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.......