Recker's World
Biggles - Series of books
This page is dedicated to the series of boy’s books about the World War I fighter pilot, Capt James T Bigglesworth – Biggles for short. Written by a former World War I pilot, Capt W E Johns.
There were close to 100 Biggles books written. I own all but one; the very rare, Biggles and the Deep Blue Sea. I did have a copy once! I picked it up for 20 cents at a garage sale in the early 80s and sold it in 2005 for 250 pounds on E-Bay.
The only Biggles book I haven't read is, "Biggles Air Ace", a compilation of ten WW1 short stories published in 1999 (limited copies), that had never been previously published in book form. Unfortunately, it's impossible to get a copy of it unless you want to pay hundreds of dollars or find the old flying magazines each story originally appeared in.
I started reading them when I was about 11 years old. I was 46 years old when I finally got a copy of another rare title, “Biggles Looks Back” and was finally able to say I’d read them all. That left me feeling a little sad. But then I figured there were plenty of Biggles books I hadn’t read in over 30 years. It was time to read them all again, this time from the very first one through to the last one.
So I did just that and have now critiqued each one.
Some Biggles books were never republished and I paid particular attention to those and answered the question “Why?” I can only speculate and I'm no expert. One, “Biggles and the Deep Blue Sea” contained information on cannabis growing. “Biggles and the Leopards of Zinn” contained a fair amount of racism. “Biggles Goes Alone” was a whodunit and mainly a talkie with no action. Maybe there were other reasons, I don't know, but it means that some titles are quite rare and will cost you a lot to get a copy of. Feel free to comment below if you have opinions you'd like to share on this.
Please check out my character profiles...
and also a list of Biggles books, which I have critiqued
It may be that the days of the Biggles collectors are drawing to an end. There appear to be few new Biggles fans coming in now and less Biggles titles being published than ever before. It may be that us middle-aged guys could be the last generation of true Biggles fans and the oldest collectors are dying off and their collections are being sold. How long before you can sell a Biggles book for hundreds of dollars? Even now it seems they aren’t selling for as much as they did a few years ago. Everyone who wants a copy of a 1st Edition perhaps already has one? What do you think? Comment below.
If you want to discuss Biggles with other fans there is a Biggles forum here: The Biggles Forum - Portal
Recker (Friday, 07 November 2025 16:52)
Yeah, I think the days of Biggles books being highly prized are maybe coming to an end. Too many collectors dying off and not many new collectors/fans. Maybe if they made a new TV series or movie versions of Biggles, that might change. I'd love to see a TV series set in WW1. That would be awesome and with CGI, it should be a possibility. But even war stories aren't that popular anymore in this day and age.
Andrew (Wednesday, 29 October 2025 16:33)
I'm in my mid '50's and slowly rebuilding a Biggles collection, last count 15. I was given a few secondhand when I was kid but lost them later on before my interest rekindled.
Down here in Australia I've come across good condition Biggles hardcovers with no dustjacket and light foxing for $5 a piece. I have also seen secondhand dealers price the same thing up to $50 seemingly on the basis they are 'Old Biggles' and they think they must be worth something. I've also seen Mint first editions with dust jacket up to $100 or more.
I don't think some secondhand dealers have fully cottoned on to the fact it's a shrinking market, but I thought it would be obvious, as Biggles volumes are a lot easier to find on the secondhand shelves than in the past. Other certainly have them 'priced to sell'.