The Hardy Boys

Comparing Editions: A Retrospective

Among all the books I read growing up, a series that stands out in my mind is the Hardy Boys mystery books. I remember owning some, including my prized Hardy Boys Detective Handbook, and I also remember going to the library to get ones I had not read. When I ran across an article by theartofmanliness.com entitled, “9 Things a Grown Man Can Learn from the Hardy Boys,” I greatly enjoyed reminiscing on many of the things that I do in my current life which may be partially inspired by those books. However, at the end of the article, there was a footnote that read,

“If you’re looking for the originals, be sure to buy those published before 1959, the year in which the publisher began editing the early installments to excise potentially offensive racial stereotypes, but also to make the already accessible books even easier reads — length was lopped off, descriptive language streamlined, and old slang and vocabulary words judged too meaty were removed. Overall, the project dumbed the books down and the result was almost universally panned; (Leslie) McFarlane felt the books had been “gutted,” while one modern critic opined: “The quality of the revised stories is generally so far below that of the originals that it can only be considered as an act of literary vandalism.””

I was immediately concerned. In modern times, anytime a mass censorship is brought up, it is often connected with edits that go against the Word of God. I was hopeful I didn’t miss out on something important. This article is my amateur research into figuring out which editions are the best.

The Hardy Boys Mystery Series ran from 1927-2005. It contains 190 books. There are other series after this, but most people consider the best to be 1-58, which is sometimes referred to as the core canon. They were written by different authors who were paid by the publishing company to write them under the penname, Franklin W. Dixon. The publishing company would provide the authors an outline to their desired story and then the authors were paid to write the story. In 1959, the original 38 volumes were apparently shortened, and offensive racial stereotypes were removed. Please keep in mind, that there is a huge difference in the way the phrase “offensive racial stereotypes” would have been used in 1959 versus 2024. One of the original authors, Leslie McFarlane, did not approve of these revisions. There have been other controversies surrounding these books, but my young mind never knew or cared.

         One of the reasons I decided to write this article is that I could not find any good comparisons of the multiple editions. My bookshelf only contained a few of classic volumes that I had picked up at rummage sales in my adult years, however, I had never read them. I was surprised upon inspection to find that I had two of the original editions. I then went and found my volumes that I had as a child that were still at my parent’s house. These were apparently the revised ones, confirming my suspicions that I had never read any of the originals as a child. Not having any overlaps, I went to our local library and found that they still had a collection of the revised editions in the Children’s section. The two editions that I read and compared is the seventh book, “The Secret of the Caves.” One edition was from 1929, while the other was from 1965.

         The differences between the two volumes were startling, but maybe not for the reasons you might think. The main thread of a story, a sister trying to find her brother missing from college, felt like the only similarity. Without spoiling the whole story, there were major events that happened that were the same, but you could feel a major difference in the characters themselves. In the original, the boys’ father was working the same case, while in the later their father had a different case that ended up connecting to the missing brother. Locations and events that happened at them were similar, while the order of events was changed. In the original, the sister and brother were adults, while the newer had them at a similar age to the boys. The original had more references to guns and had more intense danger, while in the newer these dangers were downplayed and minimized. There were more actions sequences in the newer ones, while at the same time being shorter.

         Both editions were mostly innocent in their action and violence. The “bad guys” were not guilty of any crimes that would incite nightmares or deep questions from young readers. The “good guys” were honest and sincere, doing their best to obey authority and help others. There were a few references to romance in both volumes. The boys liked the girls, and talked to them and spent a bit of time with them. It was not a major part of the story and was completely innocent in every way. Both stories were of a kind that were engaging, but at the same time not weighty.

         The story that I read in detail was not one of the ones that had the egregious racial problems. I did catch the original having one of the boys saying the phrase, “he doesn’t have a chinaman’s chance.” Looking at various sources on the internet, this phrase is considered to be offensive today. I have a hard time understanding the definition of what is and is not offensive, and I believe often people are too sensitive. Simultaneously, I also believe it’s a good idea to try to not use this kind of language, especially when there are many other phrases and words that will convey the same meaning. I do assume that phrases like that probably aren’t a great thing to have in a children’s book.

The questions that remain can only be answered by you. Is it important to read the originals or not? Are the changes made in later editions worth seeking out the original publications? After having compared the two, I personally feel I did not miss out on anything major in my childhood by reading the revised and edited versions. My opinion is that the core values of these books remain in both revisions. The older editions seem to be better written, while the later edition Hardy Boys mysteries still were an inspiring series despite the “censorship.” These later editions fit into a developmental period in my childhood and provided adventure and good role models. At the same time, they were not too intense and too scary to make me have nightmares or any fears in my daily life. I would have no problem handing my son any new edition vol. 1-58 books. I would have no worries about what he might be exposed to in them. The older editions deserve a more careful approach, while still being worth the effort. When I heard that these books were at one point “censored,” I was worried that I might have missed something important. As an adult worrying about the challenges the world is throwing at us, I wish I could read the Hardy Boys mysteries again with a child’s mind and relive the adventures of my heroes.