The purpose of "Hidden Clues" is to clear up common misconceptions and to share information that those of us who have been collecting for 20 or more years take for granted. We know this information, and 20+ years ago, everyone collecting knew it. That information is still with us, but we have been remiss about sharing some of these facts with people who have joined us since the heyday of the Yahoo! groups.
It is fitting for the first installment of "Hidden Clues" to feature a forgotten fact about the Judy Bolton series. Did you know that the first four Judy Bolton titles were revised and condensed?
The Vanishing Shadow was actually revised twice. It is available in three distinct texts from 1932, 1964, and 1967. The 1964 edition removes Judy's actual abduction but keeps the part where Judy is held captive in the shack. The 1967 edition also removes Judy's captivity in the shack so that the abduction never occurs at all. The 1967 edition also adds a scene with Horace that is not present in either of the previous editions.
The Haunted Attic, The Invisible Chimes, and Seven Strange Clues were revised slightly for the 1967 and 1968 editions. Some short phrases were changed to be politically correct, and some short passages were removed in order to reduce the length of each book.
From left to right, the picture below shows the original text picture cover of The Vanishing Shadow followed by the 1964 picture cover and the 1967 Tempo paperback.
These next pictures show the original text picture cover of each book followed by the revised text Tempo paperback.
Some people will say that The Haunted Attic has three different texts. In a sense, this is true, but the difference between the first two versions is just three words on one page. The very first printing from 1932 mentions Judy's birthday on her invitation on page 160.
The second printing and all subsequent printings omit mention of Judy's birthday.
While the removal of Judy's birthday on page 160 is technically a revision, I consider it simply a first printing point.
The 1964 edition of The Vanishing Shadow is more scarce than the original text, but it can be found without difficulty. The Tempo paperback editions from 1967 and 1968 are very hard to find and cannot be found easily.
1 comment:
I truly enjoyed reading about the revisions to the first four books in the Judy Bolton series. As a long-time series book collector, I knew about these differences, but it is wonderful to have them summarized concisely in this manner.
I am looking so forward to more submissions to the "Hidden Clues" column.
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