#8 in the Penny Parker Mystery Stories, last title on list, “Other Titles in Preparation”

206 pages

Blue Boards

Assumed First Edition, but beyond First Printing

Cupples & Leon was an American publishing company founded in 1902 by Victor I. Cupples (1864–1941) and Arthur T. Leon (1867–1943). They published juvenile fiction and children's books but are mainly remembered today as the major publisher of books collecting comic strips during the early decades of the 20th century.

When they saw that Grosset & Dunlap and A.L. Burt seemed to be doing well selling children and juvenile literature, they talked to Edward Stratemeyer (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and others) about the concept. They then published the Penny Parker Mystery Stories Series and many others. They used a technique of putting a coupon on the dust jackets asking for the names of 10 friends, which would entitle the reader and their friends to a free catalog of the books. The catalog descriptions of the books were so alluring, many were sold.

Mildred A. Wirt Benson (1905 – 2002) was the most famous of the writers who wrote books about girls’ adventures. She wrote 26 of the Nancy Drew books and many of the Dana Girls stories for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Under her own name, she wrote many others, including the Penny Parker Mystery stories. Throughout her lifetime, she wrote more than 130 books.