[…] Walter sent me this review after he spotted this book in Victor Berch’s “Checklist of Harper’s Sealed Mysteries,” announced on this blog not too long ago. This is a revised version of a review he wrote […]
June 25th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Hi Bill I have recently aquired a copy of John Dickson Carr’s -Eight of swords.1st Edition 1934-With complete Jacket I have looked at your list copy and mine is slightly different as it has the brown Harpers mystery label on the front cover as well as the Dorothy Sayers review band. Is this significant? Unfortunately there is no seal present. A cracking good end-completely unexpected.Not so sure about the Chestonian humour.
June 25th, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Hi Rod– Congratulations on obtaining a lst edition of EIGHT OF SWORDS with the complete original jacket. An extremely scarce title, as I’m sure you know. Yes, the one you have with the Harpers mystery label is the true FE dj. The one pictured in the article is a Grosset & Dunlap reprint, identical except for lack of the cover label — one of only two Carr first editions that I don’t own in their original jackets (the other is a Carter Dickson, THE RED WIDOW MURDERS). I agree that SWORDS is a cracking good read with a completely unexpected ending. Carr’s sometimes broad humor is not everybody’s cup of tea, but with a few exceptions I find it delightful — especially so in the Sir Henry Merrivale series.