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THE HARDY BOYS ONLINE: An unofficial online resource for fans of the Hardy Boys books

Cover art (Canon)

This page focuses on general trends in the cover artworks themselves. For a detailed description of the evolving graphic design of the covers, see the cover design page. For a gallery of all the cover artworks, see the detailed booklist.

Original artists

The following artists painted the original cover art for each volume. Links lead to external sites (e.g. Wikipedia) and will open in a new window or tab.

  • Volumes 1-10 (1927-31): Walter S. Rogers
  • Volumes 11-15 (1932-36): J. Clemens Gretta
  • Volumes 16-23 (1937-44): Paul Laune (from Woodward, Oklahoma)
  • Volumes 24-28 (1945-49): Russell H. Tandy (1893-?)
  • Volumes 29-31 (1950-52): Bill Gillies (1911-2000)
  • Volumes 32-58 (1953-79): Rudy Nappi

New covers

The original cover art for volumes 1-38 was replaced by new artwork (in some cases twice or even three times):

  • Volumes 1-9 gained new cover art in 1944. Most covers were by A(rthur) O. Scott. Volumes 5 and 9 were by Stricker.
  • Volume 10 got a new cover in 1946. Bob Finnan speculates that the artist is Paul Laune.
  • Volumes 11-15 got new covers by Bill Gillies in 1950.
  • Volumes 1-9 got a second batch of new covers in 1959-60, by Rudi Nappi.
  • Volumes 16-24 gained new cover art in 1962, by John Leone (1929-).
  • All subsequent replacement cover illustrations were painted by Rudy Nappi, usually coinciding with the publication of the revised text:
    • #11 and #14 in 1962
    • #6 in 1964
    • #12 in 1965
    • #17, #27, and #37 in 1966
    • #10, #13, and #21 in 1967
    • #15, #29, and #30 in 1968
    • #18, #25, #31, and #32 in 1969
    • #20, #21, #23, #26, and #28 in 1970
    • #22, #33, and #34 in 1971
    • #35 and #36 in 1972
    • #38 in 1973

Cover art timeline

A picture is worth a thousand words! The following chart shows the above information in an easier-to-digest visual form. Each cover illustration is plotted according to its volume number and year of appearance. Coloured bands indicate cover formats. Boxes indicate artists. Click the preview below to view the full-size chart (opens in a new window or tab).