Roger
Harris presents
www.wejohns.com
Originally launched on 01.01.03
A
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF W. E. JOHNS
ART SALE!! - I AM SELLING OFF SOME OF MY ORIGINAL LESLIE
STEAD ARTWORK – SEE LINK HERE http://www.biggles.info/Artwork2
(Click on
the photograph of W. E. Johns to view the hidden letter or click on the drawing
of W. E. Johns to read a short biography of his life)
William Earl Johns
Born Sunday 5th February 1893 - Died Friday 21st June 1968
There are 169
books by 'Captain W.E. Johns', which are divided below into eight different
groups
|
96 books published between 1932 and
1970 with an additional 6 omnibus editions published within this period, plus
two further books published in the late 1990's 104 books |
11 books published between 1941 and
1950 with 3 other short stories published elsewhere. 11 books |
10 books published between 1943 and
1954 with one short story published elsewhere. 10 books |
10 books published between 1954 and 1963,
with no short stories published elsewhere. 10 books |
|
6 books published between 1936 and
1939 with one of these books, (The Missing Page) originally only being
published abroad. 6 books |
8 other juvenile books published
between 1938 and 1960 (including one book that contained unique Biggles,
Worrals and Gimlet stories). 8 books |
12 books, eleven published between
1922 and 1960, for the adult market and a short story collection published in
2001. 12 books |
8 books published between 1932 and 1962
including 'The Biggles Book of Heroes' and 'The Biggles Book of Treasure
Hunting'. 8 books |
|
First
launched on 11th February 1928 and always costing just 2d (two old
pence) - This magazine ran initially for 523 weekly issues until 12th
February 1938. W. E. Johns started
contributing illustrations and then articles and then from issue 257, the
Biggles stories were published in it. |
On 19th
February 1938 "The Modern Boy" was re-launched in a new size and
this new “Modern Boy” was re-numbered from issue one again. It ran until issue 87 was published on 14th
October 1939. Production then ceased due to wartime paper shortages. W. E. Johns contributed an article to every
issue called "Let's Look Around" and it continued to feature the
Biggles stories. |
This magazine was a monthly
publication first published on Wednesday 16th March 1932 and it ran for 88
months before the last issue appeared in July 1939. W. E. Johns was editor until May 1939, (i.e. for 86 out of 88 issues) |
This magazine was a weekly publication
first published on Friday 2nd April 1938 and it ran for 84 weeks
before the last issue appeared on Friday 4th November 1939. W. E. Johns was editor until January 1939 (i.e. for 43 out of 84 issues) |
|
First published on 19th January 1879, this paper ran until February 1967. W. E. Johns started contributing Biggles stories with the October 1941 issue and Biggles stories appeared fairly regularly until June 1962. With a 3 part Gimlet tale and 57 appearances by Biggles, Johns appeared in 60 issues. You can see them here. |
John
Hamilton was the company that published the first five Biggles books. In 1935, W. E. Johns changed publishers to
the Oxford University Press. John
Hamilton Ltd was bombed out of business during WWII. The first editions of the first five
Biggles books are highly sought after.
However as they are undated, they can be hard to identify. This page tells you how to identify those
first editions |
This is a guide to the articles written by Captain W. E. Johns for “My Garden” magazine. He actually wrote 100 articles for this monthly magazine. This web page tells you which issues those articles were published in. The bulk of the articles were headed “The Passing Show”. |
Norman Wright has been publishing W. E. Johns books in limited editions of 300 since 1994. In 2007 he started a run of hardback Biggles books in fantastic dust jackets painted by Andrew Skilleter. The books are highly collectable and you can see pictures of them here |
|
Air
Defence Cadet Corps Gazette First
published in June 1939 this ran to 15 issues over two volumes. The first volume of 9 issues contains no W.
E. Johns work but every issue of the second volume did. The last ever issue – January 1941 – is
believed to be the rarest Johns magazine or periodical to obtain as it is
thought that only 1000 issues were printed. |
First published
in March 1941, this ran until June 1946 when that issue became the Air
Reserve Gazette. The first volume had
ten issues, running from March to December 1941. Volume two then commenced in January 1942
and each volume ran until the December, that being 12 issues. Johns’ work appears in the first three
volumes only. |
A
Guide to Original Book Prices This guide is helpful is working out which dust jackets were on the first editions. |
How
Johns wrote the manuscripts Find out
how the books were written! |
Did W.
E. Johns write any more books?
I ALSO HAVE FOR SALE THE BEST W.E. JOHNS
NUMBER PLATE GOING

E-MAIL ME FOR FURTHER DETAILS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BUYING THIS FANTASTIC PLATE
The copyright
in all of W.E. Johns work is owned by the estate of W.E. Johns as represented
by W.
E. Johns (Publications) Limited.
This
private limited company have appointed literary agent Pat White of Rogers
Coleridge White to represent
the interests of the estate. Their web
site is here: http://www.rcwlitagency.com/
This is a
non profit making fan based web site purely for the
information of fellow fans - no infringement of copyright is intended.
The intention of this web site is to encourage people to read the
works of William Earl Johns, one of the great authors of the 20th Century.
Thanks to Anne Shuker for correcting all of my typing errors in the story summaries