There are many wonderful sites specializing in specific series across the Internet, however my aim in creating this site has been to converge the information on many series into one unique location.  Essentially, this site was designed to provide book collectors with a unique location on the web where they can find title listings, artwork & concise format guidelines on their favorite series titles.

At first, the main intent of my effort had been to offer a website where collectors could go to see a wide array of dustjacket art across a large range of series.  Hence, the name Series Gallery.  Realistically, it will take me a long time to post images from my entire collection, but I thought I would start with the really popular "best-sellers" and work my way down.  Along with this, I also wanted to provide a short synopsis of many of the more popular books to spark the collectors’ enthusiasm -- either as a reminder of what the story was about (if they read it years ago) or as a subtle prompting to pull the book off the shelf and read it.  So many collectors just line the shelves and never read the stories!!

Because of the sheer volume of titles, for a while I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to pursue this undertaking, but then I realized that it could really be a bonus and if I add to it regularly eventually it will encompass quite a large range of series.

A third, and equally important motivation, was to provide format guidelines for collectors. Not only would they be able to see the books and read short summaries of the books, but they could also do some research and get a clearer understanding of the different formats for each series.  Online auctions can be filled with format errors and mislabeled First Editions, which often leave collectors frustrated or disappointed.  Perhaps, by checking here first, they will avoid those costly mistakes.  Complementing this idea, I also offer a listing of most of the series reference guides, so that others can pick up these books for more comprehensive information.

As a youngster, stamps were my first introduction into the world of collecting, soon followed by coins and paper money.  The history, geography & culture of the world were lessons I learned first from discovering more about the people and places depicted on stamps and coins.  Memories that have lasted for a lifetime.  My favorites among stamps include 19th century U.S. issues, while among coins my love has always been Liberty Seated Silver Dollars and Liberty Coronet Double Eagles ($20 Gold Pieces).

I've been a bookworm all my life and a book collector almost as long.  Like most of us, my adventures began with the classics of Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott & Alexandre Dumas found at my school or local library.  From there, I was introduced to series books with a gift from my father -- The Hardy Boys - The Twisted Claw.  From this point onward, my love for series books grew and my book collection expanded to now, well over 3,000 volumes.

Juvenile series books are my favorites particularly Ken Holt, Rick Brant, Judy Bolton, Tom Swift and of course the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew.  Although I certainly enjoy the great suspense of Sax Rohmer, Leslie Charteris & Ian Fleming, I certainly have grown to admire how well Series Books hold up to the thrilling pages of The Saint, James Bond, Fu Manchu or even a Sherlock Holmes tale.

This site was constructed using a combination of several technologies in a deliberate sequence:  First, sets of templates were designed using MS Word 2000.  Most bibliographic pages were then redesigned by recoding in HTML 4.  Navigation menus were added later using JavaScript, which I coded manually.  Next, certain pages were redesigned and moved to FrontPage 2000 to facilitate converting the site to Frames.