Hardy Boys Favorite Classic books

Started by MacGyver, May 02, 2013, 11:35:32 AM

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MacGyver

My interest has recently been piqued in these interesting Hardy Boys collectibles. At one time, Grossett & Dunlap released three classic literature books marketed as "A Hardy Boys Favorite Classic" book. Now I've gotten different information from different sources. One place, which looks like it's a university library page, says it was 1963 when they were released and this Hardy Boys fan site says it was 1978.
      In any case, the three titles that were released were Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Now beyond having the "A Hardy Boys Favorite Classic" banner on the cover of the book, there really isn't much else connecting these books to The Hardy Boys, but I have read that each book also included a preface by Franklin W. Dixon- so that's something cool.
      These books have been mentioned in an earlier thread and as I said there, they don't sound like they're worth making a huge effort to track down. Nonetheless, I'm curious and I think I may try to find them for my collection if I can find them for a reasonable price somewhere.
       Anyway, in looking around online, I saw that one of the books, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, got a mention on a university library page about Mark Twain- this is the site I mentioned earlier in this post. And the nice thing is, the site includes some scans from the books, in a display of the depictions of Jim throughout various printings of this book. So I thought someone might enjoy checking that out. The site also pointed out that the two white boys on the raft on the cover may presumably be Frank and Joe Hardy, which I suppose could be true, especially since it looks like the two main characters in the book, Huck and Jim, are depicted behind them. See for yourself.


"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me."- Jesus
"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver in "Cease Fire"

MacGyver

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me."- Jesus
"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver in "Cease Fire"

MacGyver

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me."- Jesus
"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver in "Cease Fire"

MacGyver

This is particularly interesting to note for me, since I know that librarians in the past have typically looked down disdainfully upon Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books as not being high quality literature and so forth. (And sure, I'll readily admit they're nowhere near on the level of classic literature and Shakespeare, etc.) But this doesn't mean they're not good books and good quality literature to read. It's all a matter of perspective- they are a lot better than other things that could be read. And they're better than not reading at all, certainly. While I do agree we want to encourage children to broaden their horizons and read books that will be more challenging and more mature (in a good way, not "mature" in the negative way), I also love The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew and am proud to promote these books as good literature to read that help guide people in so many positive ways (and with some strong Christian values that everyone can embrace.)
        And though I know this is mainly an interesting marketing device for Grossett & Dunlap, I think it's a pretty interesting goodwill measure that helps gets kids introduced to classic literature through The Hardy Boys (and by the way, I definitely recommend these three books as well- I've read most all three- I read a good bit of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a kid- I need to reread that some day. But I have read in their entirety the other two and I love those.)
     Perhaps this helped mollify some librarians and ease up the acceptance of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books into school and public libraries. And they make for neat collectibles, though I already own other copies of all three books. :) 8) But it will be neat to try to find this Hardy Boys Favorite Classic brand printing.
      (And by the way, a similar deal was done for Nancy Drew as well, with "A Nancy Drew Favorite Classic" series of three books. As makes sense, The Hardy Boys' favorite classics were geared more toward boys and Nancy Drew's favorite classics were geared more toward girls. The Nancy Drew titles are: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Heidi by Johanna Spyri and Grimms' Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm. You can read more about them and see the covers for each one at this excellent Nancy Drew fan site.)
:) 8)
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me."- Jesus
"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver in "Cease Fire"

MacGyver

YAY! I finally found one of these books- The Hardy Boys Favorite Classic' copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain! That was so crazy just to find a copy at my local used bookstore the other day. Totally unexpected but totally welcomed! So I have one book in my collection now! :) 8)
I'm still interested in getting the others, but after actually having a copy in my hands now- I stand by my earlier statement. It's nothing to get too excited about. There is a foreword from Franklin W. Dixon in the book and that's really it. But I guess there wasn't much more that they could do with this. Still, it's a neat Hardy Boys collectible. The other interesting thing is that it seems like there were plans for Grosset & Dunlap to release more down the line, as the back of the book advertised more to come. Also, this is labelled as #2 in the "A Hardy Boys Favorite Classic" series, so that's interesting too.
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me."- Jesus
"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver in "Cease Fire"

MacGyver

I posted this in another thread, but I'll mention it here too. Beyond the Franklin W. Dixon foreword and the marking on the book itself ("A Hardy Boys Favorite Classic" and the numbering- and by the way, that title for the series is on the front cover and spine- with an ad for other books in the series on the back cover- including both The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Favorite Classic books)- that's really it for The Hardy Boys' tie-in. I guess there isn't much else that could have been done with this- unless maybe they had added a backstory with Frank and Joe somehow involving a short mystery involving the book in question or referencing it or something- that could have been a neat little bonus.
Oh well- still a fun collectible and the actual story by Mark Twain is certainly a classic worth reading. (I should note too that this copy of the book actually attributes the book's authorship to Samuel Clemens, which is Mark Twain's real name, of course.) :) 8)
      And with all that said- yeah, I'd still like to find the other two for my collection if I can find them cheaply. They're not a huge priority for me right now, but it would be neat to have them too. And maybe the Nancy Drew ones while I'm at it.
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me."- Jesus
"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver in "Cease Fire"

MacGyver

I finally ran across another book in this series! I now have the Hardy Boys Favorite Classic printing of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson! Yay! :)  8)
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me."- Jesus
"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver in "Cease Fire"