I’ve always loved the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. I prefer to own hardback books, so I’ve been looking for years to own a set in hardback. Those of you familiar with these books (a series of books for girls that follow Betsy Ray’s life from age 6 to adulthood) will know that the books have been out of print in hardback for years and are expensive to buy (and generally hard to find) in hardback. My old paperback copies have been absolutely read to tatters. A few years ago Barnes and Noble produced an omnibus hardback of the first four books, leaving me with 8 expensive Betsy-Tacys hardbacks left to find and buy (6 about Betsy and 3 “extra” volumes about friends of Betsy). Last year, in a real coup for Betsy-Tacy fans, all of the books were rereleased in paperback with lovely new cover art – including the three “extras” which had been entirely out of print – even in paperback – for many years. Further, the “extras” were produced in a hardback version for libraries and I was able to buy copies online for $15ish – an excellent deal as used copies of these books, even in crappy condition, go for $75 and up. A few months ago I discovered that I would be able to buy the rest of the series, in Econoclad hardcover versions, from Barnes and Noble online – also for about $15 each. I jumped on this and recieved all 6 books in short order, bringing me to my ridiculous problem. Two of the Econoclad copies had the pretty new cover art – no problem. Two had older cover art in a rather cartoony style – not my favorite, but acceptable, especially as the omnibus version of the first four books used the same cover artist. However, I really hated the cover art on the last two books – a lot! Whoever drew the covers obviously never read the books – I don’t think they look like Betsy at all. And the clothes are all wrong. If the art had been on dust covers, I would have simply discarded the dustcovers and kept the books plain – I often do this with books if I don’t like the dustcovers. However, Econoclad books have no dustcovers – the art is printed right on the cover. So, (and this is the ridiculous part) I printed up new cover art and glued it over the offending stuff, then covered the whole book with clear contact paper to protect my new covers. I’m not especially arty, so I just used Printmaster to make the new covers. I put a lot of time into it, though, choosing pictures, colors, and fonts that “went” with the back cover art, cutting and placing my new covers carefully, etc. They look great – much better than they did. However, when I showed my handiwork off to my loving family, they looked at me as if I was insane. “You’ve been working on that for how long?” my husband asked, “And that’s a new book?” So whadayathink, Dopers? Do I have wa-ay too much time on my hands, as my family seems to think, or was this a reasonable use of an hour or two of my time?
Jess (who hasn’t even told her family that she wasted another 20 minutes of her life telling you all about this whole thing)
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what you did. How many guys are just as precious and obsessive over their cars? How many people are collectors and must have complete sets of things, sometimes having four or five versions of the same set.
You’ve done something very similar. Perfectly normal behaviour.
Look, as long as you aren’t actually e-publishing Betsy-Tacy fan-fic, I think you’re ok.
On the other hand, if you are writing Betsy-Tacy fanfic and Joe dosen’t come back from the war you will burn in hell, do you hear me? Burn in hell.
(I actually daydreamed a fairly elaborate plot line once involving Margaret and Tony’s relationship, as it developed when Tony reentered their lives around Margaret’s 21st birthday. But I didn’t write it down!)
A friend of mine covers his gaming books in clear contact paper and does such a perfect job that nobody notices. People have even said, “Hey, were’d you buy this? Is this the new edition? The binding on mine is crappy compared to yours!”
Holy crap, Manda JO – I have had the exact same thoughts! I’ve never written it down either – or even shared it with anyone else before. I’ve always thought that Margaret and Tony should have ended up together. Although I used to think that Margaret would be visiting Julia and Paige in New York and go to a show and meet Tony, who is starring in the show… Glad to hear I’m not the only lunatic.
Jess (who really never has anything to do with fanfic, either reading it or writing it)
I don’t think you’re weird at all. I bought most of the later B-T books at different times, so they’re different editions, and I don’t like any of the covers. Maybe it’s just because I love the Vera Neville illustrations so much.
On preview, I must be a lunatic, too, because I like your Margaret meets Tony in NYC idea!
A Betsy-Tacy thread? Let me pop in and say what I always have to add to Betsy-Tacy threads – if you didn’t know, there’s a national Betsy-Tacy Society, with a quarterly Betsy-Tacy newsletter, and also a Betsy-Tacy internet listserv, and they’re full of people* who love Betsy-Tacy and wouldn’t find this at all strange.
We had a convention this summer, in Mankato (the real life Deep Valley) and did all sorts of fun things, like visit the real life Betsy and Tacy houses on Hill Street, a day trip to Butternut Center (where Betsy met Joe!), an essay contest, and a costume party where everyone dressed as characters from the books (I went as Betsy on board the Columbic, when her cabin gets flooded and Mr. O’Farrell sees her hair up in Magic Wavers). The keynote speaker was the granddaughter of the real life Tacy.
I think your book covers sound great, and I agree that the next-to-last crop of cover art was terrible. I don’t mind the most recent cover art, with the cut-out covers, for the most part.
Let me know if anyone wants information about joining the Society or the internet group (my email is in my profile).
*well ok, we’re almost all women. But we’d welcome any men who like Betsy-Tacy too!
