Agatha Christie cover gallery (part 1)

This is another skeletal cover gallery that I intend to create for Agatha Christie. Due to pressure of work, I've not been able to put this together in a timely fashion – I had hoped to have something together for the 125th anniversary of her birth - 15th September. Instead, I'll add more to this framework over the next few days and see how far I can get. Christie has been the subject matter for a fair number of posts here on Bear Alley over the years: quite a few of the Fontana covers have been featured but never in my usual gallery format alongside the same title's Penguin or Pan edition. The comparisons will be interesting.

Novels (series: Supt. Battle; Tommy & Tuppence Beresford; Miss Jane Marple; Hercule Poirot; Colonel Race)

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot; London, John Lane, 1920; New York, Dodd Mead, 1927)
Penguin Books 6, 1935. Typographical cover
Pan Books 310,  (Oct) 1954. Cover by Roger Hall
---- [2nd imp.] 1955; [3rd imp.] 1957.
Pan Books G112, [4th imp.] (Mar) 1958, 190pp, 2/6. Cover by Jack Keay
---- [5th imp.] 1959; [6th imp.] 1960; [7th imp.] 1960; [8th imp.] 1961.
---- [9th imp.] 1962, 190pp. Cover by W. Francis Phillipps
---- [10th imp.] 1962
Pan Books X284 [11th imp.] 1963, 190pp, 3/6. Cover by W. Francis Phillips (as per 9th imp.)
---- [12th imp.] 1965; [13th imp.] 1967; [14th imp.] 1967; [15th imp.] 1968.
Pan Books 0330-10284-2 [16th imp.] 1969, 190pp, 4/-. Cover: photo

The Secret Adversary (Beresfords; London, John Lane, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1922)
Pan Books 357, (Oct 1955), 221pp, 2/-. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] 1956.
---- [3rd imp.] (Oct) 1957. Cover by Keay
---- [4th imp.] 1958; [5th imp.] 1959; [6th imp.] 1960; [7th imp.] 1961; [8th imp.] 1961; [9th imp.] 1962 (see X265)
Pan Books X265 [10th imp.] 1963, 221pp, 3/6. Cover by W. Francis Phillipps
---- [11th imp.] 1964. *as 10th.
Pan Books 0330-10265-6 [12th imp.] 1967
---- [13th imp.] 1967; [14th imp.] 1968; [15th imp.] 1968; [16th imp.] 1970
---- [17th imp.] 1970, 221pp, 5/-. Cover photo

The Murder on the Links (Poirot; London, John Lane, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1923)
Penguin Books 61, 1935, 6d. Typographical cover
Corgi Books T54, Jul 1954.
Pan Books G323, (Jan) 1960, 191pp, 2/6.
---- [2nd imp.] 1961; [3rd imp.] 1961; [4th imp.] 1962.
---- [5th imp.] 1962, 191pp, 2/6. Cover by David Tayler
Pan Books X241 [6th imp.] (May) 1963.
---- [7th imp.] 1964; [8th imp.] 1965; [9th imp.] 1967; [10th imp.] 1967.
---- [11th imp.] 1968, 220pp, 3/6. Cover: photo

The Man in the Brown Suit (Race; London, John Lane, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1924)
Pan Books 250, (Jul) 1953. Cover by J.P.
---- [2nd imp.] 1954; [3rd imp.] 1956; [4th imp.] 1957.
Pan Books G176 [5th imp.] (Jun) 1958, 190pp, 2/6. Cover by Sam Peffer
---- [6th imp.] 1959; [7th imp.] 1959; [8th imp.] 1960; [9th imp.] 1961; [10th imp.] 1962; [11th imp.] 1962.
Pan Books X242 [12th imp.] (May) 1963, 190pp, 3/6. W. Francis Phillipps.

The Secret of Chimneys (Battle; London, John Lane, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1925)
Pan Books 366, (Jul 1956).
---- [2nd imp.] 1957.
Pan Books G106 [3rd imp.] (Feb) 1958, 223pp, 2/-. *as 366
---- [4th imp.] 1958; [5th imp.] 1959, 2/6; [6th imp.] 1960
---- [7th imp.] 1961, 223pp, 2/6. Cover by W. Francis Phillipps
---- [8th imp.] 1961; [9th imp.] 1962; [10th imp.] 1962; [11th imp.] 1963, 3/6 (see X283)
Pan X283 [12th imp.] 1965; [13th imp.] 1967; [14th imp.] 1967
---- [15th imp.] 1968, 223pp, 3/6. Cover photo

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot; London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1926; New York, Dodd Mead, 1926)
Collins White Circle 19, Apr 1937.
Penguin Books 684, 1948, 2/-. Typographical cover
Fontana Books 155, 1957, 254pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] Mar 1959; [3rd imp.] Dec 1960.
Fontana Books 897 [4th imp.] Nov 1963, 254pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams

The Big Four (Poirot; London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1927; New York, Dodd Mead, 1927)
Penguin Books 1196, 1957, 159pp, 2/6. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] 1957.
Pan Books G427, (Feb) 1961. Cover by W. Francis Phillipps
Pan Books X269, 1963, 3/6. Cover by W. Francis Phillips (as per 1st imp.)

The Mystery of the Blue Train (Poirot; London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1928; New York, Dodd Mead, 1928)
Collins White Circle 132c, Mar 1941.
Penguin Books 691, 1948. Typographical cover
Pan Books 284, (Apr 1954). Cover by Pollack.
Fontana Books 258, 1959.

The Seven Dials Mystery (Battle; London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1929; New York, Dodd Mead, 1929)
Collins White Circle 47, Sep 1938, 288pp.
Penguin Books 687, 1948. Typographical cover
Fontana Books 23, (Apr 1954), 2/-. Cover by John Rose
Pan Books G571, (Jul 1962). Cover by W. Francis Phillipps
Pan Books X244, 1963. * same as above
Fontana Books 1561 [6th imp.] Aug 1970. Cover by Tom Adams
---- [7th imp.] 1971.
Fontana Books 0006-16541-9 [xth imp.] 1985. Cover M.B.?

The Murder at the Vicarage (Marple; London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1930; New York, Dodd Mead, 1930)
Collins White Circle 32, Jan 1938.
Collins White Circle 87, Oct 1939 (Dec 1939), 256pp.
Collins White Circle 129c, Mar 1941 (Apr 1941), 192pp.
Penguin Books 686, 1948, 256pp. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] 1949; [3rd imp.] 1950; [4th imp.] 1952.
Collins White Circle 212c, nd (Feb 1953), 192pp.
Collins White Circle 257c, nd (Jun 1957)
Fontana Books 0006-16130-8 [16th imp.] Jun 1982, 189pp, £1.25. Cover by M.B.?

The Sittaford Mystery (London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1931; as The Murder at Hazelmoor, New York, Dodd Mead, 1931)
Collins White Circle 75, Jun 1939 (Aug 1939)
Penguin Books 690, 1948. Typographical cover
Collins White Circle 248c, nd (Feb 1956), 192pp.
Pan Books X401, (Jul 1965).
Fontana Books 0006-16816-7 [11th imp.] Nov 1983, 191pp, £1.50. Cover by M.B.

Peril at End House (Poirot; London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1932; New York, Dodd Mead, 1932)
Collins White Circle 220c, nd (Jan 1954), 256pp, 2/-.
Penguin Books 688, 1948. Typographical cover
Fontana Books 513, 1961, 191pp, 3/6. Cover by John Rose
---- [2nd imp.] May 1963. *as 1st.
Pan Books X521, (Jul 1966).

Lord Edgware Dies (Poirot; London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1933; as Thirteen at Dinner, New York, Dodd Mead, 1933)
Collins White Circle 41, Apr 1938 (May 1938), 256pp.
Collins White Circle 88, Jan 1940.
Penguin Books 685, 1948, 252pp. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] Dec 1948.
Fontana Books 31, (Jul 1954), 2/-.
---- [2nd imp.] Nov 1956.
---- [3rd imp.] Aug 1958, 192pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
Fontana Books 0006-14215-X [13th imp.] Jul 1976, 192pp, 60p. Cover by Tom Adams

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1934; as The Boomerang Clue, New York, Dodd Mead, 1935)
Collins White Circle 9, Jun 1936, 256pp.
Collins White Circle 219c, nd (Jan 1954), 192pp
Fontana Books 114, (Jul 1956), 191pp, 2/-. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] 1957; [3rd imp.] 1958, 2/6.
Pan Books X736, 1968, Cover photo
Fontana Books 0006-14208-7 [7th imp.] May 1973.
---- [11th imp.] Jun 1976, 191pp, 60p. Cover by Tom Adams

Murder on the Orient Express (Poirot; London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1934; as Murder in the Calais Coach, New York, Dodd Mead, 1934)
Collins White Circle 1, Apr 1936.
Penguin Books 689, 1948, 223pp. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] 1948; [3rd imp.] 1949; [4th imp.] 1950; [5th imp.] 1952.
Collins White Circle 226c, nd (Feb 1954), 192pp.
Fontana Books 299, 1959, 192pp, 2/6. Cover by John L. Baker
---- [2nd imp.] Apr 1961. *as 1st.
Fontana Books 0006-13712-1 [11th imp.] Dec 1974, 191pp, 40p Cover still. Movie tie-in.

Three Act Tragedy (Poirot; as Murder in Three Acts,  New York, Dodd, Mead, 1934; as Three Act Tragedy. London, W. Collins Sons & Co., 1935)
Collins White Circle 13, Oct 1936.
Collins White Circle 201c, nd (Dec 1951), 256pp.
Fontana Books 184, 1957, 192pp.
Pan Books X275, (Jan ) 1964, 204pp, 3/6,. Cover by W. Francis Phillipps
---- [2nd imp.] 1964; [3rd imp.] 1966.

Death in the Clouds (Poirot; London, Collins, 1935; as Death in the Air, New York, Dodd Mead, 1935)
Collins White Circle 51, Jan 1939.
Collins White Circle 231c, nd (Jan 1955), 192pp.
Fontana Books 195, 1957, 188pp, 2/-. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] 1958; [3rd imp.] 1959.
Fontana Books 586 [4th imp.] 1961, 188pp, 2/6. Cover by John Rose
Pan Books X317, (Jul 1964). Cover by W. Francis Phillipps.
Fontana Books 1923 [12th imp.] Apr 1972, 190pp, 25p. Cover by Tom Adams

The A.B.C. Murders (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1936; as The Alphabet Murders, New York, Pocket Books, 1966)
Collins White Circle 63, Apr 1939, 256pp.
Collins White Circle 217c, nd (May 1953), 192pp.
Penguin Books 683, 1948, 224pp.
---- [2nd imp.] 1948; [3rd imp.] 1949; [4th imp.] 1950; [5th imp.] 1952.
Pan Books GP95, (Jan 1958). Cover by Keay

Cards on the Table (Battle; Poirot; Race; London, Collins, 1936; New York, Dodd Mead, 1937)
Pan Books 176, (Jul 1951), 2/-. Cover by Carl Wilton
---- [xth imp.] 1954.
---- [xth imp.] 1955, 2/-.
Fontana Books 166, 1957, 192pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] Oct 1958; [3rd imp.] Jan 1960.
Fontana Books 645 [4th imp.] Jan 1962, 192pp, 2/6. Typographical cover
Fontana Books 1729 [7th imp.] Jun 1968, 192pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams
---- [8th imp.] Jan 1969; [9th imp.] Apr 1969. *as 7th.

Murder in Mesopotamia (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1936)
Collins White Circle 94, May 1940.
Penguin Books 1099, 1955, 220pp.
---- [2nd imp.] 1957; [3rd imp.] 1958; [4th imp.] 1959.
Pan Books 200, (Apr 1952), 2/-. Cover by Wilding
---- [xth imp.] 1953, 2/-.
Fontana Books 618, 1962, 190pp, 2/6. Cover by Keay

Death on the Nile (Poirot; London, Collins, 1937; New York, Dodd Mead, 1938)
Penguin Books 927, 1953. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] 1955.
Pan Books 87, (Apr) 1949, 256pp, 2/-. Cover by ?.
---- [2nd imp.] 1949, 2/-.
Fontana Books 374, 1960. Cover by Eileen Walton
Fontana Books 1844 [3rd imp.] Nov 1968, 222pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books 0006-15356-9 [20th imp.] Jul 1978.
---- [33rd imp.] Jan 1981, 222pp, 95p. Cover still. Movie tie-in.

Dumb Witness (Poirot; London, Collins, 1937; as Poirot Loses a Client, New York, Dodd Mead, 1937)
Pan Books 82, (Mar) 1949, 256pp, 2/-. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] 1950, 2/-. * restyled version of same cover
---- [3rd imp.] 1951.
---- [4th imp.] 1953.
---- [5th imp.] 1954, 2/- * restyled version of same cover
Fontana Books 250,  1958
---- [2nd imp.] 1959; [3rd imp.] Feb 1960.
---- [4th imp.] Jan 1962, 255pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
Pan Books 0330-02334-9 [6th imp.] 1969
---- [7th imp.] 1969; [8th imp.] 1970; [9th imp.] 1971.
---- [10th imp.] 1972, 218pp, 25p. Cover photo

Appointment with Death (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1938)
Collins White Circle 119c, Jan 1941.
Collins White Circle 209c, nd (Jun 1953), 192pp.
Penguin Books 682, 1948, 1/6. Typographical cover
Pan Books 419, (Jun 1957). Cover by Stowe
Pan Books G155 [2nd imp.] (Aug) 1958, 160pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
---- [3rd imp.] 1959.
Fontana Books 0006-14045-9 [9th imp.] Jun 1977, 160pp, 65pp. Cover by Tom Adams

Hercule Poirot's Christmas (Poirot; London, Collins, 1939; as Murder for Christmas, New York, Dodd Mead, 1939; as A Holiday for Murder, New York, Avon, 1947)
Collins White Circle 149c, Jan 1945, 160pp.
Collins White Circle 200c, nd (Dec 1951).
Fontana Books 175, 1957, 188pp.
---- [xth imp.] 1960.
Pan Books X721, 1967. Cover photo
Fontana Books 0006-14126-9 [13th imp.] Aug 1976, 189pp, 60p. Cover by Tom Adams

Murder Is Easy (Battle;. London, Collins, 1939; as Easy to Kill, New York, Dodd Mead, 1939)
Collins White Circle 145c, 1944?
Pan Books 161, (Dec 1950). Cover by KF
---- [xth imp.] 1952, 2/-.
---- [xth imp.] 1954, 2/-.
Fontana Books 428, 1960, 190pp, 3/6. Cover by John L. Baker
---- [2nd imp.] Mar 1963.

Ten Little Niggers (London, Collins, 1939; as And Then There Were None, New York, Dodd Mead, 1940; as Ten Little Indians, New York, Pocket Books, 1965)
Collins White Circle 237c, nd (Feb 1955), 256pp.
Penguin Books 1256, 1958, 201pp.
---- [2nd imp.] 1959.
---- [3rd imp.] 1960, 201pp, 2/6. Typographical cover
Pan Books 4, (Jun) 1947, 192pp, 1/6. Cover by Plante
---- [2nd imp.] 1950, 190pp, 1/6. Cover by John Pollack
---- [3rd imp.] 1950. *as 2nd.
---- [Xth imp.] 1951. Cover by D.P.
Fontana Books 806, 1963, 190, 3/6. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] Apr 1964.
Fontana Books 1355 [3rd imp.] Mar 1966, 190pp, 3/6. Cover stills. Movie tie-in.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Poirot; London, Collins, 1940; as The Patriotic Murders, New York, Dodd Mead, 1941; as An Overdose of Death, New York, Dell, 1953)
Collins White Circle 186c, nd (Mar 1950),  256pp, 1/6.
Pan Books 380, (Jun 1956). Cover by Stowe
Fontana Books 334, 1959, 191pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
Fontana Books 2022 [3rd imp.] Apr 1965.
---- [4th imp.] Feb 1967.
---- [5th imp.] Dec 1968, 191pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams

Sad Cypress (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1940)
Collins White Circle 147c, Apr 1944, 160pp.
Pan Books 271, (Jan 1954). Cover by M.G.
Fontana Books 342, 1959, 191pp, 2/6. Cover by John L. Baker
---- [2nd imp.] Jul 1961; [3rd imp.] Jan 1963.

Evil Under the Sun (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1941)
Collins White Circle 189c, nd (May 1950), 256pp.
Collins White Circle 216c, nd (Apr 1953), 256pp.
Fontana Books 212, 1957, 189pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
Pan Books X170, 1963, 218pp, 3/6. Cover by W. Francis Phillipps?
---- [2nd imp.] 1963; [3rd imp.] 1964.
Fontana Books 0006-16598-2 [23rd imp.] Mar 1982, 189pp, £1.25. Cover still. Movie tie-in.

N or M? (Beresfords; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1941)
Collins White Circle 162c, nd (Feb 1947), 192pp.
Collins White Circle 213c, nd (Apr 1953), 192pp.
Pan Books G259, (Jul) 1959. Cover by Glenn Steward
---- [2nd imp.] 1960.
---- [3rd imp.] 1961, 189pp, 2/6. Cover by Sam Peffer
Fontana Books 0006-14415-2 [10th imp.] Jan 1979, 189pp, 70p. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books 0006-16301-7 [9th imp.] Jul 1981, 189pp, £1.00. Cover by M.B.?

The Body in the Library (Marple; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1942)
Collins White Circle 163c, nd (Apr 1947), 160pp.
Collins White Circle 198c, nd (Feb 1951), 160pp.
Penguin Books 924, 1953. Typographical cover
Pan Books G221, (Mar) 1959, 158pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] 1959.
Fontana Books 1515, [3rd imp.] Jun 1967, 191pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams

The Moving Finger (Marple; New York, Dodd Mead, 1942; London, Collins, 1943)
Collins White Circle 164c, nd (Apr 1947), 160pp.
Penguin Books 930, 1953. Typographical cover
Pan Books 55, (Jul) 1948, 192pp, 2/-. Cover by Sington
---- [xth imp.] 1950, 190pp, 1/6. Cover by Geo. Woodman
---- [xth imp.] 1952.
Collins White Circle 274c, nd (Feb 1958), 160pp.
Fontana Books 480, 1961, 160pp, 2/6. Cover by John L. Baker
---- [2nd imp.] Dec 1962. *as 1st.

Five Little Pigs (Poirot; London, Collins, 1942; as Murder in Retrospect, New York, Dodd Mead, 1942)
Collins White Circle 168c, nd (Jun 1947).
Collins White Circle 197c, nd (Jan 1951), 192pp.
Pan Books 264, (Oct) 1953, 190pp, 2/-. Cover by FVM
---- [2nd imp.] 1954.
---- [3rd imp.] 1955, 190pp, 2/-. *as 1st.
Collins White Circle 258c, nd (Feb 1957), 192pp.
Fontana Books 309, 1959, 192pp, 2/6. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] Dec 1960; [3rd imp.] Aug 1962. *as 1st.
Fontana Books 0006-13983-3 [22nd imp.] Jun 1979, 189pp, 75p. Cover by Tom Adams

Death Comes As the End (New York, Dodd Mead, 1944; London, Collins, 1945)
Collins White Circle 182c, nd (Jan 1950), 160pp.
Penguin Books 926, 1953. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] 1954.
---- [3rd imp.] 1957, 189pp, 2/6. Typographical cover
---- [4th imp.] 1958, 189pp, 2/6. Typographical cover
Pan Books X213, (Jul 1963).
Fontana Books 1736 [2nd imp.] Jun 1968, 191pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams

Towards Zero (Battle; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1944)
Collins White Circle 160c, nd (Feb 1947), 160pp.
Pan Books 54, (Jun) 1948, 200pp, 2/-. Cover by ?
---- [xth imp.] 1952. Cover by Mendoza
Collins White Circle 233c, nd (Jan 1955), 160pp
Collins White Circle 263c, nd (Mar 1957), 160pp
Fontana Books 319, 1959
---- [2nd imp.] Dec 1961, 192pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
Fontana Books 0006-16385-8 [10th imp.] Nov 1983, 192pp, £1.50. Cover by M.B.?

Sparkling Cyanide (London, Collins, 1945; as Remembered Death, New York, Dodd Mead, 1945)
Collins White Circle 179c, nd (Aug 1949), 160pp.
Pan Books 345, 1955. Cover by ?
Pan Books G156 [xth imp.] (Aug 1958).
Fontana Books 419, 1960, 2/6. Cover by John L. Baker

The Hollow (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1946; as Murder After Hours, New York, Dell, 1954)
Pan Books 119, (Jan 1950)
---- [xth imp.] 1952 * restyled version with same cover
Fontana Books 70, (Jul 1955), 2/-.
---- [2nd imp.] 1956; [3rd imp.] 1957.
---- [4th imp.] 1958, 190pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
Fontana Books 546 [5th imp.] 1961, 190pp, 2/6. Cover by Barbara Walton

Taken at the Flood (Poirot; London, Collins, 1948; as There Is a Tide..., New York, Dodd Mead, 1948)
Collins White Circle 206c, nd (May 1952), 192pp, 1/6.
Collins White Circle 254c, nd (Jan 1957), 192pp.
Collins White Circle  284c, nd (Jan 1959), 192pp.
Fontana Books 520, 1961, 2/6. Cover by ?
Pan Books X348, (Feb 1965).

Crooked House (London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1949)
Penguin Books 925, 1953. Typographical cover
---- [2nd imp.] 1954.
Collins White Circle 267c, nd (May 1957), 192pp.
Fontana Books 328, 1959, 191pp, 2/6. Cover by John L. Baker
Fontana Books 0006-13798-9 [23rd imp.] Sep 1980, 160pp, 95p, Cover by Tom Adams

A Murder Is Announced (Marple; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1950)
Fontana Books 7, (Oct 1953), 3/-.
Pan Books G144, (Jul 1958), 205pp, 2/6. Cover by Keay
---- [2nd imp.] 1959; [3rd imp.] 1959; [4th imp.] 1960.
Fontana Books 657, 1963, 3/6. Cover by ?
Fontana Books 2085 [7th imp.] Oct 1969, 221pp, 4/-. Cover by Tom Adams

They Came to Baghdad (London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1951)
Fontana Books 15, (Feb 1954), 2/-. Cover by Johnson
---- [2nd imp.] Aug 1956; [3rd imp.] Sep 1957.
Fontana Books 403 [4th imp.] May 1960, 192pp, 2/6. Cover by John L. Baker

They Do It with Mirrors (Marple; London, Collins, 1952; as Murder with Mirrors, New York, Dodd Mead, 1952)
Fontana Books 80, (Oct) 1955, 187pp, 2/-. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] Oct 1956; [3rd imp.] Oct 1957; [4th imp.] Apr 1960. *as 1st.

Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1952; as Blood Will Tell, New York, Detective Book Club, 1952)
Fontana Books 41, (Jan 1955), 2/-. Cover by John Rose
Fontana Books 0006-16371-8 [12th imp.] May 1981, 188pp, £1.00. Cover by Tom Adams?

After the Funeral (Poirot; London, Collins, 1953; as Funerals Are Fatal, New York, Dodd Mead, 1953; as Murder at the Gallop, London, Fontana, 1963)
Fontana Books 110, (Jun 1956), 190pp, 2/-. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] 1957; [3rd imp.] 1958; [4th imp.] 1959; [5th imp.] 1961. *as 1st.
---- [6th imp.] Jul 1963.
as Murder at the Gallop, Fontana Books 912 [7th imp.] Nov 1963, 192pp, 3/6, [stills]. Movie tie-in

A Pocket Full of Rye (Marple; London, Collins, 1953; New York, Dodd Mead, 1954)
Fontana Books 0006-16086-7 [24th imp.] Jun 1980, 188pp, 85p. Cover by Tom Adams

Destination Unknown (London, Collins, 1954; as So Many Steps to Death, New York, Dodd Mead, 1955)
Fontana Books 228, 1958, 192pp.
---- [2nd imp.] 1959; [3rd imp.] 1960.
Fontana Books 654 [4th imp.] Jun 1962, 192pp, 2/6. Typographical cover
Fontana Books 1506 [7th imp.] Apr 1967; [8th imp.] Nov 1968.
---- [9th imp.] Nov 1969, 191pp, 4/-. Cover by Tom Adams

Hickory, Dickory, Dock (Poirot; London, Collins, 1955; as Hickory, Dickory, Death, New York, Dodd Mead, 1955)
Fontana Books 237, 1958, 192pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] 1959. *as 1st.
Pan Books X598, (Jan) 1967. Cover photo

Dead Man's Folly (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1956)
Pan Books X468, (Feb 1966).
Fontana Books 0006-15172-8 [9th imp.] May 1980, 192pp, 85p. Cover by Tom Adams

4:50 from Paddington (Marple; London, Collins, 1957; as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!, New York, Dodd Mead, 1957; as Murder She Said, New York, Pocket Books, 1961)
Fontana Books 434, 1960, 190pp, 2/6. Cover by ?
---- [2nd imp.] Sep 1960.
---- [3rd imp.] Oct 1961, 190pp, 2/6. Cover still. Move tie-in.

Ordeal by Innocence (London, Collins, 1958; New York, Dodd Mead, 1959)
Fontana Books 574, 1961, 192pp, 2/6. Cover by ? [signed]
Fontana Books 0006-16424-2 [17th imp.] Sep 1983, 192pp, £1.50. Cover by M.B.

Cat Among the Pigeons (Poirot; London, Collins, 1959; New York, Dodd Mead, 1960)
Fontana Books 627, 1962, 188pp, 2/6. Cover by John L. Baker
Fontana Books 950, [2nd imp.] Apr 1963; [3rd imp.] Apr 1964; [4th imp.] Nov 1964; [5th imp.] Nov 1965.
---- [6th imp.] Jan 1968, 188pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams?

The Pale Horse (London, Collins, 1961; New York, Dodd Mead, 1962)
Fontana Books 1000, 1964, 191pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (Marple; London, Collins, 1962; as The Mirror Crack'd, New York, Dodd Mead, 1963)
Fontana Books 1077, 1965
---- [2nd imp.] Sep 1965; [3rd imp.] May 1966; [4th imp.] Aug 1966; [5th imp.] Aug 1970.
---- [6th imp.] Dec 1970, 192pp, 5/-. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books 0006-16135-9 [as The Mirror Crack’d on cover] [6th imp. [actually later]] Mar 1981, 192pp, £1.25 Cover design/still. Movie tie-in.

The Clocks (Poirot; London, Collins, 1963; New York, Dodd Mead, 1964)
Fontana Books 0006-16173-1 [21st imp.] Feb 1981, 221pp, £1.00. Cover by M.B.

A Caribbean Mystery (Marple; London, Collins, 1964; New York, Dodd Mead, 1965)
Fontana Books 1418, 1966.
---- [2nd imp.] Jun 1967, 158pp, 3/6. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books 0006-15359-3 [23rd imp.] Sep 1978, 158pp, 70p. Cover by Tom Adams

At Bertram's Hotel (Marple; London, Collins, 1965; New York, Dodd Mead, 1966)
Fontana Books 0006-13487-4 [20th imp.] Mar 1979, 192pp, 75p. Cover by Tom Adams

Third Girl (Poirot; London, Collins, 1966; New York, Dodd Mead, 1967)
Fontana Books 2136, 1968, 190pp, 4/-. Cover by Tom Adams
---- [2nd imp.] Aug 1969. *as 1st.

Endless Night (London, Collins, 1967; New York, Dodd Mead, 1968)
Fontana Books 0006-13192-4 [16th imp.] Oct 1976, 191pp, 60p. Cover by Tom Adams

By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Beresfords; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1968)
Fontana Books 2682, 1971, 191pp, 25p. Cover by Tom Adams?

Hallowe'en Party (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1969)
Fontana Books 3005, 1972, 189pp, 30p. Cover by Tom Adams?

Passenger to Frankfurt (London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1970)
Fontana Books 0006-13295-2, 1972, 192pp, 30p. Cover by Tom Adams
---- [10th imp.]. Cover by Tom Adams
---- [xth imp.]. Cover by M.B.?

Nemesis (Marple; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1971)
Fontana Books 0006-13458-0, 1974, 192pp, 35p. Cover by Tom Adams

Elephants Can Remember (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1972)
Fontana Books 0006-13930-2, 1975, 160pp, 45p. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books [2nd imp.] 1978. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books [xth imp.]. Cover by M.B.

 

 

Postern of Fate (Beresfords; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1973)
Fontana Books 4255, 1976. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books 5297, 1980. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books 0006-16527-3 [7th imp.] Aug 1982, 221pp, £1.00. Cover by M.B.

 

Curtain: Hercule Poirot's Last Case (Poirot; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1975)
Fontana Books 0006-14277-?. Cover photo
Fontana Books 0006-16800-0 [9th imp.] Feb 1986, 188pp, £1.95. Cover by M.B.

Sleeping Murder (Marple; London, Collins, and New York, Dodd Mead, 1976)
Fontana Books 0006-14590-6, 1977, 192pp, 75p. Cover by Tom Adams
Fontana Books 0006-16533-8 [8th imp.] Jan 1982, 192pp, £1.25. Cover by M.B.

Comic Cuts - 11 September 2015

Another one of my stitched-together photographs, this time of Rowhedge 

as seen from West Quay last Sunday morning.

I thought I'd give you a taste of the kind of thing I have to do day-to-day to earn a crust. I've just had an overlapping week where we have an expanded issue for our October number and then a tight deadline for November: I'm racing to get the former finished and at the same time trying to get the latter issue up and running.

Because the ad team are still selling in, we've extended the October deadline and pushed back the publication date by a week. Normally at this stage of the production cycle I would have the vast bulk of the issue completed and all the text and images would be sitting with our design studio. Some pages would probably already be finished and proofed out.

Not this month. The bulk of the contents are written, but I'm still waiting on a pile of advertorial material to come in – there could be anything up to thirty pieces in our Show preview, of which I have so far seen three. And while I "finished" writing the news on Tuesday, there are still a few pieces creeping in. Cue one unhappy design studio. Unfortunately, there's bugger all we can do about it as it's advertising that pays our wages.

Pushing the magazine back means that I will probably only have three weeks to do the next one as it is due out before the Independent Hotel Show – so no moving the dates around for that one! Hence my attempts to get off to a flying start.

There is a good site we are signed up to where I can contact a good many PR firms to see if their clients can contribute material. Unfortunately, we're getting swamped by little start-up firms trying to flog apps. I submitted four request forms on Monday: one about refurbishing bars, one about drinks, one about toiletries and one about software (and that's software specifically used in hotels).

Of the 26 respondents I've had in the past couple of days, 17 – two thirds – have been about software. And half of them are, frankly, trying it on, as they seem to be offering nothing relating to the subject matter I outlined. That's typical of what happens every issue; I fully expect that two-thirds of the responses I get over the next week will be for that one section. Most of it will get used one way or another as we also have a website to fill; we're hungry for text, but what we get in often lacks any worthwhile content – there's lots of repetition and, worse, there's just so much jargon. However much I ask for jargon-free features, there's jargon. So much fucking jargon.

Although I'm not planning to take a break, the next couple of weeks might be patchy here at Bear Alley. I may do something similar to the James Hadley Chase cover gallery, which is to set up a skeleton and slowly fill the gaps. I'm still working on the Chase and have increased the number of cleaned-up cover scans from 23 to 40 and typed up quite a few more blurbs in the past week. I'll keep going whenever I get a chance and eventually I'll repost it once it's more complete.

Some scans this week that are more random than usual.

 

 

Commando issues 4843-4846

Commando issues on sale 10th September 2015

Commando No 4843 – Peterloo!
Thomas Hatfield decided that a farmer’s life wasn’t him and decided to join his local regiment, the Lancashire Light Foot.
   Soon he was plunged into the tumultuous events of the Napoleonic Wars. He was sickened by the villainy of a crooked sergeant and his cronies, in addition to the threat from the opposing French army at the battle of Waterloo.
   After massacre at St. Peter’s Field, Manchester — which became known as ‘Peterloo’ — the young man wondered if a life in England was what he really wanted…

Introduction
200 years ago, the battle that — arguably if you’re French — set the political landscape of Europe for many generations was fought in a previously insignificant area of what was then the Netherlands. Waterloo.
   Waterloo! (Issue no 4823) told a fictional — as we always do — tale of that epic history-defining battle, focussing mainly on the French perspective of the ordinary soldiers embroiled in the heat of the fighting.
   Regular Commando author Ferg Handley wrote that story, wonderfully illustrated by veteran artist Carlos Pino. Now, both creators have produced this follow-up, which turns its attention towards the British. Eagle-eyed readers — that’s all of you, we wouldn’t have it any other way — may even have noticed that this book’s hero, Private Thomas Hatfield, and his nemesis, Sergeant Nathan Wilkes, had brief cameo appearances in part one.
   Once again, we believe that Ferg and Carlos have done us proud, and hope that you enjoy this adventure.—Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

Story: Ferg Handley
Art: Carlos Pino
Cover: Carlos Pino

Commando No 4844 – Hurricane Ace
The huge stone statue of Buddha smiled…
   Beside it on this remote Burmese hillside lay the smoking wreckage of a Japanese transport plane, with an injured general inside, and a complete set of plans for their invasion of India. From every point of the compass Japanese search parties came to hunt for the wreck. And so did Ian Murdoch – a young Hurricane pilot who’d made the biggest mistake of his career in shooting down the Japanese plane instead of forcing it to land at the British base. Now he had only four men and his own luck and courage to make good on his mistake.

Introduction
As is common with many of the books from Commando’s earliest years, this tale is pretty hard-hitting. There’s seems to be something about jungle tales that bring out an extra grittiness to the writing.
   A jungle story, you may well ask?
   Yes. Although Ken Barr’s cover is stunning, it’s perhaps slightly misleading. Apart from the first handful of pages, this adventure takes place firmly on the ground — and in the terrifying heat of the jungle. Hurricane ace is a tough read, yes, but it’s worth it.—Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

Story: Henderson
Art: Segrelles
Cover: Ken Barr
Originally Commando No 166 (June 1965), re-issued as No 791 (November 1973)

Commando No 4845 – Enemies Yesterday…
A veteran of the battle to defend Malta in 1942, Flight Lieutenant Jim Newman remembered barely surviving against Italian Macchi 200 aircraft.
   A couple of years later, when promoted to Squadron Leader in the Balkan Air Force — a multinational unit based in Yugoslavia and fighting the Luftwaffe — the Englishman was less than pleased when some rebel Italian pilots joined their cause.
   Although acknowledging that the Italians were gifted pilots, could Jim truly accept that the enemies of yesterday were now the allies of today?

Story: Steve Taylor
Art: Jaume Forns
Cover: Ian Kennedy

Commando 4846 – Day Of Shame
The other pilots sneered and joked about it…the day of shame when they called Jim Black yellow. But Jim wasn’t laughing, and neither would any other pilot accused of cowardice and kicked out of the squadron.
   He’d just have to prove them wrong, even without an aircraft…

Introduction
Thanks to a series of unlucky events and the manipulation of an unscrupulous supporting character, our hero, Pilot Officer Jim Black, appears far from heroic in the eyes of his C.O. and fellow Hurricane pilots.
   I can only imagine that feeling terrified in the face of constant death and destruction is a completely natural reaction. However, being accused of cowardice must, of course, be one of the worst possible things that could happen to a serviceman during wartime and author C.G Walker’s script certainly highlights this —and since this is Commando, we, as readers, certainly hope our disgraced hero will prove his mettle once and for all.—Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

Story: C.G. Walker
Art: Terry Patrick
Cover: Ian Kennedy
Originally Commando No 2367 (April 1990)

Invasion Colchester 2015

Saturday was the annual Invasion Colchester event. Unfortunately, I missed it. But Mel went into town and snapped a few pictures. I have to confess that the Totoro above was probably taken at a convention and was mixed up with the pics. below, but as I love Totoro, I thought I'd use it anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plotlands

Plotlands was a 6-part BBC TV show broadcast in 1996 filmed partly in Wivenhoe. I found a news item in a local newspaper recently and photographed the location on Sunday morning. (The column header is actually five photographs stitched together!)

I don't remember watching Plotlands when it came out – it doesn't really sound like my cup of tea. However, I found this preview from the Independent (22 September 1996), which sounds intriguing and reviews that I've found seem fairly positive: it scores 7.4/10 on IMDB. The show starred Amanda Abbingdon, better known today as Mary Morstan (Mrs. John Watson) in Sherlock and Miss Mardle in Mr. Selfridge, and also featured Saskia Reeves (Luther, Wolf Hall), David Ryall (Grandad in Outnumbered), Rebecca Callard (Ruth Walsh in Coronation Street), Philip Whitchurch (Tyler in My Hero) and others.

Leslie H Fox

One of the most intriguing authors published by Alliance Press and its spin-off Pan Press, was described on the front cover as  "The late Flight-Sergt." Leslie H. Fox.

The author was Leslie Henry Fox, born in Hackney in 1910, the son of Sidney Solomon Fox (1880-1960), a schoolmaster working for the London Country Council, and his wife Sarah (nee Siegenberg), a schoolmistress, who were married in London in 1904.

Leslie grew up in Stoke Newington along with his sister Stella Lilian Fox (1914-1963). He was still living with his parents at 19 Bethune Road, Tower Hamlets N16, moving to 52 Canfield Gardens, Hampstead, around 1932, and 5 Avenue Mansions, Finchley Road, in around 1935.

Fox was married to Anne Sheff (1909-2002) in 1936 and they moved to 30 Cedar Road, Cricklewood, where they were living in the late 1930s.

Fox volunteered for service on 29 November 1940, serving with the 44th Squadron of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, rising to the rank of Flight Sergeant. He was stationed at RAF Waddington.

He was killed during a raid on Hamburg on the night of November 9-10, 1942. The RAF mustered 213 aircraft (74 Wellingtons, 72 Lancasters, 48 Halifaxes, 19 Stirlings), but the bombers encountered thick clouds, heavy rain and ice. As the raid progressed, many of the bombs fell in the Elbe or in open country; 26 fires were started in Hamburg, of which 3 were large, and 3 people were reported killed and 15 injured. The British casualties amounted to 15 aircraft (5 Lancasters, 4 Stirlings, 4 Wellingtons and 2 Halifaxes).

Fox, then aged 32, was aboard Avro Lancaster W4180 KM-D which reputedly dove into the ground near Buchholz, a few miles south-south west of Hamburg; he was buried at Ohlsdorfer Friedhof, Ohlsdorf, Hamburg-Nord. He was reported "presumed killed in action" in Casualty Communique No.292 in October 1943, having previously been reported "missing believed killed in action".

The above is based on information gathered from the War Graves Commission, online information from RAF Bomber Command Database and on probate records. There are, however, reports that disagree with the above facts, notably the Jewish Virtual Library, whose entry reads thus:

1253600 Flight Sergeant Leslie Henry Fox, son of Sydney and Sarah Fox, husband of Mrs A. Fox, of 144 Walm Lane, London NW2, volunteered 29 November 1940. Killed in action 27 November 1942, reported 12 February 1943, buried Hamburg. This information from WWRT 196 and AJEX card. But Chorley (see entry date for casualty) says he was in Lancaster III JB128 SR-U2, shot down over Berlin on 2-3 December 1943, take-off Ludford 1648, and was POW No. 269770 at Stalag 4B. 

I have yet to resolve this conflict of information, although it is very likely that there was more than one Flt. Sgt. L. H. Fox.

His widow, Annie, married Philip Shindler in 1943.

PUBLICATIONS

Perchance to Dream and The Elusive Plot: Stories. London, Alliance Press, Nov 1944.
It’s Haywire! Five fast and furious farces. London, Alliance Press, Jan 1945.
The Vampire, and sixteen other stories. London, Alliance Press, Apr 1945.
Design for Murder, and five other stories. London, Alliance Press, Jun 1945.
Twisted Tales. London, Alliance Press, Jan 1946.
The Heel of Achilles. London, Pan Press, Apr 1946.
Rex on the Trail. London, Alliance Press, advertised.

Olive Moore

As with a lot of Bear Alley's most investigative posts, this one begins with an e-mail from my good pal John Herrington, who begins his latest with "I know you like a puzzle and this seems to be one."

Olive Moore was the author of three novels in the early 1930s who then 'disappeared'. Her works were collected in an omnibus edition in 1992, which was reviewed thus by Publishers Weekly:

English novelist Moore is utterly absent from conventional literary history: her work has never been anthologized, her name appears in virtually no literary "companions," and the years of her birth (c. 1905) and death (c. 1970) are not known for sure. Yet this volume--comprised of three short novels, a collection of notebook entries, and a selection of essays--showcases a writer of resounding eloquence and inspiring audacity.
    The first novel, the substantially autobiographical Celestial Seraglio, tumbles through the world of a French convent for both Catholic and English Protestant girls. Relationships develop, only to be smashed as adolescent enthusiasms turn from the lives of the saints to the confessional, to cynicism, and again to piety. Spleen recounts the ponderings of Ruth, a woman who has exiled herself to an Italian Mediterranean island following the birth of her deformed son. Her vision of (specifically European) social corruption and artistic vigor is heightened on the island, and when her husband dies, she returns alone to England strangely rejuvenated, ironically triumphant. In Fugue we once again find an Englishwoman abroad, this time in Alsace: Lavinia Reade is pregnant, unmarried, and losing her man. Love, friendship and independence are juggled before the macabre conclusion falls like a shroud. In her fiction, Moore's formal ambitions have a 1920s Modernist character; one is reminded of Virginia Woolf's dense, circular narratives, and in fact both writers lived in London's Bloomsbury.
    Moore's notebooks reveal this opinionated woman's personal, almost petulant side, which can scintillate as well as aggravate. Her ringing critical insights are too abbreviated, and casual thoughts are rendered too profoundly. But for all the salt one swallows, Moore's incisiveness gleams. She felt a devout responsibility to tell more than stories, yet she is far too sophisticated to sound pedagogic. Her authority springs from a prose that is, after all, delicious, delicate and bracing.

According to various references on the internet, Olive Moore was the pseudonym of a Constance Edith Vaughan; that she was apparently born in Herefordshire in circa 1904 and married the sculptor Sava Botzaris in the 1920s is all the information generally available.

The marriage between Sava Botzaritch (which is given as a variant spelling of his name) and one Constance B. Vaughan is one of only a couple of official records easily found. John bought a copy of the certificate, which revealed that on 24 December 1924, Sava Botzaritch, sculptor, married Constance Beaumont Vaughan, aged 21, a dancing instructor, and daughter of Charles Beaumont Vaughan, deceased.

According to a passenger record for a trip the two took to New York, Sava was born in Belgrade, Serbia, in around 1897, while his wife was born in Hereford, England, about five years later — his age was given as 31, hers as 26. Both are listed under the name Botzaritch. Three years earlier, in September 1926, Anastas Sava Botzaritch, a student of fine arts and sculptor of 34 Beak Street, Regent Street, London W, officially registered the name A. B. Sava as a "change of name", reverting to a family name: his father was Cavaliere Anastras Botzartich Sava, who had been court painter to King Peter I of Serbia.

Sava was actually born in 1894 and had been an interpreter during World War I, settling in London in 1922 where he worked as a caricaturist and portrait sculptor.

Returning to the marriage certificate. In 1900 Charles Beaumont Vaughan married Leah Miriam Freedberg in Yorkshire. Again, official records seem sparse. In the probate index there is an entry for Miriam Leah Beaumont-Vaughan a.k.a. Miriam Lewes who died in Bournemouth on 10 November 1964 (born c1884 according to her death registration under Miriam Lewes). Probate is given to Miriam Constance Beaumont-Vaughan, spinster.

Apart from this and the marriage, Miriam is also tricky to find. There is an entry in the Andrews
Newspaper cards relating to the above probate, which says 'she was an ex-actress and known as Miriam Lewes", though nothing was known of her origins. Several entries in The London Stage mention appearances by Miriam Lewes in various plays in the 1920s. And there is a Miriam Lewes(-)Vaughan, actress, born c1884, on passenger lists.

Their daughter, Miriam Constance Beaumont-Vaughan, was born in Hereford, the birth registered in the 1st quarter 1901; this ties in with the death record of a Constance Beaumont Vaughan, born 25 January 1901, who died in Cuckfield, Sussex, in 1979. She appears in the 1901 census as Mirian (sic) C B Vaughan (aged I month?), listed as a visitor at the household of Richard Davies, a grocer's assistant living at 31 Church Street, Hereford. There is no sign of her parents, but an actor named Leonard Thackeray can be found living in the same building alongside other boarders and lodgers.

Olive Moore's subsequent career is almost unknown. She was described as a dancing instructor when she married in 1924. Like her mother, she may have appeared on the stage: an Olive Moore is credited in the cast of Bruce Bairnsfather's musical Carry On, Sergeant at the New Oxford Theatre in 1925.

Her writing career possibly took dominance in the late 1920s and early 1930s, by which time she was known to the literary folk who circled Charles Lahr's Progressive Bookshop in Red Lion Street, London. Known to her friends as Connie Vaughan, she worked as a journalist for the Daily Sketch and living at 87 Doughty Street, Bloomsbury. She had separated from her husband by then; Alec Bristow, who knew her in the early 1930s, was unaware that she had married, although he knew of her relationship with Sava Botzaritch.

It was during this period that she published her three novels, the first described by its author as highly autobiographical; she also had an essay (Further Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine) published, the latter by Charles Lahr as a limited edition. In 1933, Moore claimed to be working on a novel entitled Amazon and Hero: The Drama of the Greek War for Independence, which was never published. Following the 1934 publication of a collection of aphorisms from her notebooks entitled The Apple is Bitten Again, she disappeared entirely from the literary scene.

In 1941, Anastras Botzartich Sava emigrated to Venezuela, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1947. There is some evidence that the two were divorced, as she was described as a spinster in probate records following the death of her mother in 1964. Nothing else is known about her life until her death in Cuckfield, Sussex, in 1979.

So it would appear that Olive Moore was actually the pen-name of Miriam Constance Beaumont-Vaughan, later Botzartich (1901-1979), rather than of Constance Edith Vaughan, who, incidentally, does appear to exist, which is almost certainly why there has been some misidentification.

Constance Edith Vaughan (1904-1986) was born in Hereford on 3 July 1904 but she appears in the 1911 census (as Edith Vaughan) along with her extensive family of seven siblings. She was the daughter of tailor maker Thomas Vaughan and his wife Maud, and later married Thomas B. Ingram in 1924. She lived in Hereford her whole life.

Comic Cuts - 4 September 2015

As a lifetime sandwich lover it pains me to say that bread has become my enemy.

If not my enemy, then at the very least it turned against me and had a sudden, violent episode last Tuesday that lasted almost exactly twelve hours. On Monday, we'd had a huge amount of cottage pie for lunch and hadn't bothered with tea as we were both still full. After Mel went to bed, I spent a couple of hours working on my James Hadley Chase cover gallery and then went off to watch a film.

At around 12:30 in the morning I was starting to feel peckish and thought I'd make myself some toast. The immediate problem was the discovery that I only had a small nub of bread from the end of a loaf. But that was OK... I wasn't that hungry and it was large enough to put a slice of cheese on. I dropped the nub into the toaster and pushed the handle down... and it bounced straight back up.

I tried this a couple of times and couldn't get the toaster to work. Thinking it was probably a build-up of crumbs, I decided to give it a bit of a clean. Free from crumbs and with everything slotted back together I popped the bread back in, pressed the handle down... and the master fuse to the whole house blew, plunging the kitchen into darkness.

The fuse is under the stairs in a cupboard full of quite hefty boxes full of magazines. So I had to carefully and quietly ease the front boxes out of the way so that I could reach to the back where the switch is that turns the power back on.

At that point I thought I'd do better to go to bed. I never did get to eat my tiny slice of toast.

Fast forward to almost exactly twelve hours later. Around 12:30 the following afternoon I had sorted myself out some lunch: a couple of chicken sandwiches made with a freshly-bought French stick. I'll preface my first bite by saying that I'd developed a bit of wonky tooth a day or two earlier. The tooth didn't survive, breaking against the crispy, solid surface of the bread as I bit down. To add insult to injury, while I was trying to munch down again in the hope that the bread might remove a couple of sharp spikes that had been left, the bread dislodged a filling, which I promptly swallowed.

If you're reading this on Friday morning, I'm at the dentist trying to get my teeth sorted out. Having, I might add, been dumped by my former dentist because I'd managed to miss a check-up a few months ago. When the hell did that become the norm? I don't even remember booking an appointment, let alone missing it. Apparently having a 37-year unbroken run of paying my National Insurance counts for nothing. I'm guessing it's another cynical attempt to make the NHS so unrecognisable and unworkable that we won't miss it when it disappears.

To calm myself down I've been trying to sort out a load of photographs. I'm always reminded whenever the local history society put on a little show that I've wandered around Wivenhoe for the past five years carrying a camera. I take loads of photos, mostly poorly composed or poorly lit, but by dint of taking a dozen photos I might get one decent shot. What I began doing over the bank holiday was to start going through the dozens of folders to weed out some of the crappiest of the photos. I also discovered that often I had taken multiple shots from almost the same position and they could be photoshopped together to make a wider or taller shot, often better than the two, three or four individual shots.

So today, rather than random scans – and, to be honest, doing the James Hadley Chase gallery hasn't left much time for other book covers – here are some widescreen photos I've taken of Wivenhoe Quay.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to post a couple of bits of research into the lives of Olive Moore and Leslie Fox over the next few days and anything else I can rustle up over the weekend.