MOSSYFACE
First Published in paperback on 23rd September 1922 as
Number 121 in the Weekly Telegraph Novel series – 78 pages*
under the pseudonym of William Earle (Johns had added an 'E' to
his real second name)
*The
original book is 24 cms by 16 cms and runs to 96 pages. Mossyface is the first 78 pages and then
pages 79 to 94 are “Hobson’s Choice” by Esther Miller
Republished in 1932 by Mellifont Press as a paperback and then
reprinted in hardback by Norman Wright in 1994 - 127 pages
I AM INTERESTED IN BUYING A FIRST OR SECOND EDITION OF THIS
BOOK (I.E. NOT THE NORMAN WRIGHT VERSION) SO IF YOU HAVE ONE PLEASE E-MAIL ME
AT
Original first edition – this was originally priced at
7d. This lovely example is over 100
years old and has just been re-priced with a red sticker showing 6d over the
original price of 7d
This picture shows how the cover would look with the original
price of 7d. The original red price
of 7d appears to have been printed on the magazine when issued and was smaller
than the overpricing 6d sticker on my first edition.
This was originally advertised in THE WEEKLY TELEGRAPH
itself. Above is issue 3155, dated
September 30th 1922. You
can see MOSSYFACE advertised at the bottom of page 24 and below you can see a
close up of that advert.
The original advert in the September 30th 1922 edition
of THE WEEKLY TELEGRAPH
1932 Mellifont reprint of original edition
1994 Norman Wright Reprint.
This was originally issued without any dust jacket. A fan made dust jacket was later made and
an example can be seen next to the plain cover of the original release.
A dust jacket was then designed and created by Andrew Skilleter
– and issued in August 2014 to mark 20 years since the 1994 reprint
– That is the example that is shown in full on the right.
This
book introduces us to Johns' first ever character, Captain James Margerson
M.C., D.F.C. and Croix de Guerre nicknamed "Mossyface" (or 'Mossy'
for short). The nickname, we are told, could come from a number of sources. In
the First World War, Margerson used to be fond of shooting up German guns at
'Mossyface' wood (a location familiar to Biggles fans). Margerson was also fond
of cards, but unlucky. Many games involved the use of a joker that was often
referred to as 'Mossyface'. In any event, we first meet Margerson when he saves
Mr. Augustus Graham and his daughter, Mary, from an armed intruder in the
grounds of their garden, where Margerson was sleeping rough. The Grahams' house
is under siege (a plot device Johns would use on more than one occasion, not
only in the Biggles books 'The
Cruise of the Condor’ and ‘Biggles
Hits the Trail'
but also in his adult thriller ‘The Man Who Lost His Way’). Graham has ancient documents, which
reveal the whereabouts of an ancient Egyptian temple containing ancient
treasures. Others want the documents, hence the siege. Margerson comes up with
the idea of buying an aircraft and flying to Egypt to find the treasure. With
the help of his old gunner, Tommy Vincent, this is what they do. Vincent is
sent on weeks in advance to buy and organise the petrol supplies needed.
Margerson rescues Graham and Mary from their house and they all fly to Egypt to
meet up with Vincent. Eventually discovering the temple, Graham and Margerson
find no treasure at all. Returning to camp, they find that hostile Arabs have
attacked. All their native bearers are dead. Tommy Vincent has been wounded and
left for dead and Mary has been kidnapped. Formulating a daring plan and
getting a recovering Vincent to fly the plane, Margerson parachutes in front of
the escaping raiders and is able to rescue Mary. When the plane comes back to
pick them up, Margerson has to fight off Arabs and has to be left behind,
although Mary is saved. Further dramatic adventures follow as Margerson has to
fight for his life and make his way back to England to be with the women he
loves and who loves him.
Mossyface
Subtitled - A Romance of the Air
Publication Details - originally published by Weekly Telegraph
Novel
An original illustration from the Norman Wright 1994 reprint of
MOSSYFACE – from my own collection – The reprint had four specially
commissioned illustrations done by RON TINER and this is one of them.