Nancy Drew Cameo Edition Books

My first Nancy Drew Cameo Edition books.

I recently learned about the Nancy Drew Cameo Edition books, which are a lovely set of 12 books that were published in 1959 and 1960 as part of a book club. These books feature beautiful artwork by Polly Bolian, both on dust jackets and in a color frontispiece (same artwork as the dust jacket) and internal line illustrations. The books also have beautiful endpapers featuring scenes from the stories and a Nancy cameo portrait on a ribbon. The books also have the cameo artwork on the front cover and spine.

The cameo books are a little difficult to find, especially with dust jackets in good condition. However, they are easier to find (and much less expensive!) without dust jackets. I've decided to collect a set of the books without dust jackets. I think they are stunningly beautiful books even without the dust jackets.

These books do not commonly come up for sale in Australia, where I live, but I was recently able to buy a set of three of the books from an online bookseller. Three down... nine to go! I'm not in a rush to collect these, though... I'll try to acquire them over the next several years.

Here are some more pictures of the three books:

The spines of the books.

The beautiful endpapers.

Color illustration #1.

Color illustration #2.

Color illustration #3.

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