The Thirteenth Spoon-Macrae Edition

The Thirteenth Spoon is one of my absolute favorites, so I was pretty stoked to get a copy of the Macrae edition. While I quite like the cover art, I prefer the Cupples version. I will give the Macrae the edge on the spine art. The flap blurbs are identical. The price is listed as $1.75, which is astronomical for a girls series book of the time. I've never seen one listed for more than $0.95. The book is a nice quality, but this would have been the Depression (c. 1930).

As you can see, the boards are identical, save for color--Macrae is orange; Cupples is red. I never realized on the Cupples boards that the sword-like thing is really supposed to be a spoon. Apostle spoons, for the record, actually exist and really are rare/valuable. Kinda want one to display on bookshelf, not gonna lie. Hello, eBay.

And there's the disappointment: no frontispiece. No internal illustrations. I don't know if it was never printed with illustrations, or if I just got a copy that wasn't. This, as stated, is my favorite, and has some really incredible fashion descriptions. Seriously bummed.

While both Macrae editions that I have are extremely nice quality, this one has distinctly rough edges to the pages. They're extremely thick and white, just cut oddly. (Yes, my camera's focus is rather on the fritz when zoomed). Final note: this title is HIGHLY recommended. See my original review here.

The Jade Necklace-Macrae Edition

Pemberton Ginther's titles for the Cupples and Leon Mystery Stories for Girls were originally published by Macrae Smith Company. It's not too difficult or expensive to find these editions with bare boards, but in dust jacket, they're extremely scarce. When I first started looking a couple of years ago, there were none to be found. The only two copies that I've found since then, I've immediately purchased. This one was $15, and my copy of The Thirteenth Spoon was $30. I'm still on the lookout for The Secret Stair, but I have no expectation of finding it soon (and it's also my least favorite of the three titles).

I had initially wondered whether or not the cover art and frontispieces were different at all. Luckily the seller with The Thirteenth Spoon had both Macrae and Cupples editions and was able to confirm before I ordered that they were not the same. While I don't know that I LOVE either cover, I do prefer the Macrae edition. The cover is stylized and Deco, but the art on the spine has a distinct Arts and Crafts flair. I'm uncertain of the artist of either. And yes, the Macrae one is covered in scribbles, courtesy of Mary McPhee.

I was even more pleased to discover that there are different frontispieces, with Pem herself as illustrator. In this case, while I like both, I prefer Pem's. If you look closely, you can see the monkey perched on the back of the chair to the right. As you can see here, the Macrae editions have extremely nice, thick, good quality paper, although they're slightly smaller than the Cupples editions. The end papers are plain.

If I was pleased to have a different frontpieces, I was thrilled to find three internal illustrations, which the Cupples editions lack completely. As a note, the name that almost rivals Clytemnestra in the book is the "preposterous" Amanda.

I remembered that in the Cupples edition, Roslyn's name is misspelled Roselyn on the front dj flap. Apparently this is a carry over from the Macrae edition, because the same mistake is made.

This is a great book. If you'd like to read my original review, it's here.