Collecting: A Basic Guide
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With a mysterious expression on her pretty face, Cherry sat down at her desk and opened her handbag. It had been fairly bursting with her notes and now they popped out on the red blotter as though they couldn't stand being suppressed another minute.
--From Cherry Ames, At Spencer, p. 89
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The twenty-seven books in the Cherry Ames series were published in hardcover by Grosset & Dunlap, beginning in 1943. The last new book in the series was published in 1968. In 1972 and 1978, Grosset & Dunlap reissued some of the Cherry Ames books in paperback under the Tempo imprint, renumbered and retitled.
The Cherry Ames' Book of First Aid and Home Nursing was published in 1959, and in that same year Parker Brothers offered the Cherry Ames' Nursing Game.
All the Cherry Ames books and the game are out of print, and are available only on the secondary market.
Formats: General Information
The Cherry Ames books appeared in many different formats, from dust-jacketed copies to pictorial copies to paperbacks.
Dust-jacketed books appeared in three formats: red cover, maroon cover, and tweed cover. Pictorial-cover books appeared with both yellow spines and green spines. Paperback books appeared in two different sizes with unique cover art.
Red Book with Script Printing
Format used: 1943-1946
Books published thus: 1-7
In the original format, the book has a solid red cover, with "Cherry Ames" (in script) and the title at the top, and the author (in script) at the bottom, printed in black. The endpapers are gray.
The book was issued with a full-color pictorial dust jacket; the background color of the title block at the top of the dust jacket, which wrapped around the yellow spine, changed from book to book. Dust jacket shows "Cherry Ames" (in script), title, and author (in script) at the top. Spine shows an unsmiling picture of Cherry; for the spine picture for books 1-2, Cherry wears a striped student uniform, not the all-white uniform.
At least books 1-4 were originally published on special wartime paper and include a notice to that effect. In this original format only, dust jackets and frontispieces for books 3-4 show Cherry in military uniform.
Maroon Book with Picture
Format used: 1947-1951
Books published thus: 1-12
Number 8 (Visiting Nurse) was probably the first book published in this format. The book has a solid maroon cover, with a small, boxed picture of Cherry Ames in black. The endpapers are gray. The book was issued with a full-color pictorial dust jacket; the background color of the title block at the top of the dust jacket, which wrapped around the yellow spine, changed from book to book.
- For books 1-2 and 5-7:
Dust jacket shows "Cherry Ames" (in script), title, and author (in script) at the top (as for the original format). Spine shows an unsmiling picture of Cherry (as for the original format); for the spine picture for books 1-2, Cherry wears a student uniform, not the all-white uniform.
- For books 3-4 and 8-12:
Dust jacket shows "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and title at the top; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork. Spine shows a smiling picture of Cherry with no band on her nurse's cap. Books 3-4 in this format have revised, less military frontispieces and dust jacket art. The first printing of book 10 had the name "Helen Wells" on the book spine as the author; it was covered with matching piece of tape printed with the name "Tatham." Subsequent printings of book 10 show "Julie Tatham" as the author on the book spine. The dust jackets correctly show "Julie Tatham" as the author. Book 11 has a dark purple spine background, as the cover art wraps around the spine.
Reddish "Tweed" Book with Picture
Format used: 1952-1961
Books published thus: 1-22
This is the most familiar format; number 13 (Clinic Nurse) was probably the first book published thus. The book has a reddish "tweed" cover, with the same small, boxed picture of Cherry Ames in black as in the maroon-book format. The endpapers are gray. Book was issued with a full-color pictorial dust jacket; the background color of the title block at the top of the dust jacket, which wrapped around the yellow spine, changed from book to book.
- For books 1-2 and 5-7:
Dust jacket shows "Cherry Ames" (in script), title, and author (in script) at the top (as for the original format). Spine shows an unsmiling picture of Cherry (as for the original format); for the spine picture for books 1-2, Cherry wears a student uniform, not the all-white uniform.
- For books 3-4 and 8-13:
Dust jacket shows "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and title at the top; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork (as for the maroon-book format). Spine shows a smiling picture of Cherry with no band on her nurse's cap (as for the maroon-book format). Books 3-4 continue to show the revised, less military frontispieces and cover art. Book 11 again has a dark purple spine background, as the cover art wraps around the spine.
- For books 14-22:
Dust jacket shows the same "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and title at the top; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork (as for the maroon-book format). Spine shows a slightly revised smiling picture of Cherry with a band on her cap.
Yellow-Spined Book with Pictorial Cover
Format used: 1961
Books published thus: 1-22
The book has a full-color pictorial cover with a yellow spine and back; the background color of the title block at the top of the front cover, which now did not wrap around the spine, changed from book to book. Spine shows the smiling picture of Cherry with a band on her cap (as for the dust jackets for books 14-22). Back cover shows a gray-scale full-length picture of Cherry in her nurse's cape, with a list of books grouped by author, on yellow background. Initially, the front cover of the books showed a $1 price box at the top right; later the price box was eliminated. The endpapers are gray.
- For books 1-2 and 5-7:
Front cover shows "Cherry Ames" (in script), title, and author (in script) at the top (as for the original format).
- For books 3-4 and 8-22:
Front cover shows "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and title at the top; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork (as for the maroon-book format). Books 3-4 continue to show the revised, less military frontispieces and cover art. Book 11 now has a yellow spine background, matching all the other books.
Green-Spined Book with Pictorial Cover
Format used: 1961-1968
Books published thus: 1-22 (variation one);
1-23 (variation two); 1-27 (variation three)
The book has a full-color pictorial cover with a green spine and back; the background color of the title block at the top of the front cover, which again did not wrap around the spine, changed from book to book. Spine shows the smiling picture of Cherry with a band on her cap (as for the dust jackets for books 14-22), but now on a green background. There are three variations.
Variation One: Back cover shows a gray-scale full-length picture of Cherry in her nurse's cape, with a list of books grouped by author (as for the yellow-spined format), on a green background. The endpapers are gray.
- For books 1-2 and 5-7:
Front cover shows "Cherry Ames" (in script), title, and author (in script) at the top (as for the original format).
- For books 3-4 and 8-22:
Front cover shows "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and title at the top; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork (as for the maroon-book format). Books 3-4 continue to show the revised, less military frontispieces and cover art.
Variation Two: Back cover shows a horizontal black-and-white picture of Cherry and a doctor, followed by an unnumbered list of books, with all the Helen Wells titles followed by all the Julie Tatham titles (though the authors aren't listed), on a green background.
- For book 1:
Two versions of book 1 appeared in this variation. For the earlier one, the front cover shows "Cherry Ames" (in script), title, and author (in script) at the top (as for the original format), and the original cover art. For the second, the front cover shows "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and title at the top; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork (as for the maroon-book format), and the cover art has been revised to show a smiling, short-haired Cherry; this version of variation two includes a tear-out trifold ad for various Grosset & Dunlap series books. The endpapers are gray.
- For books 2 and 5-7:
Front cover still shows "Cherry Ames" (in script), title, and author (in script) at the top (as for the original format). The endpapers are gray.
- For books 3-4 and 8-23:
Front cover shows "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and title at the top; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork (as for the maroon-book format). Books 3-4 continue to show the revised, less military frontispieces and cover art. The endpapers are gray for all except book 23, which has pictorial endpapers.
Variation Three: Back cover shows same horizontal black-and-white picture of Cherry and a doctor, followed by an numbered list of books, on a green background.
- For books 1-24:
Front cover now shows "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and title at the top; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork (as for the maroon-book format). Book 1 continues to show the revised cover art. Books 3-4 continue to show the revised, less military frontispieces and cover art. The endpapers are gray for books 1-22; books 23-24 have pictorial endpapers. For book 24, the words "Cherry Ames" are slightly smaller and are centered in the title block. Book 24 in this variation was originally published with a tear-out trifold ad for various Grosset & Dunlap series books.
- For book 25:
Front cover does not have a colored title block; "Cherry Ames" (in italic) and the title appear at the top, flush left; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork. Book has pictorial endpapers.
- For books 26-27:
Front cover does not have a colored title block; "A Cherry Ames Nurse Story" appears in small type above the title; author's name, preceded by "by," appears near the bottom, directly on the artwork. Books have pictorial endpapers.
Digest-sized Paperback Book
Format used: 1972
Books published thus: 19-22 (as 1-4)
Paperback book has a revised color picture on a white background, with revised title to emphasize the mystery aspect of the book, and new numbering. Publisher is Tempo, a division of Grosset & Dunlap.
Rack-sized Paperback Book
Format used: 1978
Books published thus: 20-22 (20 as 1, 22 as 2, 21 as 3)
Paperback book has a newly revised color picture, with revised title to emphasize the mystery aspect of the book (as for the digest-sized format) and newly revised numbering. Publisher is Tempo, a division of Grosset & Dunlap.
Cherry Ames' Book of First Aid and Home Nursing
Larger-sized than the regular series volumes, this 1959 book has a grayish-blue "tweed" cover with a rather large picture of Cherry. Dust jacket has an overall blue background, and spine shows the smiling picture of Cherry with a band on her cap. Book was later printed in a pictorial cover format that looks exactly like the dust jacket.
Cherry Ames' Nursing Game
This board game from Parker Brothers was issued in 1959, with six wooden playing pieces and instructions printed on the interior of the box cover. A later version substituted plastic playing pieces for the wooden ones. A Canadian version was also issued, which included a separate instruction sheet, one side printed in French and the other side printed in English. Reportedly, one of the playing cards in the original edition of the game included a reference to obstetrics that was deemed inappropriate, and the card was removed from subsequent editions of the game.
 Related Web Sites
rec.collecting.books FAQ
The newsgroup's guide to everything from removing musty odors from old books to identifying first editions.
Book Collecting
General guide to the hobby, offering a variety of links on topics from getting starting to restoring old books.
Note:
Information provided about the Cherry Ames series is preliminary only. Many additional variations exist within these broad categories, especially for the dust-jacketed versions of the books. Please write if you have conflicting or additional information about which books appeared in the different formats.
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