The Secret of The Old Clock - Artwork

Artwork

The 1930s edition was published with the white-spine dust jacket, with artwork by Russell H. Tandy, and four glossy black-and-white interior illustrations, also by Tandy. The first edition is readily distinguished from later editions by its lack of a silhouette on the front cover, and blank end pages. However, a few printings occurred (through 1932) before these trademarks were added to the series.

In 1937, three of the illustrations were eliminated, leaving only a frontispiece, and additional information and illustration was added to the dust jacket. In 1943, the interior frontispiece art was updated to conform to current 1940s style. In 1950, the dust jacket was revamped as a wraparound jacket, with the picture continuing onto the spine of the book, and with cover art by Bill Gillies that was more in keeping with 1950s style. Gillies' Nancy, modeled after his wife, looks more mature than sixteen (her age in the text at the time). She wears a 1950s version of her early trademark blue suit, and is kneeling so that the length, width, and general style are indeterminate, leaving the art less dated. The scene doesn't exactly match the text in the story.

When the text was revised in 1959, five illustrations were added. The text revision described the cover scene in detail. In 1960, this volume was given entirely new artwork, including eight ink drawings and a color frontispiece, which served as the jacket illustration, all by Polly Bolian, for the Reader's Club (Cameo) edition.

In 1962 the editor eliminated dust jackets and the books were issued with the art directly on the cover with yellow spines and backs; the Bill Gillies art was used. In 1965, the cover art was updated with an illustration by Rudy Nappi, featuring the same dress Nancy wears on Gillies' cover for another book. The internal illustrations remained intact and unchanged. While binding and spine designs have changed, the book's cover, all art (except endpapers), and internal text are unchanged.