THE COLOURED HARDBACK PYRAMID FLYING JACKET REPRINTS

PAGE THREE OF EIGHT

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED EIGHT* VERSIONS OF THE PYRAMID HARDBACKS IN COLOURS OTHER THEN BLUE.

(*If you are aware of any others then please let me know)

I have all of these books in my collection but only one has the original flying jacket, so the information I give is limited. I have noticed that these books are prone to losing their spines!

Note that the author’s name “Captain W. E. Johns” does not feature on the front cover of “Biggles Hits the Trail”, “Biggles & Co”, “Biggles in Africa” or “Biggles Goes to War”, whereas it does on all the blue versions of the pyramid hardbacks

BIGGLES HITS THE TRAIL – TAN Plates say reprinted 1941 by John Johnson Colour frontispiece Width 32 mm One asterix (*) on the half title	BIGGLES & CO. – TAN Plates say reprinted 1941 by John Johnson Colour frontispiece Width 32 mm One asterix (*) on the half title		BIGGLES IN AFRICA – TAN Plates say reprinted 1941 by John Johnson Colour frontispiece Width 32 mm One asterix (*) on the half title		BIGGLES – AIR COMMODORE – BROWN Plates say printed 1937 by John Johnson Colour frontispiece Width 38 mm No asterix on the half title
BIGGLES GOES TO WAR – GREY/WHITE Printing plates say printed 1942 by J & J Gray Colour frontispiece Width 34 mm No asterix on the half title	BIGGLES IN SPAIN – TAN Plates say reprinted 1942 by J & J Gray Colour frontispiece Width 35 mm No asterix on the half title		BIGGLES IN SPAIN – GREY/WHITE Plates say reprinted 1942 by J & J Gray Colour frontispiece Width 35 mm No asterix on the half title		BIGGLES IN THE SOUTH SEAS – GREEN Plates say printed 1940 by John Johnson Colour frontispiece Width 20 mm Two asterix (**) on the half title
This above dust jacket shows 16 Biggles books on the rear. This is all Biggles books published up to 1940 then two of the 1941 publications – “Biggles Defies the Swastika” and “Biggles Sees it Through”. It does not refer to “Spitfire Parade” even though all three of those books were published in August 1941. The books shown on the back cover tend to be the standard ones on the 1941 flying jacket dust wrapper even though this version of the book was published in 1942		THE FLYING JACKET DUST WRAPPER FOR THE WHITE/ GREY VERSION OF BIGGLES IN SPAIN		This jacket is price clipped but I believe it would have shown the usual two shillings price (2/-) in common with the other hardback “Pyramid” books. I believe all of these books would have had similar dust jackets with the exception of “Biggles in the South Seas” which is shown below. Note again the font made up of four lines.
		Biggles in the South Seas is an unusual pyramid edition as it is not the usual thickness as can be seen from the measurements given above. My copy is only approximately 20 mm wide. You can see how thin the spine is when compared to the blue and grey versions of Biggles in Spain in these pictures (both 35 mm)
This dust jacket above now shows 17 Biggles books on the rear as “Biggles in the Jungle”, published May 1942, has been added. The back still does not refer to “Spitfire Parade” even though that was published in August 1941. The other books shown on the back cover are for other authors and they are the same as those shown on the 1942 flying jacket dust wrapper for “Biggles in Spain” above.		THE FLYING JACKET DUST WRAPPER FOR THE GREEN VERSION OF BIGGLES IN THE SOUTH SEAS		This jacket is price clipped but I believe it would have shown the usual two shillings price (2/-) in common with the other hardback “Pyramid” books. You will note the thinner spine although there are still the two aircraft illustrated on the spine. One coming in to land and one on the ground. The jacket was too big for the book and hence overlapped.
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