Growing up I never read Nancy Drew, or for that matter, the Hardy Boys. I was always a Tom Swift, Rick Brant, Doc Savage, kind of series guy.
I've always used to say, "the idea of reading a Nancy Drew mystery is better than the actual reading of a Nancy Drew mystery."
But like I said, I never read a Nancy Drew book, so my statement was based merely on my assumption that ND was probably as weak as most other teen series novels that I'd read, Rick Brant being the one true exception. The cover art is another matter though; it was, and still is, a magnet.
Then a few years ago that I relented and read my first ever Nancy Drew mystery, and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Then I binged two dozen more, from the originals to the revised editions
to the digests to the paperbacks. Even a crossover. And you know, they
were all okay, generally brisk and adventurous. Some were better than others of course, that's only to be
expected, but I've no doubt that when these novels were first read by
their target audience they were genuinely satisfying, and still are it would seem. Nancy Drew
has stood the test of time for a reason, and that reason has a lot to do with the
mystery stories themselves, but I would also argue that the main reason is rather Nancy herself, with her courageous, virtuous, inquisitive, uncompromising character, and the generally exquisite cover art.
I'm an old dude now but enjoying an ND cover isn't something that's weird on my part. I don't see Nancy as a sex symbol necessarily, although for boys in her age demographic she most assuredly is. For me, I see only the adventure aspect of the art. That's the appeal. I love living vicariously thru the cover art of a book (its contents too of course), especially if adventure and mystery are at the core of what's being shown. And it doesn't matter whether that core is male or female.
But let's be honest; most of us have never experienced the kind of adventures that Nancy Drew routinely had, or that Tom, Rick, Doc, or Frank and Joe Hardy had in their books. Sure, we all had our share of real adventures growing up; I remember a sprawling old farm in my neighborhood that my brother Gary and I snuck onto when we were about 10. It was great fun until the doberman's came at us, and then it became a harrowing adventure. I don't know about you, but none of our other adventures involved criminal activity or actual sleuthing. So cover art, and stories, can take us where we all would've like to have been, or be. Exploring a spooky old house, or a castle, or a derelict old ship. Finding a secret passage, or a hidden treasure. Riding horses on a dude ranch. Driving a convertible. Sailing. Boating. Canoeing. Saving someone's life. Seeing ghosts or other strange phenomena. Discovering the hideout of a criminal gang and putting the kibosh on them. Getting conked on the head and tied up (okay, I can do without that last action).
The Nancy Drew books were ghostwritten by a number of authors under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene, but the character was conceived initially by its first publisher, Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the highly successful publishing company the Stratemeyer Syndicate (f. 1899).
The first ND author was Mildred Wirt, later Mildred Wirt Benson (1905-2002). She wrote 23 of the originals books out of 56 total (in actuality it has grown to 175 total), beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock in 1930. The second author was Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (1892-1982), who, along with her sister Edna, inherited the Syndicate upon her father's death in 1930. Harriet wrote 26 of the originals and rewrote an additional eight. To quote someone else, "Mildred may have created the Nancy Drew voice, but Harriet refined and ultimately defined it." Of the rest, there was Walter Karig, who wrote three ND's in the 1930's, George Waller Jr. and Wilhelmina Rankin, who co-wrote one title each with Harriet. A single title was written each by Margaret Scherf, Alma Sasse and Charles Strong.
The first Nancy Drew artist was Russel Haviland Tandy (1891-1963). He produced 25 dustjackets, from 1930 to 1950, consisting of volumes 1-10 and 12-26. Tandy also drew the endpages silhouette which were used on all of the early editions (seen above), and all of the glossy frontispieces and interior illustrations for volumes 1 through 13. That's what we're going to look at here, or as much of it as can be had. The interior illustrations were dropped after that, and on later editions both they and the frontispieces were printed on just plain paper. If you come across an old ND that has all of its illustrations on glossy paper, snatch it up for goodness sake---it's a rare bird these days.
In addition to the Nancy Drew books, Tandy spent over twenty years illustrating juveniles, mostly for Grosset & Dunlap (the primary publisher of Stratemeyer Syndicate titles) and Cupples & Leon. Those included the Hardy Boys, Beverly Gray and Dana Girls series, among many others. After graduating from the Art Student's League in 1917, and before taking on books, he began producing fashion illustrations for various department store catalogs such as Sears, J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward, and in the last ten years before retirement he was back doing the same thing, this time for Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue. Somehow between all of those commercial assignments he found time to be a band director, song writer, and a mean trumpet soloist.
Volume One: THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK (Grosset & Dunlap, 1930). This is the most charming Tandy cover of them all, and it's no wonder the series went on to become one of the bestselling teen series of all time. The sad part is that most of Tandy's artwork was lost in a house fire in 1962. The only ND's that survived are two paintings, The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion (1941) and The Secret in the Old Attic (1944), plus a couple of sketches of Grace Horton, his ND model.
Volume Two: THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE (Grosset & Dunlap, 1930). Ah, the proverbial flashlight. Somewhere I read that this image is the most replicated one in the entire ND canon by fans who like to draw and paint. Makes sense, nothing says Nancy Drew more that this cover.
Volume Three. THE BUNGALOW MYSTERY (Grosset & Dunlap, 1930). Always an inquisitive one, that Nancy. Or as some would say, nosy.
Volume Four: THE MYSTERY AT LILAC INN (Grosset & Dunlap, 1930). Eavesdropping again? No wonder Nancy's always finding trouble.
Volume Five: THE SECRET AT SHADOW RANCH (Grosset & Dunlap, 1931). Don't get involved in someone else's problems girl, just keep riding in the opposite direction. Oh, blast it! Will you never learn?
Volume Six: THE SECRET OF RED GATE FARM (Grosset & Dunlap, 1931). Care to guess which political party these dancing hoods belong to?
Volume Seven: THE CLUE IN THE DIARY (Grosset & Dunlap, 1932). Nancy's virtue would never let her walk past a book lying on the ground.
Volume Eight: NANCY'S MYSTERIOUS LETTER (Grosset & Dunlap, 1932). Nancy looks decidedly older here to me. Or maybe it's just the fur coat and rouge.
Volume Nine: THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLES (Grosset & Dunlap, 1933). That's the most weirdly placed unframed door I have ever seen.
Volume Ten: THE PASSWORD TO LARKSPUR LANE (Grosset & Dunlap, 1933). While I was reading the ND's I dug around to see what other folks thought about the books, including rankings or favorites. V.10 was considered one of the best by more than one person, with one blogger claiming it was the best. Everything's subjective though. There is no best, unless your talking about the Dune series or the Song of Fire and Ice series, and then their first volumes are. Period.
Tandy was unavailable for Volume Eleven, THE CLUE OF THE BROKEN LOCKET (Grosset & Dunlap, 1934), for reasons unknown. Norman Braley produced the dustjacket art instead. It's a good illustration, rather typical of the era, and also the first to depict Nancy's pal's George and Bess, but also somewhat staid compared to Tandy's illustrations.
Volume Twelve: THE MESSAGE IN THE HOLLOW OAK (Grosset & Dunlap, 1935). Tandy always seemed to dress up Nancy in the most fashionable period clothing.
Volume Thirteen: THE MYSTERY OF THE IVORY CHARM (Grosset & Dunlap, 1936). Apparently, back in the 1930's, men used to whip their dogs to get them to do what they wanted. You can be sure they never picked up after them either.
Volume Fourteen: THE WHISPERING STATUE (Grosset & Dunlap, 1937). I love a good statue. It's too bad that so many of them were made in the likenesses of corrupt and disreputable people.
Volume Fifteen: THE HAUNTED BRIDGE (Grosset & Dunlap, 1937). One of my favorite Tandy covers: note the strong, patriotic colors that Nancy's wearing. Makes one want to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and restore democracy to its fullest.
Volume Sixteen: THE CLUE OF THE TAPPING HEELS (Grosset & Dunlap, 1939). It may not be breaking, but it's definitely entering! This is the first cover by Tandy to show Nancy's friends Bess and George.
Volume Seventeen: THE MYSTERY OF THE BRASS BOUND TRUNK (Grosset & Dunlap, 1940). Again, you gotta love that period clothing. So cool.
Volume Eighteen: THE MYSTERY AT THE MOSS-COVERED MANSION (Grosset & Dunlap, 1941). All I ever found by digging around in the dirt was a couple of old plastic army men.
Volume Nineteen: THE QUEST OF THE MISSING MAP (Grosset & Dunlap, 1942). In Nancy's universe every house has a hidden door. And a furtive crook.
Volume Twenty: THE CLUE IN THE JEWEL BOX (Grosset & Dunlap, 1943). When Nancy's not spying on someone else, they're spying on her.
Volume Twenty-one: THE SECRET IN THE OLD ATTIC (Grosset & Dunlap, 1944). This is an image of the original Tandy painting that survived the house fire. It sold at auction in 2018 for $35,000. I'm surprised it didn't go for more. It's a watercolor, pencil and ink and gouache, approximately 22 x 16 inches. Tandy actually painted the font on himself, and on all of the ND's for that matter, that's why they're not always perfectly horizontal.
Volume Twenty-two: THE CLUE IN THE CRUMBLING WALL (Grosset & Dunlap, 1945). I found a small hiding place in my current house built into a basement wall. My wife wanted to drywall it over, but then we decided to cover it with a framed picture instead. Inside it I placed the two plastic army men that I'd found buried in my back yard. One person's trash is another person's treasure.
Volume Twenty-three: THE MYSTERY OF THE TOLLING BELL (Grosset & Dunlap, 1945). Nancy always finds the most interesting places to visit. She should double as a tourist guide.
Volume Twenty-four: THE CLUE IN THE OLD ALBUM (Grosset & Dunlap, 1947). At first glance it would seem that Nancy is looking at a man carrying a rifle, but it's actually a violin and bow. A gypsy camp, no doubt. Today we would call it a homeless camp. Or a rainbow gathering.
Volume Twenty-five: THE GHOST OF BLACKWOOD HALL (Grosset & Dunlap, 1948). This is obviously a fixer upper and probably available at a price even a teenager like Nancy could afford. Today it would probably sell for 1.4 million-- as is.
Volume Twenty-six: THE CLUE OF THE LEANING CHIMNEY (Grosset & Dunlap, 1949). In this, the very last cover by Tandy, Nancy's hair style was altered to reflect the oncoming look of the 1950's Bobby-Soxer teenager. That look would be carried on by Tandy's replacements, Bill Gillies, Polly Bolian, and Rudy Nappi, until about 1965 or so when it was then changed again to reflect the current styles of the day.
NOW LETS LOOK at some frontispieces and interior illustrations from volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9. These are taken from Applewood editions, which themselves are facsimile printings of the original Grosset & Dunlap editions. When Applewood introduced them back in the early 1990's, priced at $14.95, they sold like hotcakes. At first anyway, but then sales slackened and they were ultimately discontinued, ending at only 21 volumes. Since then, and not surprisingly, these facsimile volumes in their first printing state have become highly collectible.
Volume One: THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK (1930). Tandy continued to pour on the charm with his first ever Nancy Drew interior illustrations, and the world's first image of Nancy driving an automobile and using a flashlight.
Volume Two: THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE (1930). If you're gonna fall down a staircase it's better to be eighteen than eighty.
Volume Four: THE MYSTERY AT LILAC INN (1931). Nancy tied up. Soon to be a reoccurring occurrence (the same for Bess and George; it's gotta suck sometimes being Nancy's friend).
