Is My The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Grosset & Dunlap, New York, published 28 April 1930; the first printing is the format Farah's Guide designates 1930A-1
• Points: blue cloth with the front-cover title lettering outlined in black and no Nancy Drew silhouette on the cover; blank white endpapers (the orange silhouette endpapers are a later format); a glossy frontispiece plus three glossy internal plates by Russell H. Tandy (four glossy illustrations in all — from 1937 three were dropped, leaving only a frontispiece); a white-spine dust jacket with Tandy's artwork and no Nancy silhouette
• The copyright/series page lists only the first three titles — The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery — followed by "Other Volumes In Preparation." The post-text advertising section opens "This Isn't All!" and carries ad lists for Hardy Boys (8 titles), Ted Scott
• , Rover Boys
• , Tom Swift
• , Don Sturdy

How Grosset & Dunlap marked a first edition

• Series books (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, Bobbsey Twins), c.1910s–1970s: early states are identified not by a printing statement but by the advertised-title-list point system — the list of titles advertised in the…

Full Grosset & Dunlap first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

US-only precedence; the census claim stands. Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1930 is the sole true first — there is no competing UK or original-language edition. The book was written by Mildred Wirt Benson under the Stratemeyer Syndicate house name Carolyn Keene, but that authorship point has no bearing on edition precedence.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue applies. The reprint traps are format changes: the Nancy silhouette added to the cover and jacket, orange silhouette endpapers, the 1937 reduction to a frontispiece only with expanded jacket copy, the 1943 updated frontispiece, the 1950 wraparound jacket with Bill Gillies artwork continuing across the spine, and the 1959 textual revision with five new illustrations. Later "picture cover" (pictorial-board, jacketless) editions and the revised 1959 text are entirely different books from the 1930A-1 format.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1) a first edition?

A first edition of The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1) by Carolyn Keene (Mildred Wirt Benson) (Grosset & Dunlap) is identified by: Grosset & Dunlap, New York, published 28 April 1930; the first printing is the format Farah's Guide designates 1930A-1.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US-only precedence; the census claim stands.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issue applies. The reprint traps are format changes: the Nancy silhouette added to the cover and jacket, orange silhouette endpapers, the 1937 reduction to a frontispiece only with expanded jacket copy, the 1943 updated frontispiece, the 1950 wraparound jacket with Bill Gillies artwork continuing across the spine, and the 1959 textual revision with five new illustrations. Later "picture cover" (pictorial-board, jacketless) editions and the revised 1959 text are entirely different bo

I have a first edition of The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1) — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.