FIRST EDITION OF NANCY DREW IN THE CLUE IN THE DIARY

[BENSON, Mildred Wirt]. KEENE, Carolyn. The Clue in the Diary. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, (1932). Octavo, original pictorial blue cloth, pictorial endpapers, original dust jacket; housed in a custom slipcase.

First edition of the seventh Nancy Drew mystery, first issue, "scarce and… highly sought after by collectors" (Farah).

"Highly intelligent and extraordinarily brave, Nancy ventures into situations that would cause Mike Hammer to think twice" (Steinbrunner & Penzler, 130). Although the initial idea for the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories occurred to Edward Stratemeyer—whose literary syndicate produced a number of children's series starring recurring characters, written by contract writers, with all volumes attributed to one pseudonymous author—the series' heroine owes her most enduring traits primarily to one writer, Mildred Wirt Benson. Given only a brief outline for the first few books, Benson wrote 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew novels. When Edward Stratemeyer died, his daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, became the driving force behind the syndicate. In large part due to Grosset & Dunlap's demands, Adams ordered all early entries in the series rewritten. The revised texts featured, in Benson's opinion, a "less bold," more deferential Nancy, although they also removed offensive racial stereotypes. As the years passed, Adams began stating she was the woman behind "Carolyn Keene" and author of all the early novels, save the first three, which she attributed to her father. (Adams did, in fact, write numbers 31 and 33-58.) Not until 1980, during the course of a lawsuit, did Benson's role in creating Nancy become widely known. The bibliographic history of each volume in the Nancy Drew series is extremely complex; however, this 1932 first printing is identifiable by the blank endpapers—it is the only printing of this book to feature them (Farah, Volume #7, 2:1932A-1). Earlier printings, such as the present volume, feature dust jackets by the first Nancy Drew illustrator, Russell Tandy. A couture artist, Tandy created a sophisticated, active Nancy, influenced by images of flappers; artists who followed would, in contrast, depict Nancy as a wide-eyed, innocent teen. Contemporary owner inkstamp.

Interior fine, cloth with mild fading to spine; original dust jacket with shallow chipping to spine ends, affecting first word in title, a bit of wear to extremities, spine mildly toned, front panel bright. Rare and desirable.