I began collecting The Saint books by Leslie Charteris sometime in the mid nineties. I was also buying Ian Fleming whenever and whenever I could but even back then the prices were often beyond my means. Charteris was less collectible than Fleming and whilst still not cheap, it was easier to build a collection of nice books of a similar vein.
Charteris was, of course, far more prolific at writing than Fleming and his books sold in huge numbers without the help of Roger Moore who played the lead role in the television series of the 1960s. Witty escapism made up for literary shortcomings and every cover featured the trademark stick man to great effect.
So here are some of my first editions from 1939 to 1947. It’s not all of them, I blame lack of availability and/or money on my part over the years for any gaps. The first, from 1939 is The Happy Highwayman, a glorious cover by Thompson and published as ever, by Hodder and Stoughton. Running to 287 pages, it was the last of his ‘bigger’ novels with most running to a maximum 250 pages on thinner paper. Full of the usual Charteris flamboyance and bravado, it saw the appearance of his co-star, Chief Inspector Teal of Scotland Yard. This was already his twentieth book by 1939 and even a Second World War wouldn’t slow his output.
Below is The First Saint Omnibus first edition from 1939, a collection of stories taken from Enter the Saint, Featuring the Saint, Alias the Saint, Follow the Saint, The Ace of Knaves, The Saint Goes On, Boodle, The Misfortunes of Mr Teal, Once More The Saint, The Holy Terror and The Brighter Buccaneer.
Two books later saw the release of The Saint Goes West, published in 1942 with Thompson once again the brilliant cover artist. These are the UK first editions and differ from the US editions and the cheaper UK Hodder and Stoughton ‘Yellow Jacket’ editions which were published through the late thirties and forties.
Next up is The Saint Steps In published in February 1944. At 192 pages and no clue as to what the story is about save the quirky, unhelpful chapter headings such as ‘How Simon Templar dined in Washington, and Sylvester Angert spoke of his Nervousness’
A year later saw the release of The Saint on Guard in July 1945. Cover artist not credited but likely Thompson once again. A book of two parts, The Black Market followed by The Sizzling Saboteur. The second story takes Templar to Texas and it is very difficult not to see Roger Moore at every appearance in the books.
Remarkably, Charteris didn’t publish a Saint novel in 1946! It would be July 1947 before his next outing with The Saint Sees it Through. A striking cover by Jarvis, with the entrance to Cookie’s cellar glowing in the night. Advertised as ‘the first full length Saint novel for years’ and interestingly, given the post-war period a warning: ‘Admittedly, the first edition is a phenomenal size, but it won’t be enough to go round and paper quotas don’t permit reprints quickly’
Though not cheap, the market price for the Saint novels from the late forties through to the mid sixties seems to have stabilised. The pre-war editions in dust jackets are unsurprisingly very expensive, as are some of the less attractive editions from the seventies as many went straight to public libraries making true, unstamped editions extremely scarce.
Further reading:
Leslie Charteris and The Saint Stickman
The Saint Paperbacks by Hodder
Categories: The Reading Room
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