Biggles flies into hardback with sixteen reissues from the Canelo Group

Commissioning Editor Craig Lye has acquired World English Language rights to a further sixteen classic Biggles adventures by Captain W. E. Johns from Becky Brown and Norah Perkins at Curtis Brown Heritage.

These follow the success of twelve Biggles titles Canelo reissued across 2022 and 2023, and include tales widely considered to be among the ‘classic’ Biggles stories, beloved of generations of readers since the 1940s.

The newly acquired titles include Biggles’ adventures in the First World War, which feature breathtaking dogfights above the trenches (among them Biggles of the Fighter Squadron and Biggles Learns to Fly), some of Biggles’ adventures between the world wars (including Biggles in Spain, set during the Spanish civil war), and some classic World War Two Biggles adventures (including Biggles Defends the Desert and Biggles Fails to Return) to join Canelo’s existing WW2 Biggles list.

The titles will be published in four series (Biggles’ WW1 Adventures, Biggles Between the Wars, Biggles’ WW2 Adventures and Biggles, Special Air Detective), which will each have their own identifiable branding.

They will all be available as ebooks within the 2024 calendar year, and will be issued in hardback, two every spring, summer and autumn, across 2024–2026. The jackets are at once nostalgic and exciting, capturing the spirit of Biggles and showcasing it to attract a new generation of readers. Collectors are encouraged to make space on their shelves for a handsome hardback offering, the first new outing for some of these classic tales in more than twenty years.

William Earl Johns was an English adventure writer, best known as the creator of the beloved Biggles stories, which drew on his experience as a pilot in the First World War. After his flying career with the RAF, Johns became a newspaper air correspondent, an occupation he combined with editing and illustrating books about flying. He wrote over 160 books, including nearly 100 Biggles titles.

Craig Lye says: ‘Like so many others, I devoured the Biggles stories as a child, thrilling at the air-bound escapades of the eponymous hero and his companions as they risked it all above the vast waste of No Man’s Land. These titles are, to me, what readers think of when they hear ‘Biggles’ – these are the stories everyone knows. The Canelo Group is proud to be reissuing these classic tales for new readers, aficionados and collectors alike to enjoy.’

Becky Brown and Norah Perkins say: ‘We couldn’t be more delighted to see further Biggles titles in Craig’s and Canelo Group’s capable hands. The twelve already-published books were reissued with such joy, care and attention to detail, and we are thrilled that these sixteen books – the crown jewels of the series – will join them.’

The first four Biggles ebooks (Biggles: The Camels Are Coming, Biggles of the Fighter Squadron, Biggles Learns to Fly and Biggles: The Cruise of the Condor) will be published in May 2024, with the first hardback editions (Biggles: The Camels Are Coming and Biggles of the Fighter Squadron) in July, with the remaining titles to follow as described above.

For more information please contact kate@canelo.co