BIGGLES BLUE SPINE BOOKS THERE WERE FIVE BIGGLES BOOK TITLES PUBLISHED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WITH DISTINCTIVE BLUE SPINES ONE WAS PRINTED IN TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS
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BIGGLES & CO. First Published in April 1936 by Oxford University Press Blue spine edition says “Printed 1946” Original Price 5 shillings and 0 d	BIGGLES GOES TO WAR First Published in May 1938 by Oxford University Press Blue spine edition says “Reprinted 1943” Original Price 4 shillings and 0 d	BIGGLES IN THE SOUTH SEAS First Published in September 1940 by Oxford University Press Blue spine edition says “Reprinted 1946” Original Price 5 shillings and 0 d
THE BACKS OF THE 1941 AND 1945 VERSIONS	THE 1945 DUST JACKET IN FULL
BIGGLES DEFIES THE SWASTIKA First Published in August 1941 by Oxford University Press THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS OF THIS BOOK WITH DIFFERENT REAR COVERS The earlier blue spine edition says “Printed 1941” Original Price 4 shillings and 0 d	BIGGLES DEFIES THE SWASTIKA First Published in August 1941 by Oxford University Press THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS OF THIS BOOK WITH DIFFERENT REAR COVERS The later blue spine edition says “Reprinted 1945” Original Price 4 shillings and 0 d	BIGGLES IN THE JUNGLE First Published in May 1942 by Oxford University Press Blue spine edition says “Reprinted 1945” Original Price 5 shillings and 0 d
	THE SPINES OF THESE BOOKS LOOK LIKE THIS
The definitive article about the “Blue Spine” books was written in “Biggles’ Friend Magazine” Number 6 in May 2004 by my friend Alfred Uhlherr. Alfred has allowed me to put his article on this page and has even written an addendum for me to bring it up to date! (Thanks, Alf!). I particularly love his article title … BIGGLES AND THE DEEP BLUE SPINE ...
ALFRED’S ADDENDUM TO THE ABOVE ARTICLE - WRITTEN ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WEB PAGE - IS AS FOLLOWS Update from Alfred Uhlherr, 6 September 2023 It’s great to see my friend Roger publish details of the “blue spine” editions on this site.  Since I wrote this article back in 2004, I have learned that there are in fact at least SIX different blue spine editions.  Specifically, there are distinct 1941 and 1945 editions of Biggles Defies the Swastika that came in blue spine dust wrappers. The earlier of these editions was printed in 1941 at the University Press, Oxford, by John Johnson.  It is about 20mm wide, in pale brown coloured cloth.  The cover text and biplane/Norway vignette are dark brown and are positioned lower on the front board than on the 1945 edition.  There are two asterisks printed on the bottom right corner of the half-title page and other text pages marking the quires.  The back of the dust wrapper lists “Books for Boys” including 15 Biggles titles, the latest being Biggles Sees it Through , which was also first published in 1941.  The front flap is enormously wide to accommodate a relatively large font for the blurb.  Priced 4/- net.  Apart from the dust wrapper, this edition is typical of the “thin” reprints of the Oxford first editions.

Note how the book title and vignette on the front of the 1941 edition of the blue spine SWASTIKA, on the left, is lower than that on the 1945 edition, on the right

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