Norwegian printings
Norway was very open to "western" books going all the way back to the early 1900s, if not before. Most of the series books that are collected, were also printed in Norway from the 1950's on up. In fact, the first foreign Nancy Drew printings were in Norway, in 1941. Norway also published the Hardy Boys, Judy Bolton, Dana Girls, X Bar X Boys, Tarzan, Enid Blyton's books, Tom Swift Jr, Connie Blair, Happy Hollisters and many others, in addition to The Bobbsey Twins.
The artwork for a majority of the Norwegian BTs is (in my opinion) not very impressive, which has dampened my desire to collect them. There are some exceptions--some of the "Wanderer titles" have covers which I do like (such as Pirates Cave and Music Box Mystery seen below). And the Minstrel titles have actually kept the US artwork, I believe (which I also like).
Of special interest is the cover for Music Box Mystery (seen below): There is an earlier Norwegian book which bears almost the exact same cover. It appears to have been completely repainted, based on the original.
As with other foreign editions, the numbering has been re-rodered. Unlike the US series, both the Wanderer and Minstrel titles have been simply tacked onto the end of the "original" BT series.
Unfortunately shipping costs from Norway are fairly expensive, which can make it harder to justify collecting the titles. Usually the book price is under $5/each, but the shipping costs add a fair amount to the cost of each book--and not all sellers are willing to ship to the States. Occasionally they do show up on eBay in the US, and you can get them fairly cheap then, too.
The artwork for a majority of the Norwegian BTs is (in my opinion) not very impressive, which has dampened my desire to collect them. There are some exceptions--some of the "Wanderer titles" have covers which I do like (such as Pirates Cave and Music Box Mystery seen below). And the Minstrel titles have actually kept the US artwork, I believe (which I also like).
Of special interest is the cover for Music Box Mystery (seen below): There is an earlier Norwegian book which bears almost the exact same cover. It appears to have been completely repainted, based on the original.
As with other foreign editions, the numbering has been re-rodered. Unlike the US series, both the Wanderer and Minstrel titles have been simply tacked onto the end of the "original" BT series.
Unfortunately shipping costs from Norway are fairly expensive, which can make it harder to justify collecting the titles. Usually the book price is under $5/each, but the shipping costs add a fair amount to the cost of each book--and not all sellers are willing to ship to the States. Occasionally they do show up on eBay in the US, and you can get them fairly cheap then, too.
|