THE
SECRETS OF W.E. JOHNS’
CORRESPONDENCE
ARCHIVE
In December
2014, I was lucky enough to purchase an archive of correspondence to W. E.
Johns.
It contained
over 400 letters, virtually all of them from his literary agent, Mr. Peter Watt
of A P. Watt and Son, to
Captain W. E.
Johns himself. The letters generally
span the years 1947 to 1951 but a few others precede those dates.
The letters
contain a VAST amount of information about W. E. Johns, his life, how much he
was paid and what goes on behind the scenes of a busy, successful, author’s
life. Peter Watt is usually replying to
points raised by W. E. Johns so you get a good idea of what Johns was saying in
his (unseen) letters. I was able to
contact the vendor after the auction and discovered that in the early 1970s he
was invited to Park House (where W. E. Johns has lived and died) by the then
owner and was given all the correspondence and receipts and other items that
form the collection. One of the most
interesting things is a map from W. E. Johns office
that, it is said, he used to plan Biggles journeys around the world!
If you would
like to find out more about this information then please contact me at
In the meantime,
here are some of the handful of letters from people,
other than Peter Watt, which were also in the collection. I find it fascinating just to see the old
letter headings and see how people addressed “Captain” Johns!
This
letter was part of the contract negotiations between Oxford University Press
and W. E. Johns.
His
first two books for that publisher were published in August 1935.
They
were Biggles Hits the Trail and Biggles
Flies East.
This
letter confirms the agreement of a contract between Oxford University Press and
W. E. Johns.
Letter from Mr. Peter Watt at A. P. Watt & Son to W. E.
Johns dated 28th September 1939
This
letter is the one that started it all.
Peter Watt writes to W. E. Johns, unsolicited, to ask if he can act as
his literary agent.
The
W. E. Johns biography suggests that Bill Johns was persuaded to approach
them. It seems from this letter, they
actually approached him!
Letter from W. E. Johns to Martin Lewis at Lutterworths dated 23rd September 1946 – Page
1.com
Letter from W. E. Johns to Martin Lewis at Lutterworths dated 23rd September 1946 – Page
2.com
This
letter is one from W. E. Johns pitching ideas for books to the publishers, Lutterworths.
Note
that Johns says there are TWELVE “Dr. Vane”
stories. TWELVE?! Only eleven are known!
Bill
Johns eventually fell out with Lutterworths and wrote
a brilliant letter to them to tell them why.
You can see that on my “Worrals” page.
Letter from John Attenborough at Hodder & Stoughton to W.
E. Johns dated 29th October 1948
This
letter offers condolences to W. E. Johns.
I would venture to guess the sad event might be the death of his mother,
Mrs. Elizabeth Johns (nee Earl).
Letter from Enid Blyton to W. E. Johns dated 15th
June 1949
This
EXTREMELY interesting letter from Enid Blyton offers business advice to W. E. Johns
following his letter to her to ask for it.
Letter from Ewart Wharmby at Brockhampton Press to
W. E. Johns dated 19th May 1950
This
letter of thanks is one of many in the collection. W. E. Johns was always sending fish and game
to his friends and publishers.
You
should remember that rationing continued long after the war (it didn’t end for
everything until 1954) and such gifts were very much appreciated.
Interestingly,
petrol rationing ceased on 26th May 1950 – a week after this letter
was written!
Letter from Pamela Whitlock at Collins Publishers to W. E.
Johns dated 8th September (1950) –Page 1
Letter from Pamela Whitlock at Collins Publishers to W. E.
Johns dated 8th September (1950) – Page 2
This
letter is another letter of thanks. See
comments above.
Letter from Monsieur Neilson at Les Presses de la Cite to W.
E. Johns dated 17th April 1951 – Page 1
Letter from Monsieur Neilson at Les Presses de la Cite to W.
E. Johns dated 11th June 1951 – Page 1
Letter from Monsieur Neilson at Les Presses de la Cite to W.
E. Johns dated 11th June 1951 – Page 2
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