BIGGLES TAKES THE CASE
Book First Published in March 1952 (*the second edition states the date as 3rd
April 1952) - 189 pages
These stories were first published in various annuals and
periodicals. I have noted below the
original publication details.
The original first edition dust jacket showing the original price
of 7/6
This contains nine short stories. They are all Air Police stories
except for the last one, which is a Second World War story. These are as follows:-
SKYWAY ROBBERY (Pages 9 to 36)
Biggles helps the son of the Rajah of Malliapore
recover their stolen family jewels in India.
This story was originally published in 'The Boy's Book of Adventure' 1950 (by Evans Brothers Ltd)
THE CASE OF THE UNKNOWN AIRCRAFT (Pages 39 to 56)
An unidentified aircraft has crashed in the Cairngorms and is
found to be carrying Uranium.
This
story was subsequently published in 'Adventure Stories for Boys' 1956 (by Odhams Books Ltd)
THE RENEGADE (Pages 59 to 82)
A villain is supplying arms in Malaya. Biggles parachutes in to
blow up his supply dump.
This story was originally published in the DAILY MAIL
Newspaper between Saturday 19th August 1950 and Monday 30th
October 1950
BIGGLES BAITS THE TRAP (Pages 85 to 94)
Biggles pretends to steal some pearls in order to get a gang of
thieves to steal them off him.
This
story was originally published in 'The Wonder Book of Comics’ 1949 (by Odhams Press Ltd)
AFRICAN ASSIGNMENT (Pages 97 to 123)
A Mr. & Mrs. Steiner, under the pretext of making natural
history films, are buying illicit diamonds.
This
story was originally published in the DAILY MAIL Newspaper between
Saturday 27th May 1950 and Saturday 5th August 1950
ALL IN THE DAY'S WORK (Pages 127 to 135)
Biggles and Ginger recover some stolen top secret Government
documents after a long chase.
This story was subsequently published in 'The Children's Jolly Book’ 1952 (by Odhams Press Ltd)
Odhams had this story but delayed publishing it. This letter here sheds
some light on the dates and says the story shouldn’t really have been published
in this book before 1st September 1952.
THE CASE OF THE SECRET AEROFOIL (Pages 139 to 151)
What appears to be an accidental aircraft crash is actually a
murder carried out by spies.
This
story was originally published in 'The Ace Book of Comics’ 1951 (by Odhams Press Ltd) as "The New
Aerofoil"
THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS GUNSHOTS (Pages 155 to 173)
Someone has a novel way of poaching elephants, by using a plane to
shoot them from the air.
This
story was originally published (in an edited form) in 'The Golden Book of Comics’ 1950 (by Odhams Press Ltd)
THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE (Pages 177 to 189)
Wilkinson bets that his new pilot will shoot down more enemy
planes than Biggles' new pilot.
This story was originally published in ‘The New Book of the Air’ 1935 as 'THE FLEDGLINGS', a WW1 story.
There were two editions of ‘The New Book of the Air’ and each edition had a different cover as shown above.
W. E. Johns later
rewrote the story as a WW2 story and it is in this form that it is published in
‘Biggles Takes the Case’ as 'The Hare and the Tortoise'.
The
Second World War version of the story was originally published in 'Every Boy's Annual' 1950 (by Juvenile Productions Ltd)
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
Biggles Takes the Case
Subtitle - Some problems solved by Air Detective-Inspector
Bigglesworth, C.I.D., and his Air Police
Publication Details - published by Hodder & Stoughton
Frontispiece
Click on the above to see it in more detail
There is an interesting detail with the
“third impression” of this book, dated as published in 1959. There are in fact, two different “third
impressions”
One has the old H&S logo on the base of the spine (and was
priced at 8/6) and one has the newer chess piece log on the spine (and was
priced at 50p with the 8/6 clipped off)
But more importantly, the one with the chess piece logo
features a list of Biggles book with a title that was never used. “COLD WORK FOR BIGGLES” can be seen at the
bottom of the second column of titles.
The only difference between the two versions of the “third
impression”, internally, is this book title.
“Cold Work for Biggles” was actually published as “Biggles at World’s End” in December 1959.
The book priced “50p” is a post-decimalisation (1971) reprint,
using the old, unamended, 1959 plates of the third impression. Originally, the plates must have been
corrected to remove that title.
