"NANCY'S ABILITY AS AN AMATEUR DETECTIVE WAS WELL KNOWN IN RIVER HEIGHTS…"

KEENE, Carolyn. The Clue of the Leaning Chimney. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, (1949). Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket. $650.

First edition of the 26th book in the Nancy Drew series, with original frontispiece illustration.

The Nancy Drew series was the brainchild of Edward Stratemeyer, whose publishing company produced a number of children's series with recurring characters written by contract authors, with all volumes of each series being attributed to one pseudonymous author. However, more than any other Stratemeyer series, Nancy Drew was the creation of one author, Mildred Wirt Benson, who wrote 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew novels, from 1930-1953, furnished only with a brief outline for the first few novels. The Clue of the Leaning Chimney is one of the earliest of the series to be be written by an author other than Benson, in this case by George Waller, Jr. This first edition is also notable for featuring a dust jacket illustration and a frontispiece by the first Nancy Drew illustrator, Russell Tandy. Largely a couture artist, Tandy created a sophisticated, active Nancy, influenced by images of flappers. Later artists portrayed Nancy as a wide-eyed, innocent teen. Farah 1949A-1. Early owner signature.

Book nearly fine; dust jacket very good with pencil checkmarks on front flap, chipping to spine ends and fading to spine, closed tear along front flap seam. An attractive copy.