Beverly Gray Formats

As with other series books, the best way to determine how old a Beverly Gray book is to find a list of titles that does not appear on the copyright page.  For instance, if the dust jacket is present, find the last title listed on the front flap of the dust jacket.  The year of publication for the last title listed will reveal the year that the Beverly Gray book was printed.  This rule also applies for any internal list that does not appear on the copyright page.  Never use the copyright page of any series book as the publishers seldom made changes to the copyright page.

In 1937, A. L. Burt was sold to Blue Ribbon Books, Inc.  After the company was sold to Blue Ribbon Books, the books and jackets were printed with "Burt" on the spine instead of "A. L. Burt."  Blue Ribbon Books, Inc. is listed in addition to Burt on the dust jacket flaps, title pages, and copyright pages of these books.

Some of the Blue Ribbon Burt books have a red or pink binding instead of the usual gray binding.  Other colors may also exist.  The book pictured at the bottom left is faded on the front cover and spine.  The back cover is slightly darker pink than the front cover and spine.  The endpapers of the Blue Ribbon books are either dark blue or very light blue.

When Grosset and Dunlap printed the first new book in the series, Beverly Gray on a Treasure Hunt, the dust jacket was sized at 8 1/4 inches tall, like the Burt books, while the book was sized at 8 1/8 inches tall.  The next Grosset and Dunlap book, Beverly Gray's Return, was printed with a dust jacket and book the same size at 8 1/8 inches tall.

The Beverly Gray books printed in 1938 are approximately 8 1/8 inches tall and 1 1/3 inches thick.  The 1941 books are 8 inches tall.

All of the books printed from 1938-1941 have good quality paper.  #1-10 each have a glossy frontispiece illustration.  #11 has a plain paper frontispiece illustration.

The 1938 and 1939 books have dark blue endpapers while the 1940 and 1941 books have light blue endpapers.

The books printed from 1942 through 1946 have poor quality paper, and most of the books have a wartime conditions notice.  Due to the wartime rationing, these books were made from inferior materials and have not held up well over time.

The color of binding rapidly transitioned during this time from light green to medium green to dark green and later to medium blue and dark blue.  The various green binding books are probably all from 1942 through around 1944 or 1945.  The blue binding books were printed later than the green books and so are from 1945 or 1946.  Some of the books were printed with either a red or maroon binding, and these books are probably from 1946.

#1-10 printed in 1942 have a glossy frontispiece illustration.  #11-16 and later printings of #1-10 have a plain paper frontispiece illustration.  Some print runs have no frontispiece illustration.

The outside of each book is covered in cellophane which is very prone to peeling.  The books have pulp paper that has yellowed.  The endpapers are either plain paper or pink.