# Nancy Drew on Kindle



## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Has anyone tried any of the Nancy Drew books that are available in Kindle format?
I can't tell from Amazon's site if the books are the original versions or the "hatchet-jobs" of later years.
Some of the cover images are the glossy yellow ones, which makes me think they are the revised versions, however, if I look at _The Secret of the Old Clock_ in the regular book section I see the hardbook from Applewood Books (1991 re-release of original book) and the banner across the top of the page has the "Start Reading this book on your Kindle..."
I purchased one to test, but if anyone else has input, I'd like to hear it.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I just downloaded the sample of book 2, The Hidden Staircase and compared it to my 1930 copy of the same book (I collect Nancy Drews) -- and this sample is definitely not the original. The copyright page says 1987, 1959, and 1930. I am not sure if this Kindle version is the 1987 rewrite or the 1959 one...the picture at the beginning looks like it might be 1959. But if you want the real old original, this is not it.

L


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Thanks Leslie, that's what I figured.  The samples that I looked at showed the later copyrights.  I may get a few of them just for fun, but I think I'll wait to see if the originals ever become available.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

What's wrong with the later ones? I used to read them at the school library 15 years ago. I guess I read the bad ones? What's the difference?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

AddieLove said:


> What's wrong with the later ones? I used to read them at the school library 15 years ago. I guess I read the bad ones? What's the difference?


Oh, there's a huge history to Nancy Drew....

The original books in the series were written in the 1930s and 1940s. They were very successful. In the 50s, the publisher began a massive effort to rewrite all the books...bring them up to date, make them more modern for modern readers. They also got rid of same fairly racist language and other objectionable stereotypes. Then, in the 70s/80s (not sure of the exact dates because I am not interested in the newest ones), they began yet another major rewrite.

When I started reading Nancy Drew, I mostly had the 1950s rewrites available to me. Then, in a library in NH, I discovered the old originals and started devouring those. Yes, they have some offensive parts but I actually think the mysteries are a little more mysterious and the stories are more original. In the rewrite (especially the second rewrite) they tried to reduce everything to a formula.

Depending on your age, you might not enjoy the really old ones at all. I think they are an "acquired taste" that you had to grow up with at a certain age. I was at the right age between the cusp of the originals and the first round of rewrites, which is part of the reason I started collecting them.

L


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

Ah. Interesting. I bet the originals are very expensive as they're probably seen as collector's items. Thanks for explaining it to me!


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I purchased the Kindle version of _The Clue in the Crumbling Wall_ (the very first Nancy Drew I ever read).
Right after the first chapter I deleted it and called for a refund. It was the 1970s version and it's just not what I remember.
I am also more familiar with the 1950 re-writes because that was the edition available in our small town public library. I didn't start reading the originals until a few years ago. Nancy plays a larger part in the originals - she doesn't depend so much on her friends. The story lines also seem better thought out. There are some plot twists that have been removed in the later editions since they don't meet "the formula."
I am not near the collector that I bet Leslie is, although I do have a complete set of the 1950-ish ones and maybe 10 of the originals (no dust jackets).


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## KindleMom (Dec 11, 2008)

I should be punished for this but I've never read a Nancy Drew book.  Ever.  

My 13 year old devoured them (1970 versions - that's what the nearest library has) when she was about 8 or so and my 7 year old is now in the midst of them.  My son would never touch them...  I won't get them on the Kindle though.  Then they would be stealing my Kindle from me and I need it!


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## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

There's a biography about the creation of Nancy Drew that you folks might be interested in. I picked up the DTB a while back (haven't read it yet though). No Kindle version, unfortunately.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I didn't realize that the Nancy Drew books were rewritten.  I read some around 1958, so I guess I read revised versions.  I got some of them from the church library, so maybe some were originals.  They would have been donated by members and could have come from the '40s.  I don't think I'm going to be re-reading any of them.  I read Nancy Drew and my brothers had read the Hardy Boys.


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

KindleMom said:


> I should be punished for this but I've never read a Nancy Drew book. Ever.


Me either but now that they are available on Kindle I will probably give them a try.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

This is a good website with a ton of information:

http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/

My little collection looks pretty meager next to hers!

L


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## askenase13 (Mar 1, 2009)

The situation with the Nancy Drew books (periodically re-written) is the same as with the Hardy Boys (for us guys).  I loved them as a kid, but they have been re-written several times.  I haven't compared the  various versions, and don't care to, but I really loved them as a boy.  I think they were by the same plublishing company (and the author's name F W Dixon is a house name).


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

askenase13 said:


> The situation with the Nancy Drew books (periodically re-written) is the same as with the Hardy Boys (for us guys). I loved them as a kid, but they have been re-written several times. I haven't compared the various versions, and don't care to, but I really loved them as a boy. I think they were by the same plublishing company (and the author's name F W Dixon is a house name).


Yes, they were all published by Grosset and Dunlap, who also published the Dana Girls and (I believe) the Bobbsey Twins.

L


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## MarthaT (Mar 3, 2009)

Leslie said:


> This is a good website with a ton of information:
> 
> http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/
> 
> ...


Wow, she sure has a lot!


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

Leslie said:


> This is a good website with a ton of information:
> 
> http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/
> 
> ...


Interesting. I have all my mom's Nancy Drews, a few Hardy Boys and a couple of others. I'll have to check out which editions she had. She would have got most of them in the late 40's early 50's.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I read a couple as a kid that had belonged to my mother and her sisters.  Now my nieces are reading them.  The really old ones are in plain blue bindings with old, thick paper.  Most of the ones I read were from the 50's. . . I'm pretty sure I read all of them at one time or another. . .at least all that had been published up to the early 70's or so by which time I was moving on to longer books.  I also read all of Encyclopedia Brown and Trixie Belden.  Not so much Bobbsey Twins but definitely Boxcar Children and the Borrowers.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

Oh my gosh! Memories! I loved the Boxcar Children ... although it was really weird because soon after


Spoiler



they didn't live in a boxcar. :/



And I loved Encyclopedia Brown.

I read every single Nancy Drew book. Many that I read were the yellow hardcover ones, so I definitely read rewrites. I also admit to reading several of the super mysteries that combined Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys (Nancy Drew was waaay cooler). But I did stop at the "Nancy Drew Goes to College and Stuff" series.

I absolutely adored the Nancy Drew series, though, and still have fond memories of picking them up at the library. Nancy Drew and anything R.L. Stein (Goosebumps and such) were my book gods. Now I'm entertained by classics and nonfiction--something I swore when I was seven would never happen.


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

Sweet, I just checked my mom's old books.  1930 copyrights.  I'll have to do an inventory of what I have.  Also checked some of the Hardy Boys books she had (5 of them). 1929 Copyright on the one I checked and it still has it's dust jacket.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Probably worth money. . .especially if in good condition. . . .


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Forster said:


> Sweet, I just checked my mom's old books. 1930 copyrights. I'll have to do an inventory of what I have. Also checked some of the Hardy Boys books she had (5 of them). 1929 Copyright on the one I checked and it still has it's dust jacket.


Oh wow a dust jacket. Those are hard to find!

L


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## r0b0d0c (Feb 16, 2009)

Leslie said:


> Oh, there's a huge history to Nancy Drew....
> 
> The original books in the series were written in the 1930s and 1940s. They were very successful. In the 50s, the publisher began a massive effort to rewrite all the books...bring them up to date, make them more modern for modern readers. They also got rid of same fairly racist language and other objectionable stereotypes. Then, in the 70s/80s (not sure of the exact dates because I am not interested in the newest ones), they began yet another major rewrite.
> 
> ...


I'd never heard this! My sister had all of the Nancy Drew series, but by that time I was away to college, and never read them. I DID read almost all of the Hardy Boys series, but subsequent readings by my younger siblings destroyed most of them, I'm afraid! Do you know if the same rewrites were done on the Hardy Boys? (since both series were written by the same author(s) using different pen-names)


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

r0b0d0c said:


> I'd never heard this! My sister had all of the Nancy Drew series, but by that time I was away to college, and never read them. I DID read almost all of the Hardy Boys series, but subsequent readings by my younger siblings destroyed most of them, I'm afraid! Do you know if the same rewrites were done on the Hardy Boys? (since both series were written by the same author(s) using different pen-names)


It looks like this site attempts to sort out the write/rewrite/who's the author issue for the Hardy Boys.

http://hardyboys.bobfinnan.com/hb3.htm

Enjoy!

L


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## sierra09 (Jun 20, 2009)

Well, this topic finally explains why I have three versions of the same Hardy Boys book. I thought it was just me at first but then I had all three down at the same time and while two were just different in very small ways they were both totally different from the first, which I can only assume would be the very first edition.
I have a couple Hardy Boys like that, which gets confusing since I have all of those but honestly never could stand to read a Nancy Drew book to save my soul...unless it was the newer books that had her teaming up with them.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

CS said:


> There's a biography about the creation of Nancy Drew that you folks might be interested in. I picked up the DTB a while back (haven't read it yet though). No Kindle version, unfortunately.


CS, my brother just sent me this book. Did you like it?


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

This thread made me take an inventory of all my Nancy Drew books. Most belonged to my mother, but a few were bought for me in the 50s. All have the original dust cover (though not dust covers are in the best of shape). Am I sitting on a goldmine? Here is what I have.

1933 Sign of the Twisted Cross
1937 The Haunted Bridge
1936 Mystery of the Ivory Charm
1953 The Ringmasters Secret
1954 Scarlet Slipper Mystery
1942 The Quest of the Missing Map
1946 The Mystery of the Tollilng Bell
1952 The Mystery at the Ski Jump
1947 The Clue in the Old Album 

My kids are all boys, so these books have been moved along with me from place to place without being touched for years.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

Jane, did you mean 1933 Sign of the TWISTED Candles?
You can go to ebay and get a very quick glimpse into what they are going for there.  Click on completed listings to see what the actual selling price was.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

Carol Hanrahan said:


> Jane, did you mean 1933 Sign of the TWISTED Candles?
> You can go to ebay and get a very quick glimpse into what they are going for there. Click on completed listings to see what the actual selling price was.


My mistake....yes, it Sign of the Twisted Candles.


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## Imogen Rose (Mar 22, 2010)

I used to love Nancy Drew, I am going to give these a try.


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## kdawnbyrd (Apr 6, 2010)

I'm a Nancy Drew collector, but have not yet read one in Kindle format. I have about 1,000 of them if you count my paperback collection. Many of mine are the old blue ones from the 1930's. Thanks for the idea. I'm going to download one now.


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## Wisteria Clematis (Oct 29, 2008)

Has anyone noticed that the kindle store is now beginning to carry some of the original editions of Nancy Drew mysteries?!? For the 'kindle publication date' they are actually listing the real publication date and seem to be slowly getting the older editions on line. In quite a few cases they even have two or three editions of the same title (although not listed right together)--one from the thirties, one from the fifties, and a newly revised version from the 2000s.

So far it looks like there are kindle versions from the 1930s and 1940s of these ND books: 01, 02, 04, 06, 07, 11, 12, 14-20, 22-26. This is making me sooo nostalgic. Now that the early versions are available I may have to consider adding them to my library.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I hadn't noticed that.  Thanks for pointing it out since I definitely like the older versions of the stories.


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## DLs Niece (Apr 12, 2010)

I almost hate to admit this but when I was very young, my aunt loaned my sister and I her complete 'original' Nancy Drew series to read. I believe I was in grade 3 when we first received them.... so 1967ish.  She was born in 1940 and the series was passed down to her from her mother.  I read each and everyone several times over and enjoyed them very much but because my sister and I were so young, we seriously defaced them.     I still to this day feel horrible about it! We doodled all over the poor things. I think we even loaned a few out which were never returned. My aunt was very good about it when were returned them but I am certain it broke her heart, especially since her mother had passed while Aunt Maryanne was in her early teens.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I had forgotten all about these.. I loved the Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew.. read them in the 50's so they must have been rewrites..  I'm envious of those of you who have the originals.  I asked my sisters about the books after my Mom died but nobody knows what happened to them.


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## Monti (Apr 4, 2009)

I loved the Nancy Drew mysteries and the Hardy Boys stories as well. A lot of present day authors were influenced to become writers because of these books. Amazing the influence they had. I had no idea both series were written by the same author. Interesting. Thanks for bringing this up. Nice to know they are available as Kindle books!

Monti 
Night Watch


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