Dennis Wheatley – What's New (2006-2007)

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Date	Amendment / addition	Link to new / amended area
9 December 2008	Following last year’s Christmas motif, if you click on the link to the right, or on the icon on the left hand side of the Contents page, you will see a selection of Christmas cards that DW sent out to his friends over the decades. This year I have added two new discoveries – DW’s calendar for 1940, sent out in 1939, and the card he sent out in 1971. I have also added a small new section on cards received by DW. A few of these rarities survive in a small private collection, and I hope they will prove of interest. As is traditional, the icon on the left of the Contents page will disappear on twelfth night. A happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year to all our visitors. Charles	Dennis Wheatley’s Christmas cards through the decades
19 November 2008	DW’s wartime experiences have featured prominently in the last month, with three new books containing references to his exploits. Famous 1914-1918 goes over his World War I experiences, while Churchill’s Wizards and Deceiving Hitler contain various references to DW’s role in World War II as a deception planner. Further details can be found by clicking the link to the right. Elsewhere, I have added further details about Invasion and Alibi to the notes on these board games, and added a picture of a variant of the latter. As with so many things DW, the more one researches, the more complexity one finds, and the more unanswered questions … Finally for this month, a hitherto unrecorded wartime paperback of Contraband puts in an appearance – the 36th Thousand from around 1940, with a completely different cover design. Thank you to those of you who have given me new material over the last few weeks – I’m saving some of it up for the New Year …	Other publications … Critiques/Books & Articles about Dennis Wheatley Notes 1933-1939 Notes 1946-1959 First editions 1952-1955 Hutchinson Paperbacks 1936-1952
30 October 2008	Various additions have been made to the ‘Introductions & Forewords’ section The excellent cover for the first edition of Peter Cheyney’s ‘You Can’t Hit a Woman’ has been added thanks to Adrian Sensicle of the Peter Cheyney website. The first edition of Jacques Penry’s ‘Character From The Face’ has also been added, and a couple of more minor items; ‘Deep Six’ by Robert Carse, a paperback from the 1960s with a ‘plug’ by DW on the front cover, and the wrap-around band that originally accompanied Charles Beatty’s ‘Gate of Dreams’, which again gave a recommendation. Elsewhere, a couple of 1960s Arrow Catalogues have been added to the ‘Hutchinson Publicity Material’ section, thanks to the generosity of Paul Barnes.	Other publications … Introductions & Forewords by Dennis Wheatley Hutchinson Publicity Material
30 September 2008	This month’s update comes close to completing the section on books written by other members of DW’s family First and foremost among the additions is a copy of William Younger’s first book 'Madonna' – a book I had thought it unlikely I would ever see. As DW later recorded in 'Drink & Ink', he was very fond of his stepson, and when in 1935 William, then seventeen, proudly brought him the typescript, DW decided to have it printed at his own expense in a small edition. It was the launch pad of William’s career as a poet and it turns out to be a charming item. Other additions include a later dust jacket for Eve Chaucer’s 'It Is Easier For a Camel', the cover of ‘Orpheus’, a posthumous edition of William Younger’s poetry, and the covers of the last two of Elizabeth Younger’s books, ‘Heron’s Neck’ and ‘The Long Shot’.	Books by other members of the Wheatley /Younger Clan
29 August 2008	This month continues the updates to the ‘Other Publications: Books and Articles about DW’ Section Among the new items are :- “Who’s Who in Spy Fiction”, with grateful thanks to Richard Humphreys. “BFI Monthly Film Bulletin” for July 1968 with a review of 'The Devil Rides Out' & "The Durable Desperadoes", which examines over a couple of pages the reasons for DW’s early success, both thanks to Paul Barnes “The Portuguese Connection” by DW’s wartime colleague Air Commodore Roland Vintras, which gives an account of the history of the Azores Base, and includes several warm references to DW and reproduces the map of the area from DW’s “They Found Atlantis”. “The Sound of Revelry” by Rupert Croft-Cooke, which includes reminiscences of meeting DW, and through him, Peter Cheyney. Croft-Cooke warmed to the former, but not the latter ! “The Facts about a Feature Film” about the making of 'To The Devil A Daughter'; which I thought was on the website, but looking, I couldn’t find it !	Other Publications: Critiques / Books & Articles about Dennis Wheatley
25 July 2008	This month, jackets for Eve Chaucer’s 'Better To Marry' and Elizabeth Hely’s ‘Package Deal’ have been added to the website, both thanks to Jamie Sturgeon. A number of additions have also been made to the ‘Other Publications : Books and Articles about DW’ Section. Among these are :- The Bookplate Journal in 1986, which has an article on DW’s very personal bookplate; Country Houses around Lymington by Blake Pinnell, which has a chapter on Grove House in which DW features prominently; Hammer fans’ Little Shoppe of Horrors for April 1994, which has articles about Hammer’s filming of various DW novels and last and most certainly not least, and with many thanks to Paul Barnes, Hammer Horror and Dark Terrors magazines both had several reviews of DW’s films, as did Video Watchdog magazine. Thank you, Jamie and Paul, for your contribution to the archives !	Books by other members of the Wheatley / Younger Clan Other Publications : Critiques / Books & Articles about Dennis Wheatley
27 June 2008	This month, covers for William Younger’s ‘The Lobster Guerillas’ and the first U.K. edition of Elizabeth Hely’s ‘A Mark Of Displeasure’ have been added to the website thanks to Jamie Sturgeon. ‘The Artist Magazine’ for July 1967, which includes an article on DW’s second portrait, by Michael Noakes, has been added thanks to Steve Whatley (the first portrait, by Cynthia Montefiore, can be seen on the back of the first edition of ‘Vendetta In Spain’). In the same section have been added two magazine articles from the 1950s about DW and his life at Grove House, and the auction catalogue for the sale of its contents in October 1968. Elsewhere, the illustrations of the Board Games have been improved and extended, and now include the De Luxe version of Invasion, while the notes on Invasion & the First Gift Box have also been updated – in the case of Invasion noting some hitherto unrecorded differences between the first and third editions.	Books by other members of the Wheatley / Younger Clan Other Publications : Critiques / Books & Articles about Dennis Wheatley First editions 1938 - 1939 First editions 1952 - 1955
28 May 2008	The first ever Dennis Wheatley Convention was held on 17th May at the Corus Hotel in Elstree, the location for filming some of the scenes in The Devil Rides Out. For a report on the Convention, click the link on the right.	The Dennis Wheatley Convention 2008
30 April 2008	The memoirs of Captain the Right Reverend Dom Rudesind Brookes OBE MC TD OSB (‘Father Dolly’) as narrated by DW’s son Anthony have been added to the list of books written by DW’s family. Among other changes, a new page has been added to the ‘Other Publications’ section listing various TV & Radio programmes featuring Dennis Wheatley or with a Wheatley related content. Thanks to Phil Baker for helping with the material – and if you can add to this list please let me know ! Smaller changes include reference to the PC games of the Crime Dossiers that were released in the 1990s and the addition of a previously unrecorded wartime Book Club edition of Uncharted Seas.	Books by other members of the Wheatley / Younger clan Other publications : TV and Radio programmes… The Crime Dossiers of Dennis Wheatley Book Club editions
21 April 2008	DW enters a new era ! Chorion, a leading provider of quality entertainment for the global marketplace which owns and manages the worldwide IP rights to some of the greatest novelists and mystery writers of all time, and whose portfolio includes Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler and Georges Simenon, has announced that it has acquired the literary estate of Dennis Wheatley. Tamsen Harward, Chorion’s Literary Estates Business Manager, states in their Press Release, "Dennis Wheatley was a hugely successful author who is primed to be 'rediscovered' by the next generation. Chorion is looking at the Wheatley portfolio from a fresh perspective and considering everything from republishing his out-of-print works, to new adaptations for the young adult market and film opportunities". For the text of the full Press Release, click the link to the right	LATEST BOOK NEWS
19 March 2008	This month’s updates concentrate on revamping and expanding the section on publications in the U.S.A. A new sub-section has been added detailing the U.S.Crime Dossier reprints, including a 1930’s ‘File on Robert Prentice’ and the 1970s / 1980s reprints. Four Ballantines and one Bantam edition have been added to the fiction reprints, and the U.S. edition of The Devil And All His Works has been added to the non-fiction section. Finally, I have learned that The Fabulous Valley was serialised in the ‘This Week’ weekend supplement of a number of U.S. newspapers in March / April 1936, and scans of all but one of the episodes have been included. The newspapers are exceptionally fragile, but the period illustrations are quite superb.	Non-UK editions: U.S.A.
22 February 2008	This month's update consists of a number of rare, and in some cases historic, foreign editions. First and foremost, DW’s own copy of the Czech edition of Who Killed Robert Prentice, which he inscribed ‘My own copy of the second Murder Dossier, and the first to be published in Czech (being my 3rd Czech translation). Published the day before Hitler entered Prague. March 1939. Dennis Wheatley’ Second, a hitherto unknown pre-war German edition of the same title – an edition which necessitates some re-writing of Crime Dossier history - as it was thought not to exist! Third, what is arguably the first Belgian edition of a DW book to grace these pages – a copy of ‘Le Glaive du Destin’ (The Sword of Fate) with the text block printed in Belgium in 1948. Finally, an early French issue (1939) of Contraband.	Non-UK editions: Czechoslovakia Non-UK editions: Germany The Crime Dossiers of Dennis Wheatley Non-UK editions: Belgium Non-UK editions: France
18 January 2008	Breaking News - DW’s 'long lost' novel' The Lusty Youth of Roger Brook' has turned up ! Known only to a handful of enthusiasts from a brief reference to its existence in DW's unpublished Will of 30th June 1971 (unpublished because it was superseded by a later version), nothing was known of its contents, and I for one had given up hope of ever seeing it, and was beginning to doubt its very existence. It is an unexpurgated version of 'The Launching of Roger Brook' with a few bits of 'The Man Who Killed The King' added in, which is unlikely for various reasons ever to be seen in published form. For further details, click the link.	The Lusty Youth of Roger Brook

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