Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 5 - Nancy Drew Original Texts vs. Revised Texts

Nancy nearly attacked by a police dog protecting her young.

Nancy helping foil a mail theft ring.

A famous voice teacher helps an aspiring singer thanks to Nancy.

A plot involving exploding oranges at NASA and a mad/rogue scientist.

What do these things have in common? They were not in the original Nancy Drew books but were later added into the revised versions.

Nancy ventures off to the wilds of Canada to claim land won in a prize. She ends up blowing up a dam and flooding the land to thwart crooks trying to steal it. Sound familiar? It probably doesn't if you're not familiar with the original version of #12, The Message in the Hollow Oak and instead read the revision about an archaeological dig in Cairo, IL and Nancy's search for a treasure hidden in a hollow oak.

You know The Mystery at Lilac Inn? In the original version, very little time was spent at Lilac Inn where chicken dinners are their specialty. In the revision, the whole mystery takes place mostly at Lilac Inn.


These are some of the oddities of revising Nancy Drew. It was a project that began in the mid 1950s and led to the first 2 books being revised and published in 1959. From then until 1977, the first 34 books in the series were revised and the 25 chapter originals were cut down to just 20 chapters.

While stereotypes (which were NOT rampant as some would have you believe!) and things that would date the books like "electric lights" or slang and other outdated conventions were updated in these revisions, the real culprit was something far simpler. Money. The publisher could produce a 20 chapter book far more cheaply than a 25 chapter book. This was the factually documented driving force behind the revision process.

If you would like to see just how some of these books changed when revised, check out my article on The Secret of the Old Clock which highlights the stark changes between the 1930 and 1959 texts for this book.

After #18, The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, the revisions were not as drastic as they had been for some titles and were simpler cut downs. If you read an original and then a revised version of the same title side by side, you'll see many instances of where the same text is still present, but shortened in places, some descriptive passages cut out entirely, some scenes where there's not so much action related to the plot are removed--all to speed up the pace and shorten them. Most of these are still the same story and plot. A few have some added subplots like Nancy thwarting a mail scam in #7, The Clue in the Diary. And eight had mostly or all new plots: #'s 2, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 17, and 18.

Learn a little more about revisions and when books were revised at my website.

Jenn:)