First edition of debut outing for wartime flying ace set to be sold
A RARE first edition of the original Biggles book, in which the daring adventures of the fictional First World War flying ace began, is to be auctioned.
was the first book to feature Captain James Bigglesworth, nicknamed Biggles, of the Royal Flying Corps.
It contains 17 short stories featuring Biggles and his loyal sidekicks Algy, Ginger and Smyth.
It was published in 1932, and was the first of almost 100 books written by author William Earle Johns, a pilot who usually wrote under the pen name W. E. Johns.
His Biggles tales were wildly popular in their time, and are still fondly remembered by many enthusiasts.
The book is to go under the hammer at Keys Fine Art Auctioneers in Aylsham, Norfolk, and has a pre-sale estimate of £500 to £600. Robert Henshilwood, head of books and ephemera, said: “First editions are always much sought after.
“When it is a first edition of the first book in a hugely popular canon like Biggles, it is sure to elicit massive interest. This volume is already being much talked about on the various Biggles-related internet forums. We are expecting considerable interest when it goes under the hammer later this month.”
William Earle Johns was born in 1893.
He served as an infantryman in Gallipoli and Macedonia, before joining the Royal Flying Corps in 1917.
In September 1918 he was shot down over the Western Front; his navigator was killed, but Johns survived and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner.
After leaving the RAF with the rank of Flying Officer, equivalent to Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps, he started writing short stories.
The character was also featured in 44 episodes of a television series in the early 1960s. William Earle Johns died in 1968.
The book will be auctioned on the first day of Keys’s twoday books, maps, prints and ephemera sale, which begins on Thursday, January 25.