Recently, I bought a secondhand Oliver Twist published by Grosset & Dunlap because I liked the hardcover design. I thought I scored a beautiful vintage edition of some sort when I saw the written name of the presumed first owner with the date 1928. Then turning the pages, I saw the frontispiece with a photograph from The Liebler Company cast, performing Oliver Twist in 1912. All throughout the book are charming black and white photographs of the cast from the play. This particular edition, as the publisher explained in the following page, was published because the play was so successful and because of Charles Dicken's 100th birth anniversary.
Curiosity piqued, I tried to find the copyright page but found none. Thinking it was ripped off, I tried searching online and ended up reading the history of Grosset & Dunlap. Turns out, they used to re-bind books, turning paperbacks into hardcovers. They also pirated and reprinted books, causing confusion when people thought they bought first edition book but was actually reprinted or mistaking a first edition book for a reprint. D&G did print original books, with Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew as the most notable. They were also known historically known for their photoplay editions, like a movie-tie in but with stills from the play or film.
My run-ins with pirated books are usually illegal e-books, or cheaply printed copies of e-books when trying to buy online. I've never had an ounce of thought about [the history of] book piracy beyond blurred PDFs passed around thru emails, download links found in NSFW Tumblr posts, or the badly-kept secret book groups on the internet lol
I have posted this on another sub but I want a more in-depth discussion how book piracy worked before the digital age. Aside from the methods mentioned above, how did early book pirates pirated books? Did they painstakingly re-wrote existing works by hand or used typewriters to make copies and sell/distribute it? How did book piracy look like then?
I'm a book dealer, mainly of 17-19th century leather books, and a year ago I went outside my area of focus and bought a huge lot of Jack London books printed by G&D, all with the original dustjackets. When I went to search for comps, I quickly realized that the jackets were nearly impossible to find and I marked the prices up accordingly. It was apparent from the beginning that the market did not agree and I subsequently had to discount them, which baffled me, since I am under the assumption that rarity is valued in the book collecting hobby.
Another problem with G&D was the difficulty in dating them, as the copyright dates were often wrong. Overall, it was a huge headache, although some London books published by G&D like Cruise of the Dazzler sold for decent (>$100) prices.
Doing some quick research, it looks like Grosset was a kind of pirate reprint house, that had a sort of cavalier attitude regarding copyright laws. This was apparently common in the early 20th century.
Perhaps these are among the reasons why collector's don't value G&D books, even with the rare jackets. I'm hoping there is a good source somewhere where I can read about the history of this publishing company.
I recently found my grandfather's childhood copies of the Tom Swift books printed in 1927. Was wondering if anyone had more information on them or possible value
Hello, I am back with an update from the Gem State. This comes on behalf of the disappearance of Kyrstyn Dunlap-Bosse. I wrote about her case approx. two months ago, which you can read about in detail here. The tl;dr is that the Boise teenager was involved in an abusive, inappropriate relationship with a man 10 years her senior, Chares "Corey" Castro. Krystyn ran away from home in October 1994, but kept contact with her friends until mid-Dec 1994, when she vanished after taking a trip with Castro.
In the time since Krystyn disappeared, Castro was charged and convicted of a sexual offense towards another minor in 1998. Since then, he has been a registered sex offender. Up until yesterday, he was living on a ranch in rural Murphy, Idaho. He and his then-wife owned a hobby ranch aimed at children with mental and developmental health concerns (why Castro was allowed around children, even while being compliant, is anyone's guess). There are rumors that he has abused more women and girls and that he and his wife were currently in the process of a divorce.
Yesterday (01/03/22) at around 3:30pm, Owyhee County police went to Castro's residence to serve him a civil protection order. It is unclear why, but the local rumor mill believes this has to do with his estranged wife. When the police arrived, Castro allegedly charged at them with a weapon and refused to put the weapon down when ordered. After refusing to put down his weapon, the police shot and killed him. He was 54 years old. This is still a developing story, I will update as more info comes in.
On one hand, I can't say I grieve this man's loss. Even if he had nothing to do with Krystyn's disappearance, he has known victims (with convictions) prior to and after her disappearance (some sexual, some not). On the other hand, it's unfortunate that he likely took whatever happened to Krystyn to his grave.
What is interesting is that, while it is believed that the protection order has to do with his ongoing divorce, there has been a recent interest in Krystyn's case. Her family and friends spent much of late 2021 bringing her case to the media and providing new details to the public. As recently as two months ago, Castro told the media that he was cleared by a polygraph test. His death comes at an interesting time.
UPDATE: Sheriff Donahue has confirmed that the civil suit was filed on behalf of his
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Hello, I am back with another cold case from the Gem State. This is a case that I have been sitting on for a long, long time. I wanted to wait until more information was released to do a proper write-up. Earlier today, the Facebook page "Idaho Cold Cases" released never-before-shared information about Krystyn's disappearance. I cannot link Facebook pages, but know that a large portion of my information comes from there- all credit to Crystal, the owner of the page.
Krystyn Rae Dunlap-Bosse [DOB: 01/24/1977] was a teenager living in Boise, ID. Not much is known about her early life. Some agencies list her name as Dunlap, while others list her name as Dunlap-Bosse. I am not sure if this was due to a parent getting remarried, or if her parents remained married but chose to give her both of their last names.
Krystyn's story unfolds in sort of a slow-moving car crash. In September 1992, while working for a pizza stand during Boise's Art in the Park festival, she met a man named Charles "Corey" Castro. They reportedly hit it off instantly. There was one several litte big problems: Corey, a Texas native, was 25 years old, married, and already had a generous rap sheet.
As one would imagine, Krystyn's parents were not supportive of this relationship. Her parents took immediate action to try to end this relationship but were not successful. Krystyn's mother went as far as to frequently contact Corey's parole officer to try to intervene. The days went on, Krystyn turned 16, and she was still dating this Corey fool. By that point, her mother had gathered evidence that showed that Corey and Krystyn were having sex, and tried to press statutory rape charges (in Idaho, the age of consent is 16, but the other party cannot be more than 3 years older than them until they turn 18). However, when she tried to press charges, Boise PD and the prosecutor's offices refused to take action because "she knew what she was doing."
Corey did not stop. Unfortunately, their relationship escalated from statutory rape to intense levels of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse towards Krystyn, according to her closest friends. He would also repeatedly tell her that he was going through a divorce when this was not the case.
On October 13, 1994, a meeting/intervention was held between Krystyn, her mother, Corey, his wife (!!), and his PO, in hopes that Corey would confess to everything. When the meeting occurred, Corey looked all of these people in their eyes and said, and I qu
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He used to be so electric last season.
He also went to Florida, alma mater of noted hall-of-fame shoe thrower Marco Wilson.
Recently, I bought a secondhand Oliver Twist published by Grosset & Dunlap because I liked the hardcover design. I thought I scored a beautiful special edition when I saw the written name of the presumed first owner with the date 1928. Then turning the pages, I saw the frontispiece with a photograph from The Liebler Company cast, performing Oliver Twist in 1912. All throughout the book are charming black and white photographs of the cast from the play. This particular edition, as the publisher explained in the following page, was published because the play was so successful and because of Charles Dicken's 100th birth anniversary.
Curiosity piqued, I tried to find the copyright page but found none. Thinking it was ripped off, I tried searching online and ended up reading the history of Grosset & Dunlap. Turns out, they used to re-bind books, turning paperbacks into hardcovers. They also pirated and reprinted books, causing confusion when people thought they bought first edition book but was actually reprinted or mistaking a first edition book for a reprint. D&G did print original books, with Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew as the most notable.
While reading this, I assumed that my copy of Oliver Twist is a re-bind and tried looking for the original imprint/publisher. But apparently, Grosset & Dunlap was also historically known for their photoplay editions, like a movie-tie in but with stills from the play or film. Very sought after by collectors. So my copy of Oliver Twist may not be pirated or a re-bind, at least.
Grosset & Dunlap's history was a fascinating read. It also brought me new knowledge about books in general. Lately, my run-ins with pirated books are usually illegal e-books, or cheaply printed copies when trying to buy online. I've never had an ounce of thought about [the history of] book piracy beyond blurred PDFs passed around thru emails, download links found in NSFW Tumblr posts, and the badly-kept secret book groups on the internet lol
Anyways, Grosset & Dunlap are now under Penguin Group.
