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Collector Profile: The Kathleen Berman Collection
I will always remember the moment when my mother’s best friend turned to me and asked, “Have you ever read a Nancy Drew book?” We were in Fox & Sutherland’s book section and lined up before us in a bookcase were pristine, blue tweed, dust jacketed Nancy Drew books. I was in third grade and had long, brown pig tails. My mother’s friend bought me two Nancy Drew books as a gift and I was hooked from the start. Allowance was saved for the sole purpose of purchasing a new Nancy Drew. And, oh, I very well recall experiencing a tangible quiver of excitement when a new volume appeared in the store. Nancy Drew books had the allure of being banned by the local library. Unlike Whitman and Clover Leaf books, they came with a dust jacket just like my mother’s books from the Book-of-the-Month Club. That dust jacket gave them the appeal of being on a par with things adult. It was a sad day for my friends and I when there was a change to the dust jacketless yellow spined books. We bemoaned the fact that the publisher was being so “cheap” as to eliminate that wrapper that mimicked the covers for adult books. As I grew up I did finish my collection through the original 56, although I admit I did not read the later volumes at the time. By then I had finished college and was busy working and living in NYC. I would buy the books and bring them up to my mother’s house to be companions to my childhood favorites. I also bought the cookbook. I tried making some of the cookbook recipes with my younger sister. Every recipe we tried was simply dreadful. Hannah Gruen should have been given complete editorial control. What happened to my childhood Nancy Drew books? They are boxed away in the attic. Unfortunately the entrance to that part of the attic is through my son’s room and is blocked by furniture and his book collections. While in my mind’s eye each and every volume is in perfect condition, I fear that in reality my youthful devotion to Nancy left them in a rather well-loved condition. They were read and then reread many times. A few years ago I was in a used bookstore with my eldest son. It was one of those cozy upstate bookstores with old overstuffed chairs and a cat or two wandering around. As I waited for my son I picked up a Nancy Drew and two Judy Boltons and sat down and began to read. It was like coming home. I bought those books and my collecting saw a rebirth. I have since assembled inexpensive used copies in a combination of the original and revised texts from a variety of sources. The library freebie bin, the recycling center and a fairly nearby library bookstore have been good sources. My fellow sleuths have also been a wonderful help. I had never read a digest until I joined this group. Jenn Fisher was kind enough to point me in the direction of a few she enjoyed. I showed my husband some digests on sale at e-Bay and it was a nice surprise when they arrived. I certainly enjoy them more when I can go back and look at one of Todd’s reviews in back issues of the Sleuth. Another Sleuth helped me select a super mystery to read. I have never read a File, but my husband retrieved a number of them when they were being discarded by the library. I’ll try one soon. I do like Nancy Drew foreign editions. I have several Collins editions which depict Nancy as a red head. While the Russell Tandy Nancy is my all time favorite, this Nancy would be my second favorite if it weren’t for a few Nappi covers that I love. The bravado of that red hair just makes me grin! No Harold Hills, sorry to say. I have an Australian hardcover digest, I believe. I have one Italian Nancy that my son found for me in a used bookstore and I also have one German Nancy. Sadly, I can’t read either of those. I have a few Alice books. I enjoy practicing what little remains of my schoolgirl French with them. The illustrations are charming and colorful. I am always intrigued to see how another artist interprets a scene. I also have the Ghost Stories volumes. The first volume I found in a thrift store and the second volume my son found for me at a used book sale at his school. My favorite Nancy Drew? It is a blue cloth volume with the orange Nancy silhouette on the cover. It was inexpensive and is in much less than perfect condition. The name and address of the original owner is inscribed in careful Palmer script. When this book was new in the 1930’s it rested on a bookshelf about 15 minutes from where I live. I feel that after all those years this book has come home.
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