The first three Nancy Drew books, The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, and The Bungalow Mystery, were published on April 28, 1930. The plot outlines for the first three books were written by Edward Stratemeyer, and the three books were ghostwritten by Mildred A. Wirt under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene, which was the author name chosen by the Stratemeyer Syndicate for the series.
Prior to the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series, most Stratemeyer series books centered around a group of boys and girls who would participate in activities such as camping, fishing, sailing, and traveling the country in their automobiles. The young people would almost always have a chaperone, who was an older adult such as a favorite teacher or a relative. The books contained exciting events interspersed with ordinary activities and lots of joking around by the young people.
The Stratemeyer Syndicate was hugely successful, and it was the dominating force in series books both before and after the release of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series. The Hardy Boys series was first published in 1927, and it had the basic formula of the earlier Stratemeyer books, but with a new twist: the Hardy Boys solved mysteries, often for their father, a famous detective.
The Nancy Drew series also focused on solving mysteries but with a big difference: Nancy Drew often worked alone, especially during the first few books. Nancy Drew had a level of autonomy that was unmatched in other series books. Even the Hardy Boys had to answer to their Aunt Gertrude. Nancy Drew answered to nobody.
Nancy's father, Carson Drew, worried about her, but he never prevented Nancy from doing whatever she wanted to do. In volume 5, Nancy's best friends, quarreling cousins Bess and George, began to join Nancy in her adventures, yet Nancy was still in total control.
Nancy seemed to be a kind of superwoman who bounced back instantly from all injuries. It is little wonder that Nancy Drew's success surpassed all of Edward Stratemeyer's previous creations. Unfortunately, Edward Stratemeyer did not live to see the tremendous success that Nancy Drew became; he passed away on May 10, 1930, less than two weeks after Nancy Drew was first published.
It is a continuing testimony to Edward Stratemeyer's legacy that Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys have never been out of print since creation and are still published to the present day.
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I thought it might be helpful for sellers who are participating in the Bonanzle 80th Anniversary sale to have instructions on how to adjust an invoice in case the buyer makes a mistake when submitting an offer. I wrote this up for another seller and thought I would share it here also.
Upon receiving an offer from the buyer with ANY kind of mistake in the total amount due:
1. When you see the buyer’s order, DO NOT hit the “Accept Order” or “Cancel Order” buttons! Instead, hit the small “Review Invoice” link under the Accept/Cancel Order buttons.
2. A “Finalze Order” screen will come up. In the second line, above the “Approve Order” button, there is small link in green in the text that says “change your invoice here”. Click on that.
3. An “Edit Invoice” screen will come up. Under “Invoice Actions” on the left-hand side, click on “Add cost adjustment”.
4. A "Discount(-) or Charge (+)" input box will open up along with another field to enter an explanation for the adjustment. Enter your adjustment amount (negative or positive) and an explanation such as “Free shipping” or whatever.
5. Then hit “Recalculate” under the Grand Total. The invoice grand total amount will automatically be adjusted.
6. Scroll down a bit, and hit the big “Review Invoice” button.
7. This will bring you back to the “Finalize Order” screen, where you should see that the order has been adjusted. You then push the big “Approve Order” button at the top to send the adjusted invoice to the buyer and complete the process.
Hope this helps!
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