Agatha Christie's Fontana Paperbacks - Part 4: 1963-1964.

The 1950s, 60s and 70s were the golden age for Agatha Christie paperbacks primarily due to the relationship with Fontana who leveraged the appeal of Christie with a fresh approach to book design. Christie's books continue to be widely read in a paperbacks - both new and vintage. Yet for many fans and readers of Christie, it is often the 1950-70s vintage paperbacks that hold a special place in their Christie experience and relationship. The artwork that adorns them often evokes many memories for readers and so I've been writing many articles to highlight these books and the art on them. In prior articles I've reviewed all the Fontana paperbacks created from 1953 through to 1963 before Tom Adams became their cover artist. The 58 Fontana books published in that first decade were adorned with wonderful art from great cover artists and are now getting quite hard to find in collectible condition. The three articles that cover this period provide all the images plus collecting tips. To read any of them please follow the links below.

Part 1 covers 1953 to 1957 and the first 15 Christie titles Fontana published (link).

Part 2 covers 1958 to 1960 and the next 21 covers created during those years (link).

Part 3 covers 1961 to 1963 (partial) and the 23 covers created prior to Tom Adams (link).

1962: Fontana Forges a New Artistic Relationship.

As I moved further into the 1960s, I will be reviewing the covers on Fontana's UK paperbacks after Tom Adams became their dominant cover artist for Christie titles. In 1962, Fontana hired Adams to design a cover for A Murder is Annouced. This 'test' cover was approved and used in August 1963. However, prior to it being published, Adams was already contracted to create other covers for Fontana as the volume of titles they were to print in the years ahead were substantial.

For collectors & fans alike, there did not appear to be an existing resource that cites the first time a specific piece of Adams' art was on the book by year, let alone by Fontana series number and printing edition. This article (and future ones) aims to provide clarity to the sequencing of when his images were first published so you can view both the evolution of his art & skill, while viewing them through a historically contemporaneous lens. Plus I provide all you need to know to build a collection of these first Adams covers. Since many of the covers were reprinted multiple times over the years, it has been difficult to know which paperback was actually the first to carry each specific design. To make matters even more confusing, Fontana often changed the series number on the spine even though the cover was unchanged. Below, all the images are the correct image of the front and rear cover of the first appearance of that specific Adams cover, the series number and the printing details.

1963: Tom Adams First Six Covers.

In 1963, eight Fontana paperbacks were issued. Six of them sported the new art of Tom Adams while one was plain text (No. 806) and one was a tie-in to a film (No. 912) with film stills on the cover. These books all had their series number printed on the spine and the spine was mostly yellow - a style element that ended in 1963 which helps quickly identify the age of these paperbacks. All but one of these covers was a reissue, meaning that Fontana had previously issued the title as a paperback but with a different cover.

For collectors, I recommend that you first strive to find these six books as they should be the core of any Adams collection. Patience will be needed as later printings are more abundant. Howver, I believe once the marketplace is clear on which are first Adams printings, values and demand will change so seek them know while they still mostly trade for used book prices.

657: A Murder is Announced. This is the first cover Tom Adams created for Fontana. The correct first version with this cover is the 4th Fontana edition. While Tom Adams states he painted this in 1962, it was printed in August 1963. Thus, there was clearly a lag between provision of the art and the use of it on a book. As with all Fontana books from this period, those sold domestically in the UK were priced 3/6 on the front cover while the exported printings omitted the price.

806: Ten Little N----rs. 1st Fontana. Not a Tom Adams cover. Text only design. See the link at the top of the article to Part 3 of the pre-Adams Fontana paperbacks for images of this book.

839: The Murder at the Vicarage. The first printing to have Adams' artwork is the 2nd Fontana edition, from August 1963.

Keen eyed viewers will notice that the books on the shelf under the telephone include "The Materials of the Artist & their Use in Painting" and a Collins Crime Club book with the masked gunman logo! Both clearly little Easter eggs planted by Tom for your amusement.

864: The Hollow. This book had been printed many times prior to Tom Adams' cover design appearing on it. The first appearance with this Adams cover is the 6th Fontana edition.

You'll have noticed on these first three books that the rear cover has a similar design element where the text is broken into quarters, clearly marked with a solid line between them. This cover at least continued the swimming pool theme to the rear, but it was the last of the books to have this quartered style.

896: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and Other Stories. This is the 1st appearance of this title by Fontana and thus Adams' cover is on this first edition. It was likely printed in November 1963 but future printings still don't provide the date. One of two Christies for Christmas Fontana would publish - this and No. 901 below.

The design elements continued onto the rear panel - something that would soon be replaced with a more standard look.

897: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Adams' cover first appears on this 4th Fontana edition released in November 1963. The fly on the cover was an element that the artist would come back to numerous times.

901: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. This woodgrain design, which also wraps onto the rear cover, first appeared on this 4th Fontana edition printed n November 1963. As with No. 896 above, there was no shortage of Christmas themed books for Christie fans this year appearing on book-dealer shelves.

912: Murder at the Gallop (After the Funeral). This Fontana paperbacl was a film tie-in edition. See my article on tie-ins for more details (link).

1964: Tom Adams' First Full Year.

In 1964, Fontana released thirteen Agatha Christie paperbacks - all with designs by Tom Adams. Three books were first appearances of these stories by Fontana, while the other ten had all been previously published in the prior decade but with different covers.

r.674: N or M? This is the 2nd Fontana edition, but the first with this version of Tom's cover. Surprisingly, Fontana reused the series number 674 from its first version of N or M? published in 1962. Thus, I refer to this as No. r674, though you will just see 674 on the foot of the spine. Uniquely the design carries over onto the rear panel - the penultimate time this occurred. It was published in February ’64.

798: Ordeal by Innocence. This Adams cover first appears on the 3rd Fontana printing, published in May ’64. The rear panel style would soon become the default look for Fontana for most books going forward and the spine would now stay white, but still with the series number printed on it.

939: Murder in Mesopotamia. This first appearance of this design was on the 2nd Fontana edition, published in March ’64. Unlike later printings of this title that reused the cover, there are noticeable differences. First, the background on the cover is definitely a sand colour while future printings made it much lighter and greyer. Also, the rear panel of this cover has unique design elements not found on later printings.

950: Cat Among the Pigeons. The common design elements sought by Fontana - three items, one of which is dominant - are clearly seen here in arguably one of his most realistic trompe l'oeil covers from these early years. It first appeared on this 3rd Fontana printing, published in April ’64. The rear panel is now repeating the design aesthetic of No. 798.

951: Murder on the Orient Express. Certainly by 1964 this was already one of Christie's most famous novels. This Adams cover first appeared on this 3rd Fontana printing, published in April ’64. It is rather scarce and challenging to find.

970: The Hound of Death. This was the 1st printing of this collection by Fontana. The skull Tom Adams used as the prop to paint from for this cover was also used for Hallowe'en Party.

The rear panel design for this book was quite unique compared to over 1964 printings.

972: Mrs. McGinty’s Dead. This book had been printed numerous times before by Fontana so the first with this Adams cover is actually the 6th Fontana edition, printed in April ’64. It is highly likely this was potentially going to be a 'tie-in' cover to the MGM film Murder Most Foul, as had occurred at the end of 1963 with Series No. 912 which tied in with Murder at the Gallop. However, only a reference to the film was provided on the rear panel.

984: Murder in the Mews. This was the first appearance of this short story collection by Fontana. Thus, Tom's cover first appears on this 1st Fontana edition. Surprisingly this was one of the covers repurposed by Bantam Books in the US when they used it on the cover of Poirot Investigates in 1982. To learn about this and the other four 'borrowed' covers, you can read more via this link.

1000: The Pale Horse. This is the first printing of this book by Fontana, and is stated as such on the cover. Thus the first appearance of Adams cover will state it is the 1st Fontana edition. Of note, this is the last Fontana paperback where the art roles onto the rear cover.

1009: Sparkling Cyanide. One of my favourite covers for its simplicity and lack of grand guignol. This design first appeared on the 3rd Fontana edition published in July ’64.

1015: The Mystery of the Blue Train. This was Adams' first design for this book and it first appeared on this, the 7th Fontana edition published in August ’64.

1021: Murder is Easy. The first appearance of Adams' first design for this cover is the 3rd Fontana edition, published in September ‘64. This was a cover Tom Adams was not particularly pleased with as it didn't demonstrate his skill as well as many other covers do - such as the next title published.

1030: Crooked House. This design first appeared on this, the 5th Fontana edition, published in October ’64. This cover definitely demonstrates Tom Adams's trompe l'oeil skill better than the prior two titles published. The style is also similar to a number of other covers he created where the items sat atop a piece of paper, manuscript, art or sheet music.

Values.

For fans who just want reading copies of these books, most can be found for used book prices. However, I would still encourage buyers of these titles - whether fan or collector - to try to find these first printings whenever possible. There is something more appealing about knowing you have the first version and later, should you ever need to sell, you will likely find there's greater value. For collectors, if you find one of these titles (correct first Adams edition) in 'Very Good' condition, then be open to paying double typical used book prices for the 1964 titles, and triple for the the 1963s. Inventory of collectible quality condition copies is getting scarce.

Summary.

If anyone is aware of a Christie title first published in this 1963-64 period by Fontana that I missed, please do let me know. I believe this to be complete, but there's always the chance something slipped through. I view all my articles as collaborative efforts and want them to be an accurate resource for collectors. I have lots more articles I'm working on but if there's something you'd like me to consider do let me know by writing to me at: collectchristie@gmail.com .

Other Updates.

There's a new podcast soon to be released - Agatha Christie in Devon. I've provided a contribution that will be slotted into one of the episodes so I'll let you know when that series goes live.

A few tickets remain available for my presentation at the 2024 International Agatha Christie Festival on 15 September in Torquay. I hope to see you there. For details or to obtain tickets go to: Festival Link. The whole agenda is so rich, there's definitely something for everyone. Also, I will be there the whole week, so I'm looking forward to meeting other Christie fans - so please do say 'Hi'. I enjoy connecting with readers.

As for other podcasts, if you haven't yet listened to my (rather long) appearance on the All About Agatha podcast, hosted by Kemper Donovan, it aired on July 13, 2024. You can access it at your favourite podcast site or via this link. The other podcast from 2 months ago I joined was Tea and Murder. That can be listened to via this link and it is a much more manageable length!

Happy Hunting!