Crestwood Books?

[1975]

I'm sure it's been discussed previously but do we have any fans of the crestwood series here? I wouldn't be here if not for these publications, they kept my interest sparked in the pre vcr "late show" days. I still have a few from my childhood kicking around.

[poseablemonster]

Oh, yeah.  I'm a big fan of these books. 

[typhooforme]

Many Crestwood House fans here, yes.  I was a librarian and teacher in another life, and had the Crestwood books on my shelves--and they certainly were popular!  i can't recall now if there was a different publisher or just a different "line", but some were purple and some were orange.  Maybe horror set vs sci fi set?  I found the best info about them in UMA member Rick Stoner's MONSTER MAYHEM periodical, which was the first place I ever got a monster-collector article published (thanks, Rick!).  And also through him I made my first "meeting" with Richard Olson...and with Dr. Monster/Dustin Jablonski--both UMA members today as well.

I don't have complete sets of the series, but I guess I have a dozen or so titles.  I know they turn up from time to time on Ebay and on abebooks.com as well.

[Marsha]

Yes..my son loves them. We check out the same books from the library every couple of weeks. They have about 10 titles in stock..so we do 5 one trip and 5 the next. I just recently started buying Matt his own copies on abebooks.com thanks to a great tip from a fellow UMA member. Now I just have to remember to keep them apart!

[typhooforme]

Marsha,
Those books are the coolest things for a young monster kid.  The basic story of classic movies, told in basic language!  What more could we want?  I surely wish they'd been around back in the Dark Ages when I was a kid.  I had EC Comics (and look what they did to my brain!  bwahahahaahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!).  I'm glad you're using abebooks.com--I keep that site bookmarked and visit it...oh....waaay too often, I guess.  I get to looking up an author or a subject via key words, and before I know it, I've put 6 or 8 or 10 titles on my wish list. 

I googled around a bit and found this partial/complete (?) list of titles that were published:  Frankenstein, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, Dracula, The Mummy, The Blob, The Wolf Man, Godzilla, Mad Scientists, King Kong, The Phantom of the Opera, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, The Invisible Man, It Came From Outer Space, and The Deadly Mantis

[Illoman]

A friend of mine from work gifted me with six or seven of these. He found them at a festival of some sort. They had a white elephant booth and there they were, in near mint condition! I could not believe it! These were the paperback ones. I have about three of the hardbacks, but they are in rougher shape.

Mike

[Meek]

     The library where I work has these books and they get checked out on a regular basis; they've had a hard life and I patch their pages up every-so-often. Whenever some little urchin is at a loss as to what to read I'll say "Ever look at our monster books? We even have the movies if you want to see them in action."
     Get while they're young.

     "Meek"(let me tell you a tale)

[Dr.Terror]

From the old group...


> Here's a list compiled by our very own Richard Olson from his article
> published in the Stoner's Monster Mayhem Fanzine (Series, publication
> release, ISBN and author):
>
> MONSTER SERIES (Orange Books):
> FRANKENSTEIN * Ian Thorne * 0-913940-73 * 1977
> DRACULA * Ian Thorne * 0-913940-74 * 1977
> GODZILLA * Ian Thorne * 0-913940-75 * 1977
> KING KONG * Ian Thorne * 0-913940-76 * 1977
> MAD SCIENTISTS * Ian Thorne * 0-913940-77 * 1977
> THE WOLF MAN * Ian Thorne * 0-913940-78 * 1977
> THE MUMMY * Ian Thorne * 0-89686-189 * 1981
> CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON * Ian Thorne * 0-89686-190 * 1981
> FRANKENSTEIN MEETS WOLFMAN * Ian Thorne * 0-89686-191 * 1981
> THE BLOB * Ian Thorne * 0-89686-215 * 1982
> IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE * Ian Thorne * 0-89686-216 * 1982
> THE DEADLY MANTIS * Ian Thorne * 0-89686-217 * 1982
> THE INVISIBLE MAN * Ian Thorne * 0-89686-372 * 1986
> THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA * Ian Thorne * 0-89686-373 * 1987
> MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-374 * 1987
>
> MOVIE MONSTERS SERIES (Purple Books):
> BLACK FRIDAY * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-258 * 1985
> BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-259 * 1985
> DRACULA'S DAUGHTER * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-260 * 1985
> GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-261 * 1985
> THE MOLE PEOPLE * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-262 * 1985
> THE RAVEN * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-263 * 1985
> TARANTULA * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-264 * 1985
> WEREWOLF OF LONDON * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-265 * 1985
> THE BLACK CAT * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-310 * 1987
> HOUSE OF FEAR * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-311 * 1986
> HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-312 * 1987
> REVENGE OF THE CREATURE * Wm Sanford/Carl Green * 0-89686-313 * 1986
>
> CRESTWOOD HOUSE/MCMILLIAN CHILDS GROUP "FILM SERIES"
> HORROR FILMS * Rhonda Nottridge * 0-89686-719 * 1992
>
> Maniacally,
>
> Rick
> Stoner's Monster Mayhem

[typhooforme]

There it is, the Stoner's Monster Mayhem list.  You are a Prince (of Darkness), Dr. Terror!  Thank you very much for resurrecting that for us.  Far more than I could remember.

[Marsha]

Thanks Dr. Terror. I didn't even know that there was a purple series. I hope I find them at a local library! 

[poseablemonster]

Thanks Dr. Terror. I didn't even know that there was a purple series. I hope I find them at a local library! 

Here's a few of the purple series, Marsha:

[darkmonkeygod]

Another one of my favorite categories of monster collectibles.  Check out the old board from pix and info, incl. advertising posters and audio versions, posted by collector extraordinaire Richard Olson aka Duluthroo).  I've got great memories of these from childhood and bought a number of the Movie Monster Series off ebay in 2000 from an old neighbor of the publisher to round out my set. 

I'd love to know the printing info on the series, as several of the books seem to have seven of eight printings (incl. editions w/ MCA in the copyright).

sts

[1975]

Glad I started this topic, I knew nothing about the purple series.

[darkmonkeygod]

Glad you did too.  The 2nd series are much harder to find, were marketed to schools only, and at a high price.  I was a fan of the orange books in the 70s and bought them through out.  I never saw a purple on for sale in a kids section.  As far as I know they were issued as only in library binding state and sold for $12.95 ea.  A hefty sum form the time.

sts

[typhooforme]

Old librarian here again--I eventually deaccessioned the purple ones when they got in rough shape and retired them to my own shelves!  lol They're not pristine, not beauties like the above photo, but they're still cool.