Book excerpt: FARAH'S GUIDE ANNIVERSARY EDITION to Nancy Drew Books and Collectibles, has 581 pages, and lists 2745 printings of Nancy Drew between 1930 and 1979, including prices on each book and dust jacket. It contains more than 135 photos of the authors and illustrators, models used for the covers, Nancy Drew collectibles and the oddest items associated with the series. For example, the Guide includes a photo of the ledger page used by Mildred Benson to record her sale of the first Nancy Drew story, a copy of the contract between Benson and the Syndicate for Volume #5, copies of letters between Harriet Adams and Mildred Benson, and between Walter Karig and Mildred Benson, and reproduces the earliest known published article mentioning the series (from 1931), among other great Drewobilia. The Guide includes biographies of Drew writers Mildred Wirt Benson, Walter Karig, Nancy Axelrad, Charles Strong, Margaret Scherf, Alma Sasse, George Waller, illustrators Bill Gillies and Rudy Nappi, and more. The front cover is, well shall we say modestly, a masterpiece. This cloth-bound hard cover Anniversary Edition has gold leaf embossing and a full color dust jacket for the collector's collection. The Anniversary Edition includes 25 additional pages of material more than the regular edition.