Is My Copy of The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys #1) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Grosset & Dunlap printed no statement of edition or printing, so identification is entirely by type and ad-list points; the Carpentieri & Mular bibliography designates the true first as 1927A-1
• The primary point is typographic: on page 31, line 12, the "t" in "talking" is complete and unbattered — later states show the letter broken or battered; three independent dealers state this point ("unbattered 'T' on p. 31"; "Complete 'T' on p. 31, line 12"; "the letter 't' in 'talking' on page 31, line 12 is complete")
• The book collates iv, 214, [6] pages of ads, bound in bright red cloth lettered in brown and black with blank endpapers and a glossy black-and-white frontispiece by Walter S. Rogers
• The pre-text series list must run only through "The Secret of the Old Mill" — any listing of a later Hardy Boys title rules out the first printing — and the rear ads should run: Tom Swift (29 titles, ending "Airline Express"), Don Sturdy (7 titles, ending "Among Gorillas"), Radio Boys (10 titles), Garry Grayson Football (5 titles), and Western Stories for Boys (5 titles, ending with the X Bar X Boys' Round-Up as the last title listed)
• The first-format jacket carries the Rogers pictorial design of the boys concealed in a bush before Tower Mansion, lettered in yellow and orange, and should be unclipped with the price present at the flap

How Grosset & Dunlap marked a first edition

• 1898–c.1930s (reprint house): founded 1898 and primarily a reprint publisher. For reprinted titles, the Grosset & Dunlap imprint itself signals a reprint, not a first edition — the true first is the original trade…

Full Grosset & Dunlap first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

US-only true first: Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1927. The Tower Treasure was one of three "breeder" volumes issued simultaneously in 1927 (with The House on the Cliff and The Secret of the Old Mill), so no precedence exists among those three; there is no UK or foreign-language edition preceding 1927, and the pseudonymous "Franklin W. Dixon" is the Stratemeyer Syndicate house name for ghostwriter Leslie McFarlane. Because the format ran unchanged for years, the year on the title page alone establishes nothing — the points, not the date, govern.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Grosset & Dunlap never states printings, so the ad lists and pre-text series list are the working reprint tell: any list carrying titles published after The Secret of the Old Mill is a later printing in the same 1927 format. The text was rewritten in 1959; every post-1959 issue carries the revised text and is a first thus at best. Picture-cover (illustrated board) issues from the 1960s onward, and the Applewood Books facsimile reprints of the original text begun in 1991 (including the Collector's Boxed Set, ISBN 9781557091536), reproduce the original text but are modern reprints, not the 1927 first.P-044351

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys #1) a first edition?

A first edition of The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys #1) by Franklin W. Dixon (Leslie McFarlane) (Grosset & Dunlap) is identified by: Grosset & Dunlap printed no statement of edition or printing, so identification is entirely by type and ad-list points; the Carpentieri & Mular bibliography designates the true first as 1927A-1.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US-only true first: Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1927.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Grosset & Dunlap never states printings, so the ad lists and pre-text series list are the working reprint tell: any list carrying titles published after The Secret of the Old Mill is a later printing in the same 1927 format. The text was rewritten in 1959; every post-1959 issue carries the revised text and is a first thus at best. Picture-cover (illustrated board) issues from the 1960s onward, and the Applewood Books facsimile reprints of the original text begun in 1991 (including the Collector'

I have a first edition of The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys #1) — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.