Bidspirit auction | Keene King & Patchin Pictorial

Keene King & Patchin Pictorial Hardcover Books - This lot features three antique and vintage children’s hardcover books with pictorial cloth bindings. The collection includes The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene, published by Grosset & Dunlap in New York with a 1930 copyright. This volume is a circa 1950s printing in blue cloth with a dark blue stamped silhouette of Nancy Drew on the cover. The front free endpaper bears a pencil inscription reading: Paula Starck / 734 N. St. Louis / South Bend, 17 / Indiana / 3-5701 / September 5, 1956 / This is not / Peggy's / Starck. Also included is Skeezix and Uncle Walt by Frank King, published by The Reilly & Lee Co. in 1924. This book features a full-color pictorial paste-down on tan cloth boards and contains both color and black-and-white illustrations. It contains a 1925 Christmas inscription to Raymond from Aunt Ann and a detailed handwritten family genealogy on the following page for the Schlager and Wilbur families. The third volume is The Battleship Boys in Foreign Service by Frank Gee Patchin, published by Henry Altemus Company in 1911, with a multi-color illustrated cloth binding showing sailors on a ship. The books are in good vintage condition overall with wear consistent with age and heavy handling. The cloth boards across the lot show moderate shelf wear, rubbing at the extremities, and bumped corners. The Skeezix volume shows light surface scratches and rubbing to the front pictorial plate. The Battleship Boys volume has a cracked interior hinge that reveals the underlying binding structure. All volumes exhibit paper toning, with the heaviest discoloration present in the Altemus volume.