Tom Swift Jr. - Series 2 Book List

The Tom Swift Jr. books were originally printed in grayish/blue hardcover bindings with colorful dustjackets. About half-way through the series, they switched to blue bindings with pictured covers and did away with the dustjackets. Shortly after this they switched to the now-familiar yellow bindings that all thirty-three books can be found in. Some of the books appear to have a more orangish tinge to them. I've also seen some that have turned almost completely white because they were left in direct sunlight for a long period of time.

It should be noted that libraries will, on occasion, rebind a hardcover book if it is falling apart. Paperback books will often be bought by libraries and immediatly rebound in hardcover and the old paperback cover pasted onto the new binding.

Some publishers will also sell special library editions to schools and libraries that are made much more durable. I'm not sure if any of the Tom Swift books had special library editions or not. I know the Bobbsey Twins (also produced by Grosset & Dunlap) had special library editions in the late fifties and early sixties.

It should be noted that "Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung" was released in a picture hardcover that was slightly different from the normal blue bindings. This is the only book of the series (not counting the dustjacketed editions) to have the picture wrap around the edge of the book onto the spine.

Click Here to view a picture of it.

Click Here to view a picture of a normal blue binding edition.

There is also a slight variation in the blue binding editons. Some of them have a box in the upper right corner with a $1 mark in it.

For some reason,many of the yellow bindings have a white version of the interior picture depicting Tom standing in his lab instead of the usual bluish/gray one. The white picture is actually a crude line imitation of the original picture.

Click Here to see a scan I made of the inside cover of a Tom Swift Jr. book.

THE COMPLETE LIST OF TOM SWIFT JR. (SERIES 2)

Tom Swift Jr. by Victor Appleton II

Published by Grosset & Dunlap

   1954 - 1971

1. Tom Swift and His Flying Lab (1954)
2. Tom Swift and His Jetmarine (1954)
3. Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship (1954)
4. Tom Swift and His Giant Robot (1954)
5. Tom Swift and His Atomic Earth Blaster (1954)
6. Tom Swift and His Outpost in Space (1955)
7. Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter (1956)
8. Tom Swift in the Caves of Nuclear Fire (1956)
9. Tom Swift on the Phantom Satellite (1956)
10. Tom Swift and His Ultrasonic Cycloplane (1957)
11. Tom Swift and His Deep-Sea Hydrodome (1958)
12. Tom Swift in the Race to the Moon (1958)
13. Tom Swift and His Space Solartron (1958)
14. Tom Swift and His Electronic Retroscope (1959)
15. Tom Swift and His Spectromarine Selector (1960)
16. Tom Swift and the Cosmic Astronauts (1960)
17. Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (1961)
18. Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung (1961)
19. Tom Swift and His Triphibian Atomicar (1962)
20. Tom Swift and His Megascope Space Prober (1962)
21. Tom Swift and the Asteroid Pirates (1963)
22. Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway (1963)
23. Tom Swift and His Aquatomic Tracker (1964)
24. Tom Swift and His 3-D Telejector (1964)
25. Tom Swift and His Polar-Ray Dynasphere (1965)
26. Tom Swift and His Sonic Boom Trap (1965)
27. Tom Swift and His Subocean Geotron (1966)
28. Tom Swift and the Mystery Comet (1966)
29. Tom Swift and the Captive Planetoid (1967)
30. Tom Swift and His G-Force Inverter (1968)
31. Tom Swift and His Dyna-4 Capsule (1969)
32. Tom Swift and His Cosmotron Express (1970)
33. Tom Swift and the Galaxy Ghosts (1971)

Not all of the Tom Swift Jr. books were released in foreign countries. For example, in the UK/Australia only about two thirds of them were released. The UK/Australian books are similar to the U.S. yellow bindings versions except they are about an inch shorter and, for some reason, are much lighter. My guess is they used a cheaper paper stock. These versions were released by Collins/London & Glasgow instead of by Grosset & Dunlap.

Click Here to see a list of the Tom Swift Jr. books released by Collins/London & Glasgow.

Several of the Tom Swift Jr. books were released in Norway. Click Here to go to Arnt Hatten's web site where he has scans of some of the books as well as scans of some of the Norwegian editions of Rick Brant.

In 1972, Grosset & Dunlap/Tempo Books reprinted four of the Tom Swift Jr. books in white trade paperbacks. For some reason, they changed the titles of two of them.

1972 TEMPO TRADE PAPERBACK REPRINTS

1. Tom Swift in the Jungle of the Mayas
(Original Title: Tom Swift and His Electronic Retroscope)
2. Tom Swift and the City of Gold
(Original Title: Tom Swift and His Spectromarine Selector)
3. Tom Swift and the Cosmic Astronauts
4. Tom Swift and the Visitor From Planet X

In 1977, Grosset & Dunlap/Tempo Books released several more Tom Swift Jr. reprints. This time they were small white paperbacks and they only changed the title of one of them.

1977 TEMPO PAPERBACK REPRINTS

1. Tom Swift and His Flying Lab
2. Tom Swift and His Jetmarine
3. Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship
4. Tom Swift and His Giant Robot
5. Tom Swift and His Sky Wheel
(Original Title: Tom Swift and His Outpost in Space)
6. Tom Swift in the Caves of Nuclear Fire

Click Here to see a scan of all six paperback reprints as they might look sitting on a store shelf.

MISC

Tom Swift Jr. Series Activity Book (1978?)
Tom Swift Jr. Board Game (Parker Brothers)

While exact sales figures are not available for the Tom Swift Jr. books, the covers of the small paperback editions proclaim "OVER 5,000,000 EXCITING TOM SWIFT BOOKS HAVE BEEN SOLD IN HARDCOVER!" The large trade paperback editions have the similar, but less verbose phase "OVER 5,000,000 TOM SWIFT BOOKS SOLD IN HARDCOVER!" instead. Whether this figure represents just the U.S. market or worldwide sales is not known.

The South Jersey Series Network has an interview with James Duncan Lawrence posted on their web site. Mr. Lawrence was one of the ghost writers working for the Stratemeyer Syndicate during the fifties and sixties. He ended up writing the majority of the Tom Swift Jr. books. It's an interesting read, so check it out.

Click Here to go to the interview.

I love reading these books and if you have any extra ones you wish to trade or sell at a reasonable price, let me know. Condition isn't real important as I only need reading copies. Of course, if they are in nice shape, so much the better.

Click Here to go back to my Tom Swift page.

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