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Polly Bolian Cameo Edition Formats 101
The Cameo editions were published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1959 and 1960 and for a year or two after 1960 they
kept printing those volumes from both sets. The 1959 set was in print longer so you will find
more of these books surfacing than those from the 1960 set. The hardest to find volumes of all
are The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase. The book club editions
(BCE's), were advertised with promotional letters and ads. If you are lucky enough to come across
a pristine set of books or books with their dust jackets then hold on to them! The dust jackets
are often found in ratty shape, as they lacked the more protective varnish normally found on the
dust jackets used for the regular Nancy Drew® hardback editions and were often discarded by
children because they tore easily or were cumbersome in the course of reading the books. The books
are often found somewhat soiled due to the lightness of the boards. The page edges were uncut giving
them a rougher texture at the edges. The size of the Cameo books was larger than a regular
Nancy Drew hardback
by about an inch in height and half an inch in width. The text began on page 7 and due to the larger
format of the book, you will find the pages are not the same as the regular volumes. The
text versions of
Old Clock and Hidden Staircase used are the revised texts.
Cameo Illustrations
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Illustrator Polly Bolian was brought in to design the new artwork for the volumes and it is
her
striking and colorful artwork that is most often coveted by collectors. Shown at the left
is the frontispiece
which was also featured on the dust jacket for volume #36, The Secret of the Golden
Pavilion.
Inside were
16 pages of illustrations--8 line drawings on 2 pages each. Shown at the left is the internal
to volume #2, The Hidden Staircase featured on pages 174-175. These line drawings
filled up two full sized pages. Since the same illustrator drew both the internals
and the dust jacket art, Nancy has the same likeness just like the early regular series
Nancy
Drew books illustrated by Russell H. Tandy. Later editions of the regular series often
featured internal illustrations that
were drawn very differently than the artwork featured on the cover because of two different
illustrators. This consistency in the artwork in these editions is also what makes them
desirable. By clicking on the internal
at left you can see Bolian's use of little dots for shading or to show a nighttime scene. Her
shading technique is most vividly shown in the internal to the left where the light beam of the flashlight lacks the same
dot shading.
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Cameo Dust Jackets
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Each dust jacket featured the same art as the frontispiece surrounded by a background of one color
along with the title at the top and at the bottom 'Carolyn Keene' and the series name.
The spine of the dust jacket featured at top the volume's title, then 'Carolyn Keene' and the cameo
spine symbol with its ribbon surrounding the series name and then at the bottom was 'Grosset & Dunlap.'
The back of the dust jackets featured one of the line drawings inside from the text with the title above
that and below the illustration was 'Carolyn Keene' and the series name.
The front flap of the dust jacket through the back flap was a synopsis of the book and then near
the bottom of the back flap was a statement about the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories:
"Nancy Drew Mystery Stories are wholesome, entertaining books that have won outstanding fame as the all-time
favorites of young American girls. They are carefully plotted, well-written stories, so intriguing
that they effortlessly carry the young reader along to higher achievements in vocabulary command,
literary comprehension, and cultural understanding. With handsome original illustrations
by the artist Polly Bolian, this newly-designed Nancy Drew series is a very attractive and worthwhile
cornerstone for every young girl's library."
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Cameo Boards
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The boards of the books featured several different combinations of spine and front and back covers.
The colors used are: grey, yellow, sea green, greyish-blue, greenish-blue in the following combinations:
- 30, The Clue of the Velvet Mask grey covers, greenish-blue spine
- 31, The Ringmaster's Secret yellow covers, grey spine
- 32, The Scarlet Slipper Mytery greenish-blue covers, greyish-blue spine
- 33, The Witch Tree Symbol sea green covers, grey spine
- 34, The Hidden Window Mystery grey covers, yellow spine
- 35, The Haunted Showboat greyish-blue covers, grey spine
- 27, The Secret of the Wooden Lady grey covers, greyish-blue spine
- 28, The Clue of the Black Keys yellow covers, grey spine
- 29, The Mystery at the Ski Jump grey covers, sea green spine
- 36, The Secret of the Golden Pavilion grey covers, greyish-blue spine
- 1, The Secret of the Old Clock grey covers, sea green spine
- 2, The Hidden Staircase grey covers, yellow spine
The cover featured the Cameo symbol on a colored ribbon with the title to the left. The spine like
the dust jacket featured at top the volume's title, then 'Carolyn Keene' and the cameo
spine symbol with its ribbon surrounding the series name and then at the bottom was
'Grosset & Dunlap.' The back cover was blank.
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Cameo Ribbons & Endpapers
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The ribbons from which the Cameo hangs vary in color: red, turquoise, green, and purple. The color
of the ribbon is the same for an individual volume on the spine of the book, on the book's cover,
and inside on the endpapers. The ribbon on the spines of the dust jackets however do vary and are often
white due to the colored background of the dust jackets. The only volume without a ribbon on
the spine of the dust jacket is Hidden Window which is shown above in the dust jackets
section. The ink-topped pages at the top also
correspond to the colors of the ribbon for those with turquoise and green ribbon colors.
Volumes with turquoise ribbons:
Old Clock, Velvet Mask, Hidden Window, and Black Keys
Volumes with green ribbons:
Witch Tree
Volumes with red ribbons:
Ski Jump, Scarlet Slipper, and Hidden Staircase
Volumes with purple ribbons:
Wooden Lady, Ringmaster's Secret, Haunted Showboat, and Golden Pavilion
The endpapers feature small images of items from the stories. Click on any of the thumbnails of
the endpapers to the left to view the various images and see the different colors of ribbon.
Tribal masks, broken locket,
letter or telegram, silverware, trunk, diary with key, witch tree and witch tree symbol, and a map
are on the
left side of the endpapers. On the right side there is an album, a flashlight, a jewelry box, a
clock, a peacock, ballet slippers, painting of a ballerina, charm bracelet with horses, torn
corner of a letter, and a showboat.
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