THE
PAPERBACK PYRAMID FLYING JACKET REPRINTS PAGE
FOUR OF EIGHT |
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED SIX OF THE PYRAMID HARDBACKS IN PAPER WRAPPERS RATHER THAN
THE HARDBACK COVERS. THEY WERE THE FIRST BIGGLES PAPERBACKS. THEY CAN BE SEEN HERE. I have all six in my collection, but, unfortunately,
only five have their dust wrappers. NB
– “South Seas” and “Secret Agent” have printing plates dated 1940 but the
book titles on the back of their jackets include “Biggles in the Jungle”
published May 1942, so they were probably published in 1942. These two books do NOT have the distinctive
“pyramid” motive on the front of the covers but because of their similarity
with the other four Oxford paperbacks they are included. “Souths Seas” is around 5 mm taller and
wider in terms of breadth (as opposed to being thicker) than the other five
paperback books. |
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BIGGLES IN THE
SOUTH SEAS PAPERBACK Plates say printed
1940 by John Johnson Price on dust
wrapper 2/6 Colour frontispiece Width 29 mm One asterix (*) on
the half title Book has no flyleaf
but opens to the half title Note how this book
did NOT have the distinctive pyramid motive on the front cover. |
BIGGLES – SECRET
AGENT PAPERBACK Plates say printed
1940 by John Johnson Price on dust
wrapper 2/6 Colour frontispiece Width 30 mm One asterix (*) on
the half title Book has no flyleaf
but opens to the half title Note how this book
did NOT have the distinctive pyramid motive on the front cover. |
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BIGGLES FLIES EAST PAPERBACK PYRAMID Plates say
reprinted 1941 by the Garden City Press
Ltd Price on dust
wrapper 2/6 Colour frontispiece Width 25 mm No asterix on the
half title This book does have
a flyleaf before the half title and appears to be the only one of the six to
do so |
BIGGLES FLIES WEST PAPERBACK PYRAMID Plates say
reprinted 1941 by Richard Clay and
Company Ltd Price on dust
wrapper unknown Colour frontispiece Width 27 mm The letter “R”
appears on the half title Book has no flyleaf
but opens to the half title |
BIGGLES FLIES SOUTH PAPERBACK PYRAMID Plates say
reprinted 1941 by Richard Clay and
Company Ltd Price on dust
wrapper unknown Colour frontispiece Width 28 mm The letter “I”
appears on the half title Book has no flyleaf
but opens to the half title |
BIGGLES FLIES NORTH PAPERBACK PYRAMID Plates say
reprinted 1941 by Richard Clay and
Company Ltd Price on dust
wrapper unknown Colour frontispiece Width 27 mm No asterix on the
half title Book has no flyleaf
but opens to the half title |
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Biggles in the South
Seas is an unusual edition, being the odd one out in this collection. You can see from
the picture to the right how it is approximately half a cm taller than the
other books – and approximately half a cm wider (in terms of breadth rather
than wider in the spine). |
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Above is the
“Flying Jacket” dust wrapper for the paperback version of “Biggles Flies
East”. It is priced at 2/6
(two shillings and sixpence) – so more expensive than the 2 shilling hardback
pyramid edition. The book lists 17
Biggles books to “Biggles in the Jungle” published in May 1942. The title is in the same four-line font but
interestingly the word “Biggles” is on the top line with “Flies East” on the
second line. This differs from the
blue pyramid DJ (left) from 1937 where “Biggles Flies” were on the top line
with “East” on the second line and that confirms that this dust jacket was
especially printed for this paperback edition. For comparison I also show the thick black
font of the 1948 reprint DJ (right).
Note the darker background. |
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BIGGLES FLIES SOUTH
HAD A DIFFERENT REAR COVER AS SEEN ABOVE. The other books had
the same rear cover as EAST (although “Biggles
Flies West” did not have “Biggles in the Jungle” listed on the back) |
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