Russell Haviland Tandy (1891 – 1963) was an American
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
, best known for his
cover art
Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...
for early editions of the
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...
and
Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...
series.
Life and career
Tandy was a friend of
Edward Stratemeyer
Edward L. Stratemeyer (; October 4, 1862 – May 10, 1930) was an American publisher, writer of children's fiction, and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, producing in excess of 1,300 ...
, whose
Stratemeyer Syndicate
The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published and ...
created several series of books for young readers. When Stratemeyer approached
Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898.
The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group.
Today, through the Penguin Gro ...
with his concept for Nancy Drew in 1930, he submitted
dust jacket
The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book ...
art by both Tandy and
Ernest Townsend
Ernest Townsend (1 January 1880 – 22 January 1944) was a British portraitist from Derby.
Townsend studied at Derby College of Art, Heatherleys in Chelsea and the Royal Academy. Among his works were a 1915 portrait of the Right Hon. Winst ...
for the publishing house's consideration. They selected Tandy, who from 1930 until 1949 illustrated the first twenty-six books in the series (except the eleventh title), contributing both cover and internal artwork. Tandy was responsible for illustrating several
Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...
titles and two volumes in the
Beverly Gray
The Beverly Gray Mystery Stories, comprising 26 novels published between 1934 and 1955, were written by Clair Blank whose pen name was Clarissa Mabel Blank Moyer. The series began as a series of school stories, and followed Beverly's progress th ...
series, as well as other series featuring characters written for young readers.
In addition to his work for children's literature, Tandy worked for department stores as a
fashion illustrator
Fashion Illustration is the art of communicating fashion ideas in a visual form that originates with illustration, drawing and painting and also known as Fashion sketching. It is mainly used by fashion designers to brainstorm their ideas on pape ...