Title Notes 1933-1939

Adapted with permission from a bibliography of Dennis Wheatley by Mr R Humphreys, 2002

Published: January 1933. Wheatley’s second full-length novel though the first to be published.^(note 1) After a massive advertising campaign, orchestrated mainly by Wheatley himself, the book went into seven reprints in as many weeks.^(note 2) It was filmed in 1934.^(note 3)

Dust wrapper designed by Joan Wheatley. End-papers designed by Joan and Dennis Wheatley. Printed by Gainsborough Press. Some have plain end-papers.

288 pages with a catalogue (Autumn 1932) of forty-eight pages at the rear. Bound in red cloth. Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: June 1933. Wheatley wrote this book in two weeks^(note 4) and following the success of ‘The Forbidden Territory’ his publishers put it into print even though Wheatley had reservations about its quality.^(note 5)

Printed by The Mayflower Press.

285 pages plus one page advertising ‘The Forbidden Territory’ and Hutchinson catalogue at the rear. It is bound in red cloth. Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: September 1933. Along with Wheatley’s previous two books, it was written in 1932 and was intended to form part of a series of royal biographies published by Peter Davies. They turned it down on the grounds that Wheatley was an unknown author but, after the success of his first two novels, it was published by Hutchinson with illustrations by Frank C. Papé.^(note 6) Printed by The Mayflower press.

This book was also produced in a limited edition of 26, each lettered alphabetically, signed by Wheatley and Papé and bound in white linen with gilt lettering to the spine.^(note 7)

201 pages with a further 12 pages of advertising. Bound in blue cloth. Demy Cr 8vo. 9/-. Dated.

Produced in a limited edition of 26 lettered copies. Inscribed by Wheatley and the artist Frank C. Papé. Bound in white linen with gilt lettering to spine, t.e.g., a page of the original manuscript and the trade edition dust wrapper bound in.

Published: January 1934. Wheatley spent most of 1933 writing this book. Set in the future (approx. 1960) though firmly rooted in the 1930s, it is the book that introduced Gregory Sallust. Because it is set in the future it confuses the chronology of the later Sallust novels.^(note 8) Printed by The Gainsborough Press.

Reprinted six times prior to publication, it is bound in red cloth with illustrated end-papers designed by Joan and Dennis Wheatley. 349 pages with a further 56 page catalogue plus eight pages advertising Wheatley’s work. Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: August 1934.^(note 9)

Bound in red cloth. The illustrated end-papers were designed by Joan and Dennis Wheatley with contributions from Diana Younger, Wheatley’s step-daughter. Printed by The Gainsborough Press.

286 pages with 2 pages of advertising plus forty-eight page Hutchinson catalogue (Summer and Early Autumn 1934). Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: December 1934. This has become Wheatley’s most popular novel.^(note 10) Although he had written at least one short story involving the occult (‘The Snake’ 1933) this was the first time he had made it the subject of a full-length novel. It was filmed in 1968 (aka ‘The Devil’s Bride’).^(note 11)

Bound in red cloth, the dust-wrapper was designed by Diana Younger who along with Joan and Dennis Wheatley also designed the end-papers. Printed by The Gainsborough Press.

329 pages (a variant has page 329, on which Wheatley asks for opinions of this type of story, excised) plus 5 pages of advertising and a forty page catalogue (spring 1935) bound at the rear (some copies omit the catalogue). Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: July 1935, it quickly became one of Wheatley’s most popular books^(note 12) and was filmed in 1936 as ‘The Secret of Stamboul’ with James Mason in the lead role.^(note 13)

Bound in red cloth, the dust-wrapper was designed by Abbey and the end-papers by Joan and Dennis Wheatley with Diana Younger. Printed by Gainsborough Press.

298 pages with 9 pages of advertising and a catalogue of 48 pages bound at the rear. Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: October 1935 and forms part of Hutchinson’s ‘Century of. . . .’ series of omnibuses which ran to about twenty-six titles. Wheatley edited this title and wrote an introduction.

Bound in red cloth with a design in black stamped to spine and top board. The dust-wrappers for this series are very scarce owing to the fact that on the reverse of the wrappers were order forms for other titles in the series. They were also printed on thin, unglazed paper.

1024 pages. Demy Cr 8vo. 3/6. Undated.

Published: December 1935 and is the first of two Gift Boxes both subtitled ‘The Thrilling Romances of Dennis Wheatley’.^(note 13a)

This set contains Wheatley's first four novels: ‘The Forbidden Territory’, ‘Such Power Is Dangerous’, ‘Black August’ and ‘The Fabulous Valley’.

The books are bound in black cloth with a blue-coloured top edge and are reprints from the 1st editions(being a 10th thousand; 7th thousand; 8th impression, and 10th thousand respectively).

It is perhaps worth noting that in early adverts, the drop-down flap is shown printed in white on a black background, whereas the only known surviving box has the drop-down flap printed in black on a white background, like the illustration on the website.

The date of the gift box is also something of a puzzle. Advertisments for it first appear in They Found Atlantis (Jan 1936), which is consistent with a release date of December 1935. The only known complete boxed set, and all the books that can be identified as having come from these sets, contain stickers listing DW’s various publications. All the stickers are identical, and all include Contraband, which was only published in the Autumn of 1936. All the books so far identified as having come from First Gift Boxes are inscribed in DW’s hand, and while several of the inscriptions are dated ‘Xmas 1936’, one is dated ‘Xmas 1935’.

Exactly how these conflicting pieces of dating evidence are to be interpreted is currently unclear.

Published: January 1936 and is the first of Wheatley’s ‘lost civilisation’ novels.^(note 14)

Bound in red cloth. The illustrated end-papers were designed by Joan and Dennis Wheatley with Diana Younger. Printed by Gainsborough Press.

339 pages with 5 pages of advertising and a 40 page catalogue bound in at the rear. Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: July 1936. Devised with Wheatley’s friend, the furrier Joe Links, it incorporated actual physical clues and became a best seller.^(note 15) This and the other three dossiers were reprinted in the late 1970s as facsimiles. The real editions can easily be identified as they all state on the bottom of the front cover: ‘Published for the Crime Book Society’.

138 pages with a sealed section containing the solution at the rear. 4to. 3/6. Undated.

Published: October 1936. The first true Gregory Sallust adventure. Bound in red cloth with black lettering stamped to spine and top board. The end-papers were designed by Joan and Dennis Wheatley.

281 pages with 7 pages of advertising and a catalogue of 56 pages bound in at the rear.

Printed by Gainsborough Press. Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: January 1937.^(note 16)

Bound in red cloth with black lettering stamped to the spine and top board. The dust-wrapper was designed by Abbey and the end-papers were designed by Joan and Dennis Wheatley and Diana Younger. Printed by Gainsborough Press.

288 pages with a further 7 pages of advertising and a catalogue of 40 pages bound in at the rear. Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: June 1937 and is a more complicated mystery than the first. As before, Wheatley devised it with Joe Links.

It has 117 pages and a sealed section of 17 pages at the rear. 4to. 3/6. Undated.

Published: October 1937 and was Wheatley’s second biography following on from the success of 'Old Rowley' four years earlier.^(note 17)

It has mapped end-papers and colour frontispiece. Bound in grey cloth with a design in red stamped onto the spine and top board. Printed by Mayflower Press.

It runs to 390 pages with a further 9 pages of advertising and a catalogue of 16 pages bound at the rear. Demy Cr 8vo. 12/6. Dated.

Published: December 1937 and is the second of two Gift Boxes both subtitled ‘The Thrilling Romances of Dennis Wheatley’.^(note 13a)

This set contains Wheatley's second four novels: ‘The Devil Rides Out’, ‘The Eunuch Of Stamboul’, ‘They Found Atlantis’ and ‘Contraband’.

The books are bound in black cloth with a blue-coloured top edge and are reprints from the 1st editions. 12/6. Undated.

Published: January 1938. This novel again explores one of Wheatley’s favourite themes, the lost civilisation, which had proved such a success in ‘They Found Atlantis'. This book, like many of Wheatley’s novels, is marred by extreme racism which probably renders it unprintable by today’s standards. Filmed in 1968 as ‘The Lost Continent’.^(note 18)

Diana Younger designed both the dust-wrapper and the end-papers. It is bound in black cloth. Printed by Gainsborough Press.

408 pages in length with a further 8 pages of advertising and a catalogue of 24 pages bound at the rear. Cr 8vo. 8/6. Undated.

Published: April 1938. By the time of its appearance the original novelty of this type of dossier had become rather stale and this is much weaker than the previous two having very few physical clues.

101 pages with a sealed section of 10 pages at the rear. 4to. 3/6. Undated.

A Century of Spy Stories appeared in June 1938 and continued the series of Hutchinson omnibuses. Wheatley selected the collection of stories and wrote an introduction. 831 pages. Demy Cr 8vo. 3/6. Undated.

Published: August 1938. As with ‘The Secret War', Wheatley again used contemporary events as background, in this case The Spanish Civil War. It was the third de Richleau novel to be published.^(note 19)

The dust-wrapper was again designed along with the end-papers by Diana Younger. Bound in black cloth, the book runs to 454 pages with a further 8 pages of advertising and a catalogue of 24 pages at the rear. Printed by Gainsborough Press.

Cr 8vo. 8/6. Undated.

Board game comprising: a 25" x 26” coloured playing board showing a map of pre-war England and Europe with modified place names, 160 playing pieces (16 red, 26 blue, 24 yellow and 20 green cubes; 12 red, 4 blue and 8 yellow diamonds; 12 red, 10 blue, 8 yellow and 20 green pyramids), 2 spare white pieces of each shape, 2 dice with shaker and a rule book.

Due to its popularity it was re-issued in 2nd and 3rd editions.

The De Luxe set differs from the Standard first edition in a number of respects. It comes in a mottled brown box with a separate compartment on the left which contains all the individual pieces, and the board consists of four fold-out sections rather than the two fold-out sections found in the Standard edition. The De Luxe edition also comes with 13 (?) pins with white flags and 2 (?) spare pins which are not to be found in the Standard edition. The De Luxe edition is altogether a much more sumptuous piece of work.

Published by Hutchinson & Geographia, London. 7/6 (standard edition) or 12/6 (de luxe edition). Undated.

The Third edition differs from the Standard first edition in a number of respects; the board is considerably smaller (18 ¾” x 19 ¾”) and the box of pieces opens by means of a lid at the top of the box unlike the first edition where the box opens ‘matchbox style’.

In addition, in the third edition some of the place names have been changed (‘Rueville’ becomes ‘Roueville’, ‘Copenbourg’ becomes ‘Heilbourg’, and ‘Bratograd’ becomes ‘Marxgrad’) and geographical features are shown in more detail.

The Rulebook is also different – it is 12 pages rather than 8 pages long, and incorporates instructions for both ‘simple’ and ‘advanced’ gameplay.

Published: January 1939. It introduced a new character into Wheatley’s stable. Julian Day, however, proved to be less enduring than his others and he appeared in only three books (although a fourth was considered).^(note 20)

Bound in black cloth, the dust-wrapper was designed by Abbey and the end-papers by Diana Younger.

422 pages with a further 8 pages of advertising and a catalogue of 16 pages at the rear. Printed by Gainsborough Press. Cr 8vo. 8/6. Undated.

Published: July 1939 and is the last and weakest of all the dossiers. Marred by a weak ‘mystery’ and utterly preposterous photographs of Wheatley’s friends and family, it is almost a parody of the format that had originally been so successful.

64 pages with a sealed section of 10 pages at the rear. 4to. 3/6. Undated.

Published: August 1939. It is one of Wheatley’s most satisfying novels marred only by a rather unlikely ending.^(note 21) His descriptions of a frozen England are quite compelling.

Bound in black cloth, the dust-wrapper and end-papers were designed by Diana Younger. Printed by Gainsborough Press.

391 pages with 9 pages of advertising plus Hutchinson booklist of 32 pages at the rear. Cr 8vo. 8/6. Undated.

Published: December 1939 and is the first of the omnibus editions of Wheatley’s work. This book contains the first four de Richleau novels and is notable for including ‘Three Inquisitive People’ for the first time in print.^(note 22) Printed by The Mayflower Press.

It runs to 1270 pages. Bound in brown cloth with black lettering stamped to spine and top board, and with a dust-wrapper almost certainly designed by Diana Younger. This omnibus was again printed in the 1950s (see section ‘1952-1955’) without ‘The Devil Rides Out’. Cr 8vo. 7/6. Undated.

Published: 1939. Wheatley's second board game.

Published by Hutchinson & Geographia, London.

Contents: a playing board showing a coloured map, 3 dice with dice shaker, 108 coloured wooden playing pieces (7 red, 6 blue, 3 yellow and 2 green diamonds; 1 red, 4 blue, 7 yellow and 6 green cylinders; 8 red, 6 blue, 12 yellow and 18 green pyramids; 7 red, 7 blue, 7 yellow and 7 green cubes), 2 spare white playing pieces for each shape, rule book and 2 reference sheets.