BIGGLES FLIES AGAIN - HOW TO IDENTIFY THE FIRST EDITION
by Roger Harris
A restored copy
of an original John Hamilton ‘wrap-around’ dust jacket for”Biggles
Flies Again”
'Biggles Flies Again' was the fourth
Biggles book published by John Hamilton.
Twelve of the thirteen separate stories were subsequently published in 'Modern Boy' Magazine from
issue 377 (dated 27th
April 1935) to issue 384 (dated 15th June
1935). Twelve stories were published
in only eight issues. The Story ‘Fair
Cargo’ was not published, presumably because the romantic story was not thought
to be appealing to the target audience.
‘The Maid and the Mountains’ and ‘The Blue Orchid’ were combined in
issue 378. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and
‘Bob’s Box’ were combined in issue 379.
‘The Oriental Touch’ and ‘Down in the Forest’
were combined in issue 381. ‘Yellow
Freight’ and ‘The Last Show’ were combined in issue 384. However, the first eleven stories, including
‘Fair Cargo’ had originally been published in ‘Popular Flying’ Magazine,
monthly, in the eleven months from July 1933 to May 1934 inclusive.
The book itself was published by John
Hamilton Ltd, in August 1934, with the British Library receiving their copy on
31st August 1934 (so it must have been published earlier than this
date).
The book was later published in the
Boys’ Friend Library Series, as issue 630, dated 7th July 1938, and
this contained all 13 stories, not just the 12 stories printed in Modern Boy.
“Biggles Flies Again” was published in
at least three editions by John Hamilton and the first edition of the book was
published as part of the John Hamilton "Ace" series.
The price of the book was 3 shillings
and 6 pence. Just a
brief note about "old money". Prior to decimalisation there
were 12 pence to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound - so there were 240
pence in a pound. 3 shillings and 6 pence was
therefore 42 pence (pence was referred to by the letter "d" in old
money). On decimalisation, a shilling became 5 new pence so in "new
money" the book would have cost 17.5 pence.
The pages of my first edition were
originally tinted blue along the top edge. I have displayed photographs of my
original first edition to show the dimensions of the book and also to show what
the first few pages look like to assist people in identifying first editions of
the book.
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Above, the
first three pictures that you see show the size of the first edition book
cover. The book is 190 millimetres
long and is 40 millimetres wide. The
depth is just around 128 millimetres from the back of the spine to the tip of
the cover. You can also
see pictures showing the covers of the book and the first few pages of the
book showing the other titles in the “ACE” series listed. As with all
of the John Hamilton books, there is no publication date. |
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Although
generally speaking, it is hard to determine the different John Hamilton
editions of "Biggles Flies Again", as the books were undated, the
first edition itself has gold titles to the front and the spine of the
book. The boards are blue and the top of
the pages are tinted blue. The first
edition was “Made and Printed in Great Britain by the Kemp Hall Press, Ltd. in
the City of Oxford”. The book has 224
pages and there is the usual sundial logo to the bottom of the spine followed
by the words “John Hamilton”. There was
no catalogue in the first edition of the book.
Here’s an
interesting fact for Biggles fans. The plate
opposite page 124, used to illustrate the story ‘Savages and Wings’ was painted
by W. E. Johns himself and not by Howard Leigh.
It is signed “Johns” in the bottom right hand corner. The other plates are unsigned so it is not
clear who illustrated those plates. It may
even have been Johns himself, rather than Howard Leigh.