Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Boy Electricians Series by Edwin Houston




As noted previously (June 27, 2009), Edwin Houston was the author of 4 juvenile series. One of those series was the two book Boy Electricians Series. This series was published by Lippincott, which printed relatively few juvenile series. (In Mattson's guide only 9 are listed.)

These books are basically detective stories with the young protagonists using science to help solve a mystery. Electricity is a key element as the main character in book number 1 is Thomas Alva Bronson. Frank McKernan did the glossy illustrations-11 in the first book and 6 in the second.

Lippincott distinguished itself from the cheaper juvenile series publishing houses with heavier paper, better bindings and numerous glossy pictures. But because of these facts, the books were more expensive and sold many fewer copies. Thus, books from series like this are much scarcer than the typical juvenile series books.
In this series book number 1 did go through a number of printings. Book 2 is rarer and may have had only one print run.

Although these books came with dust jackets, I do not have any to display at this time.

The Boy Electricians- 1907
The Boy Electricians as Detectives- 1912

2 comments:

  1. Las Vegas Electrician are a family owned and operated company, and we strive to maintain excellent quality and service. We provide electrical services for residential, industrial, and commercial customers.

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