Many of Leslie's stories began life in The Thriller magazine.
Here he developed the character of The Saint. The Saint started
out as The Joker, leader of a gang called 'The Five Kings'. Most
of these stories were later re-written as Saint stories, so these
are the true first publications. The Thriller magazines
invariably have stains & tears from rusty staples and are
fragile down the crease, so please allow for this. These pulps
were not designed to be saved! I always remove the staples to
avoid further damage. The width is slightly larger than my A4
scanner, so the right-hand edges cannot be seen.
My prices for magazines with Leslie Charteris stories featured on
the front cover are £19.50, and £9.50
for the others POST FREE.
CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO MAGNIFY - Windows
IE may require you to click the new image that appears to fully
magnify it.
Scroll to the bottom to see the
Saint and his Hirondel.
Contact me for other issues not shown here.
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| In 1929 Leslie began writing stories for a new
magazine called The Thriller. Two of these serialised
stories (The Creeping Death and Sudden Death) were later
combined to form The Last Hero. The Saint's calling card
in this story is a Joker from a pack of cards, not a
stickman. The crease in the cover has completely
disintegrated, so it's in 2 pieces. On the plus side, the
condition otherwise is great.
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Enter The Saint is usually a collection of three
stories (novelettes) that had previously appeared in The
Thriller magazines 1929 and were re-written with Simon
Templar (rather than his gang) as the hero. The Man who
was Clever appeared May 4, as The Five Kings. SORRY, SOLD
OUT. |
Alias the Saint is usually a collection of three
novelettes reprinted from The Thriller. The National Debt
first appeared April 6 1929 as The Secret of Beacon Inn
where pirates operated, and was rewritten as a Saint
short starring Simon instead of Rameses Smith (which the
Saint used as an alias). This copy has some staining.
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| She Was a Lady first appeared in The
Thriller 1930 as a three-parter on February 1 as Number
One; March 15 as The Second Victim; and April 12 as The
Third Victim. The original Thriller stories were about
Jill Trelawneys Angels of Doom gang but
were re-written for the book to include Simon Templar.
The hero of those stories was Lyn Peveril, who Leslie
thought at the time was a better character than Simon. |
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The Impossible Crime first appeared March 7 1931 as
Bumped Off. A locked-room murder mystery. Was included in
books Wanted for Murder/Alias the Saint.
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Wanted for Murder/Featuring the Saint has stories
reprinted from The Thriller. The Logical Adventure first
appeared May 24 1930 as Without Warning. The Saint visits
a nightclub and sees a girl drugged. This copy has a tear
near the top (brown sellotape removed) & brown tape
on the spine.
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Getaway first appeared as two stories in The Thriller
1932: February 6 as The Property of the Deceased and in
June as Two Men from Munich.
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| Getaway first appeared as two stories in The Thriller
1932: February 6 as The Property of the Deceased and in
June as Two Men from Munich.
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Once More The Saint aka The Saint and Mr Teal
consists of three novellas: One is The Gold Standard,
originally published in The Thriller October 15 1932 as
The Gold Flood. A mad scientist has discovered how to
make the stuff out of base metal.
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The Book of Fate Feb 10 1934 was retitled The Simon
Templar Foundation when it was included in The
Misfortunes of Mr Teal.
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The Man who Knew June 16 1934 was retitled The High Fence
when included in The Saint Goes On.
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The Race Train Crime July 28 1934 was retitled The
Elusive Ellshaw when included in The Saint Goes On.
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The Island of the Condemned by Warwick Jardine October 13
1934. Contains The Ingenuous Colonel reprinted from
Empire News Oct 1st 1933, which later appeared in Boodle.
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Presumed Dead by geo E Rochester November 10 1934.
Contains The Prince of Cherkessia reprinted from Empire
News Oct 22 1933, which later appeared in Boodle.
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Voyage of Terror by John Hunter December 29 1934.
Contains The Treasure of Turk's Lane, reprinted from
Empire News Oct 29 1933. Later included in Boodle.
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The Death Duty Mystery by David Whitelaw Feb 9 1935.
Contains The Noble Sportsman reprinted from Boodle.
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Mystery of the Kidnapped Killer by G H Teed April 18 1936.
Contains part 1 of Saint serial The Five Kings. Enter the
Saint was basically a rewrite of Five Kings stories from
1929. The Saint's calling card in this story is a Joker
from a pack of cards, not a stickman.
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The Crime Combine by David Hume May 2 1936. Contains part
Saint serial The Five Kings. Enter the Saint was
basically a rewrite of Five Kings stories from 1929. This
excerpt begins part way through chapter 10 of The Man Who
Was Clever (1st story in Enter the Saint).
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The Saint. Feb 13 1937. Contains first printing of Return
of the Saint, which was retitled The Spanish War when
included in Ace of Knaves.Also contains part one of
Serial The Saint in New York.
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Copy for sale on commission: June 16th 1934 - The Man who
Knew
Good solid copy - some minor chipping and tears to pages.
VG. £12.
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Blackmail by J Jefferson Farjeons. Feb 20 1937. Contains
part Serial The Saint in New York.
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Crooks' Castle by John Hunter. Feb 27 1937. Contains part
Serial The Saint in New York.
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An Inside Job by George Dilnot. Mar 20 1937. Contains
part Serial The Saint in New York.
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The Z Man March 27 1937. Retitled The Beauty Specialist
when included in Ace of Knaves. Also contains part Serial
The Saint in New York.
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Traitor No. 1 by Captain Frank Shaw Sept 3 1938. Contains
part Serial The Policeman with Wings (originally appeared
whole Aug 1929).
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