Another language added to the lexicon: Farsi!

I've been sitting on an exciting announcement about another language that we can add to the lexicon of foreign edition Nancy Drews: Farsi (or Persian as it is often called) - this brings our count to 30 (or 31 if you count the Queen's English as a "translation").  I did not want to broadcast my findings until I had some editions in my possession to confirm their identity as Nancys, and I finally received some this week.  The copyright page does definitively state the original title of Old Clock and the author as Carolyn Keene - yippeeeeee!

When I first saw an image of these editions (on Instagram of all places) I initially thought they were Arabic based on the lettering.  But after trying to get a coherent translation of the book's title from Google, the site helpfully "detected" that the phrases were in Farsi, not Arabic.  Suddenly the titles such as Black Key Riddle and Curved Chimney began to make sense.  

Crumbling Wall, published by Vida

Once I had unlocked the mystery of the Farsi titles I was able to explore deeper into what editions were available.  Currently there appear to be 2 publishers that have Nancy titles on the market: 6 from Vida and 16 from Hermes.  So far I have only been able to get copies of the Vida titles, so if anyone has any Iranian friends who would like to help in acquiring the Hermes books, please contact me.  There are also some miscellaneous older editions that appear to be "one off" printings but I don't know much about them at this time.

Twisted Candles, published by Hermes

It's been a little difficult to determine when exactly these were printed as there appears to be a different calendar system in Iran.  My best guess is that the Vida books were released around 2014 and I am just not sure about the Hermes books.

It's so exciting to know that there are still foreign edition Nancys to discover ... and acquire!

1990s Vietnamese edition

By some kind of dumb luck I stumbled across a Facebook post where a nice person in Vietnam posted the 4 covers of the series called "Nữ thám tư nghiệp dư" (female amateur private detective).  I immediately recognized the Albert Chazelle covers from the French Hachette "Alice" books, which was then confirmed by the author's name on the books of Caroline Quine.  Since Vietnam was a French colony until the 1950s it is not too strange that these editions call Nancy by her French name.

The stories released by this publisher from1998-9 are Crumbling Wall (picture attached), Old Attic, Red Gate Farm and Leaning Chimney.  I think they are probably paperbacks since I note some folds to the covers but don't know for sure.  Is anybody out there in Vietnam who wants to help me acquire some of these editions?

Holy Grail: vintage Korean Nancy!

It's a red letter day here as I have finally acquired a Korean Nancy Drew from the classic series!  I only include that caveat because I was previously able to get some of the recent Nancy Drew Crew Clue books in translation (and brand new), but that's not really the same thing.

I have known of the existence of this format since 2010 but it has been very difficult to obtain any copies because of the scarcity of the books and the formidable language barrier.  I was finally able to identify an agency in Korea that could play the middleman for me to acquire this volume.  Ultimately I paid 1500% of the used book price to get it to me here in the States, but it was totally worth it!

The book appears to have been printed in 1984 and it is a large size paperback, surprisingly thick at about 3/4".  I believe the publisher is called Saesonyeon Four. It is very clearly stated on the back as The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (see second photo) and it has a little promo teaser on the back which mimics the dust jacket wrapper featuring Pamela Sue Martin from the Japanese Yomiuri books of the 1970s.  The book designates Blackwood Hall as #2, using a whole new numbering system  (in US it would be #25, UK would be #11 and in Japan it would be #8).  There is a back flap to the paperback cover which seems to list 5 titles.  I believe some of the other titles are Crossword Cipher, Swami's Ring and Kachina Doll as I have seen covers that appear to correlate with those titles.  The 5th story is still a mystery!

The artwork is original and if an illustrator is credited, it's in Korean so I can't share that information with you.  It is similar to the UK "C" format in that there are disparate elements from the story that are placed in a montage with a giant Nancy figure at the center.

There are 4 internal illustrations which do not look familiar to me, i.e., I'm pretty sure they were created for this edition.  They are nicely executed line drawings - I am including the one where Lola almost drowns while Ned and Nancy are out canoeing.

As I have conducted my research on Nancy Drew in Korean, these are the editions which seem to pop up most frequently.  There appear to be other "one off" translations here and there from a variety of publishers.  I am hoping someday to get some more Korean editions and will share my discoveries when/if I am successful.

Editions from Sri Lanka

I have gotten my hands on some Nancy Drew stories that have been translated into Sinhala, a language I wasn't even familiar with before now.  A little research reveals that the language is spoken in Sri Lanka and has about 16 million native speakers (thanks Wikipedia!).

The covers mimic the later Minstrel format of the giant silhouette head with Frank Sofo's artwork (except for Black Cat which uses a mash up of Nancy from the Files with a generic castle background; this is probably because Sofo did not do a cover for this title).  It looks like Vanishing Veil, Black Cat, Twin Teddy Bears, Fenley Place and maybe Mother Wolf were produced.

The Nancy Drew logo looks like the girl you see on an 18 wheeler's mud flaps, but with a cloche hat and a magnifying glass.  It's kind of a weird posture for sleuthing!  The Nancy Drew brand and title are in a futuristic font - maybe to bring in some Trekkie type fans?

Anyway, I decided to so a little research to learn about the pretty curlicue Sinhala alphabet since it was new to me.  The alphabet is written from left to right (similar to English) and it is derived from the ancient Brahmi script, which is also related to Tibetan, Javanese, Khmer and the Burmese "mon" scripts.  Generally speaking the characters mostly represent consonant sounds and vowels are expressed by accents or added curls (collectively called diacritics).  This is kind of like a didactic lesson I would normally get from reading a Nancy Drew story!

Bande Desinée?

This appears to be some kind of proto graphic novel for the French market of Alice à Paris (99 Steps) - not sure if this is a promo only or if the book was actually put into production.  I've never encountered an actual copy of this edition - does anyone out there know what this is, or when it is from?

Fargoes (Malaysian) reboot 2014

Siri Salma titles 1-8 (in the Malaysian numbering system) appear to have been re-released by Fargoes with new cover art.  The new covers look like they are computer generated and sometimes seem to have no relation to the story.  The one pictured here is Missing Map and at least it has a map and a treasure chest.  This company has re-vamped the series many times over the years; I can think of at least 6 different formats just off the top of my head.

Spanish internals

I finally received delivery of my new Spanish PC - there were delays caused by the holidays.  So, there are some really weird internals in these books.  The internal line drawings are very awkward and check out the one of Nancy persuading(?) Carson on some point or other.  And then there's the one of Nancy removing her garden gloves - not the usual action packed scene depicted in the internal illustrations.

New Turkish format

Some new titles have been released in Turkey reusing the "Dedektif Nancy Drew'un Maceralari" (Detective Nancy Drew's Adventures) moniker that was introduced in 2006 by Inkilap.  However, this time there is a different publisher - the new organization is Mandolin Yayınları.  They have selected to translate 4 titles from the classic paperback series (rather than the Girl Detective series favored by Inkilap).  The new covers are fairly generic, with a big Nancy face on the left and a bright pink background which sports an element from the story (e.g., a crocodile for Lost in the Everglades, the Eiffel Tower for No Strings Attached).  The books are thin paperbacks with no illustrations.  Not the most exciting books in my collection but it was fun to discover a new format.  

Bruguera Picture Cover

I am awaiting delivery of a new item for my international collection - one of the elusive white spine PCs from the Spanish publisher Bruguera.  This company did the first 6 titles in hardback with groovy 1970s DJs - those are actually more common and slightly easier to find than the later picture covers.  I had never even seen the cover for #2 La Escalera Escondido but knew of its existence from a library database.  I also have copies of 1, 4 and 5 with the revised artwork by Felipe G. de la Rosa - I would guess that maybe there is a version of Bungalow in this set but I've never seen any evidence of it.

Coincidentally I ran across the listing for this book when I was visiting Toledo OH to attend the estate auction of the daughter of Mildred Wirt Benson, the original ghostwriter for Hidden Staircase.  Guess that I had some Millie juju going for me!

Japanese "Poplar" format

After searching for about 15 years, I was lucky enough to receive a shipment from Japan this week with 3, count 'em *3* new Japanese formats for my Nancy collection.  Oh rapturous joy!  Two of the formats were ones I had identified long ago but have never managed to acquire (until now!) and the third was an all new entity.  I'll post about it in a future segment, as soon as I figure out exactly what the deal is (I need to consult with a Japanese friend first).

Today I am going to describe the Junior Sekai Mystery aka Poplar format that was published in the late 1960s; I believe there were 5 Nancy Drew titles produced by the publisher (Hidden Staircase, Lilac Inn, Mysterious Letter, Missing Map and Scarlet Slipper).   These 5 were part  of a series of 20 stories featuring various girl detectives, such as Penny Parker, Vicki Barr and Judy Bolton.

I got my hands on Staircase and Slipper and am happy to report that the books are illustrated picture covers with a glossy dust jacket (same artwork as on the cover).  There is a colorful title page and then lots of black and white line illustrations scattered throughout the text.  The book is quite thick - the spine measures about 1", and there is the cutest spine symbol!  Who is that masked sleuth??

To the right is the dust jacket for Hidden Staircase.  As you can see it is original artwork used exclusively by this publisher.  Interestingly it has the English title right above the Japanese version (it translates to stairway of ghost), so there's no doubt that this is a Nancy Drew story.

On the left (below) is the title page - the artist is sticking with his shadow motif.  I guess the other figure must be the surly "colored woman" that Gombet employs.  She doesn't look too much like an ogre to me.  

And lastly is an example of the line drawing internals - this one is signed "Naka" so maybe that is the artist's name.  It's the scene where the old ladies are describing their missing jewels.

 

Japanese Letter

After 2 years of nothingness, the Tsogen company has released their eighth book in series, Nancy's Mysterious Letter.  Not sure why there was a dry spell, but I'm glad that it doesn't mean that they have given up on reprinting more titles.

The artwork is a little weird - Nancy's eye seems to be misplaced, and what's up with the butterfly?

Language #29: Chinese!

Nancy Drew has FINALLY been published in Chinese - it's only the world's most spoken language, after all!  The first 6 titles from the Girl Detective series have been released so far and the publisher's name seems to be Children Fun Publishing.  Previously the only known books by Carolyn Keene in Chinese were a couple of titles from the defunct River Heights series of the 1980s.

The books are a nicely laminated paperback with quite a few black and white illustrations inside.  The illustration style is similar to the manga/anime look of the Japanese books, but all artwork is original. 

I believe the book to the left is "Lights, Camera" where Nancy is menaced by a mountain lion.  I think it's funny that something got lost in translation, and it's a Lion lion pictured instead!

Last Argentine artwork

Of the 10 titles published in dust jacket by Editorial Acme of Argentina, I have been able to collect only 9 of the books with jacket intact.  The 10th, El Rancho de las Sombras, has been elusive until today, when I finally found a copy on ebay of Argentina!  I had never even seen the artwork so I am super excited to finally be completing that set (I had the book but no DJ).  So here it is folks, the last Argentine DJ!

More Korean covers found!

I discovered a new format of Korean Nancy Drews today! It appears to be a spin-off of the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun books which were produced late 1970's to mid 1980's.

The Korean title translates to Adventure of Lost Map, which could indicate that the original story is Missing Map. However, the recycled Japanese artwork is from Wooden Lady, so possibly that is the source book. So far I have found 2 stories (the other one may or may not be Blackwood Hall) in this format.

So it is looking like there may be several varieties of Korean Nancy Drews produced by a variety of publishers. This is similar to what happened in the Japanese market, where there are 8 or 9 publishers that I know of. Wonder how many of them were actually licensed.......

Elusive Korean Nancy

There in an entry in Worldcat.org for this book under the Carolyn Keene section, indicating that there is officially at least one Nancy Drew that was published in Korea. I was lucky to find a blurry image of the cover. The translation of the Korean title is "Secret Stairway" so it is probably The Hidden Staircase.

Russian bootlegs?

I have found the text of several Nancys translated into Russian and posted online. Some of the sites are sponsored by libraries, so I guess this is some kind of Project Gutenberg for Russian girls needing suitable detective fiction! Not sure how Simon & Schuster feels about this.... Some of the sites have even gone to the trouble of cobbling together some fake Russian covers to accompany the text. Unfortunately it does not appear that these have ever been published with paper and bindings, but the images are kinda neat.

Little Korean girls using Nancy Drew to learn English

Wonder & Learn has released some of the Crew Clue titles as aids to teach English to Korean girls. There are workbook pages included with the story, and all new artwork (cover and internals). So far books #1-4 have been produced.

A whole new language to add to the lexicon!

While at the annual Nancy Drew Sleuths convention I received an email from Austin Johnson, another series book enthusiast. He sent me a clue about the existence of some Nancy Drew books in Vietnamese. Further investigation led to the discovery of 2 Girl Detective titles which were translated into Vietnamese in 2009, plus the apparent existence of some earlier works from the classic series issued in the 1990s. The reason these had not been noticed by me previously is that the 1990s books used the French "Alice" name instead of Nancy Drew. This would sort of make sense since Vietnam was once part of the French colony Indochine.

I am attaching the image of one of the Girl Detective books - I have not been able to find an example of the older books as yet. I think I have found a source for the Vietnamese Girl Detective books as they continue to be in print. I'm so excited that I can now officially declare that Nancy Drew books have been translated into 28 languages!

Be A Detective - Thai style

I stumbled across this book cover online but have not been able to hold it in my own hands, so don't know a lot of details. It appears the be Danger on Ice from the Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Be a Detective series. They have recycled the UK artwork for the cover rather than use the US image. I'm not sure exactly when it was printed - possibly back in the 1980/1990's when the originals were issued, or maybe it is a newer book.

Next title released in Japan

Here is the cover of the next story from Tsogen of Japan - The Clue in the Diary. Guess that's Ned peering over Nancy's shoulder helping her decipher the Swedish in the diary. Glad that they are continuing to publish these - hope they are selling well.