Below you will find information on the varying Brains Benton book editions and where you can find them. Thanks to Charles "Trip" Morgan for writing this up.
Known Editions of Brains Benton Books
By Charles E. Morgan, III
Golden Press starting printing Brains Benton Books in 1959 and into 1961
publishing the original run of the stories. "The Case of the Missing
Message" is the only book that comes with a dust jacket. The jacket is the
same picture that we all know. If you take the dust jacket off, the book itself
is a yellow and brown diamond pattern with the title and "A Brains Benton
Mystery" printed on it. This it the true first addition of the book.
"The Case of the Missing Message" was then printed like the rest of
the books with a hard cover. You
can tell which books are older by the number of Brains Benton titles listed on
the back. The dust jacket version
just mentions itself along with other new boys tittles. Some books only mention the first three titles, and then
there are variations going up to all six titles.
Sometime, (my guess is the mid to late 1960s), a subsidiary of Golden
Press called Whitman Publishing put out the books. The earlier Whitman's were
the same width across as the Golden Press. The later and more common versions
are about a half an inch less wide across.
Finally, Golden press put the first two stories out as paperbacks in
1969. They are called "A Golden Griffon Mystery."
Golden Griffon is Golden Press's paperback division.
Interestingly enough, the covers for Missing Message and Counterfeit Coin
are new (more modern) and different than the original covers.
There are not any inside illustrations.
Internationally, the only version of Brains Benton that appeared in the
United Kingdom is the Golden Pleasure printed “The Case of the Missing
Message” in a “Little Big Book” form.
The text has been condensed and words like “Mum” have been
substituted for “Mom.” However, there a over forty inside illustrations in color,
and in black and white to add to the story.
There are at least two printings. The
first occurred in 1966. The second
printing was in 1967. The only
difference in the two printings is that the starburst and swirl on the book’s
binding are different colors. In
the first edition they are white. In
the second, they are yellow.
Tracking down these books is not really difficult, and not that
expensive. The dust jacket version and the paperbacks being by far the most
difficult to find. The
international books aren’t expensive, but they to are sometimes hard to
locate.
Just recently it was come to my attention that Brains Benton was printed
in French. It appears that all six
versions were issued. I will update
when I find out more information.
To summarize:
The Case of the Missing Message – Five different versions.
Golden Press with DJ Golden
Press, Whitman, Golden Griffon
paperback, and the UK’s Golden Pleasure Book.
The Case of the Counterfeit Coin – Three versions. Golden Press,
Whitman, and Golden Griffon paperback.
The Case of the Stolen Dummy - Two versions. Golden Press and Whitman.
The Case of the Roving Rolls - Two versions. Golden Press and Whitman.
The Case of the Waltzing Mouse - Two versions. Golden Press and Whitman.
The Case of the Painted Dragon -Two versions. Golden Press and Whitman.
Happy hunting!
To
look for these books try the following:
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookSearchPL
Or
Amazon.com zShops (That's where you can find
used books.)
And
of course eBay.