SERGEANT BIGGLESWORTH C.I.D.

I bought this book from Oxfam in Leominster (via eBay) in May 2023, the day before the King’s Coronation. I live in Hereford and Leominster is the next town, eleven miles to the north. What is intriguing about this signed book is the date of the signature. Although inside “Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D.” it says it was “First Printed in 1946” it was in fact published on 18^th August 1947. The delay was caused by post war paper shortages.

I happen to own an archive of correspondence from W. E. Johns literary agent to Johns and I have found a couple of interesting letters from August 1947. You can see the letters below. Johns signed one of his own first editions of “Sergeant Bigglesworth C.I.D.” for a young friend of his agent, Peter Watt as can be seen in the correspondence below. That would have been in August 1947. Could this be that very book? There is every chance it is as Johns was living up in Scotland and rarely did book signings at that time as he was far from the big cities. It is unlikely he signed many copies of this first edition in August 1947, the month of publication, although of course, he may have signed many thereafter. But they wouldn’t be dated August 1947 …