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The Dana Girls Mystery Stories
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| Note: The Dana Girls series was published from 1934 to about 1944, from about 1949 to 1968, and from 1972 to 1979. Most sources infer that the second run of the series commenced in 1952, but this year saw the publication of the first new title during the second run of the series. The series actually began the second run in 1949. I am not extremely definite about all specifics presented here since I have never completed a set in every format, but I have filled in the gaps with relative certainty. | ||||
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| 1934-1937 | ||||
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Dana Girls #1-6 printed from 1934 to 1937 have purple covers. The books have dark green and white endpapers and four glossy internal illustrations. One glossy illustration occurs before the title page, and the remaining three are scattered throughout the text of the book. The dust jackets are lavender and green. The rear panel states that the book is "a new story by the author of Nancy Drew." The books are approximately 1 1/4 inches thick.
At the left, book and dust jacket style for #1-6 printed from 1934 to 1937. At the right, back panel of the dust jackets and the endpapers style for #1-6 printed from 1934 to 1937. |
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| 1938-1942 | ||||
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Dana Girls #1-11 printed from 1938 to 1942 have purple covers and dark green and white endpapers. #1-9 have one glossy illustration, which is the frontispiece illustration. #10-11 have a plain frontispiece illustration. The dust jackets have the same design as the 1934 to 1937 jackets except that the jacket colors have changed to blue and red. The books are 1 1/4 inches thick in 1938 and reduce to 1 1/8 inches by 1942. The books printed in 1942 have poor quality paper.
At the left, book and dust jacket style for #1-11 printed from 1938 to 1942. At the right, back panel of the dust jackets and the endpapers style for #1-11 printed from 1938 to 1942. |
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| 1943 | ||||
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Dana Girls #1-12 printed in 1943 have purple covers with no band on the front cover. The books have dark green and white endpapers. All of the books have a plain frontispiece illustration. The dust jackets have the same design as the 1938 to 1942 jackets. The books are approximately 1 1/8 inch thick and have poor quality paper.
At the left, book and dust jacket style for #1-12 printed in 1943. At the right, back panel of the dust jackets and the endpapers style for #1-12 printed in 1943. |
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| 1944 | ||||
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Dana Girls #1-13 printed in 1944 have solid blue covers and either dark green or maroon endpapers. All of the books have a plain frontispiece illustration. The dust jackets have the same design as the 1938 to 1943 jackets. The books are approximately 1 inch thick and have poor quality paper with a wartime conditions notice on the title page.
At the left, book and dust jacket style for #1-13 printed in 1944. At the right, the two types of endpapers for #1-13 printed in 1944. |
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| 1945-1948 The series is placed on hiatus due to a reduction in the number of different series offered by Grosset and Dunlap. |
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| 1949 | ||||
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Dana Girls #1-4 printed in 1949 have the wraparound dust jacket with no spine symbol and no number present on the spine. The books are solid green with green and white endpapers. Each book has a plain paper frontispiece illustration.
At the left, dust jacket style for #1-4 printed in 1949. At the right, book and endpapers style for #1-4 printed in 1949. |
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| 1950-1951 | ||||
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Dana Girls #1-13 printed from 1950 to 1951 have the wraparound dust jacket with the spine symbol and number present on the spine. The books are solid green with green and white endpapers. Each book has a plain paper frontispiece illustration.
At the left, dust jacket style for #1-13 printed from 1950 to 1951. At the right, book and endpapers style for #1-13 printed from 1950 to 1951. |
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| 1952-1961 | ||||
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Dana Girls #1-23 printed from 1952 to 1961 have the wraparound dust jacket with the spine symbol and number present on the spine. The books are pale green tweed with either dark green and white endpapers or medium green and white endpapers.
At the left, dust jacket and book style for #1-23 printed from 1952 to 1961. At the right, endpapers style for #1-23 printed from 1952 to 1961. |
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| 1954 | ||||
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One printing of Dana Girls #1-8 from 1954 features books that are blue with a textured surface that resembles cloth. Some people refer to these books as the "blue velvet" books. The books have the wraparound dust jacket with the spine symbol and number present on the spine. The books have gray and white endpapers.
At the left, dust jacket and book style for #1-6 printed in 1954. At the right, endpapers style for #1-6 printed in 1954. |
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| 1962-1968 | ||||
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Dana Girls #1-30 printed from 1962 to 1968 are in the picture cover format. The spine and back cover are either beige or very light lavender, depending upon one's interpretation of the color. The endpapers are green and white for most of the titles and a poorly reproduced black and white for some of the titles.
At the left, front and back style of #1-30 printed from 1962 to 1968. At the right, endpapers style for #1-30 printed from 1962 to 1968. |
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| 1969-1971 The series is once again placed on hiatus by Grosset and Dunlap. |
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| 1972-1979 | ||||
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Some of the Dana Girls titles were renumbered and reissued in a new style of picture cover beginning in 1972. Four additional new titles were issued during this time.
There were two different styles of spine symbols for these books. #1 through #10 were originally printed with a spine symbol that has the blond on the left. Later printings of #1 through #10 have a spine symbol with the blond on the right. The higher-numbered white spine books were only printed with the spine symbol with the blond on the right. At the left, books featuring the two different spine symbols for #1-17 printed from 1972 to 1979. At the right, the back cover and endpapers style for #1-17 printed from 1972 to 1979. |
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