Hodder's Classics of Detection and Adventure series and its successors

The British Library's Crime Classics are, I imagine, by far the bestselling series of 'crime classic' novels and short story anthologies of all time, certainly in the UK and probably elsewhere, with total sales well into seven figures. The series almost certainly boasts the most titles - well over one hundred, and counting. But there have, of course, been plenty of  'classic crime' reprint series over the years. The one that made the greatest impression and had the greatest influence on me was Hodder's series of Classics of Detection and Adventure, with introductions by the great Michael Gilbert. I've been reminded of it by James Dring, one of the many people who have in recent years kindly got in touch with me with questions or information about crime fiction (and who supplied the above image).

When in my youth I was haunting my local library in Northwich in the late 60s and 70s, the appearance of this series (which was, I presume, aimed squarely at the library market) was a source of great pleasure. It introduced me to some wonderful writers and some very good books. The ones that I can remember reading are: Heads You Lose by Christianna Brand, Trial and Error by Anthony Berkeley, The White Crow by Philip Macdonald, Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate, The House of the Arrow by A.E.W. Mason, and The Confessions of Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc. It was my first encounter with each of those authors. Quite an education!

I always read and enjoyed Gilbert's introductions. They were informative, written in his characteristically agreeable style, and concise. I learned a lot from him. An excellent model and I have kept his approach in mind ever since I started writing intros myself in the 1990s, for the Black Dagger reprint series.

To my regret, the Hodder series didn't last long - I don't know why, perhaps something to do with sales or maybe Gilbert lost interest or used up all his favourites. Nowadays, copies of these books are surprisingly hard to find. There was another reprint series at that time or a little later - the Constable 'Fingerprint' books, which included some good titles but lacked intros. My library didn't stock many of them and that series also bit the dust fairly soon. 

Here's a list James has kindly sent me of what we believe to be the full set of Hodder Classics:

The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler (first published in 1939; republished by Hodder in 1965)

The House of the Arrow by A. E. W. Mason (1924/1965)

Trial and Error by Anthony Berkeley (1937/1965)

The Lonely Magdalen by Henry Wade (1940/1965)

The Flaw in the Crystal by Godfrey Smith (1954/1965)

The White Crow by Philip MacDonald (1926/1966)

The Little Walls by Winston Graham (1955/1966)

Heads You Lose by Christianna Brand (1941/1966)

Venetian Bird by Victor Canning (1950/1968)

The Northing Tramp by Edgar Wallace (1926/1968)

Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate (1940/1969)

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie (1923/1969)

The Confessions of Arsène Lupin by Maurice Leblanc (translated by Joachim Neugroschel; 1913/1969)

Later, Penguin flirted with a few 'crime classics', while Collins' short reprint series in 1980, with intros by Julian Symons, was a hit and prompted subsequent series masterminded by Harry Keating. The Black Dagger series - again aimed at libraries - was a great venture, with intros by many CWA members, but eventually the imprint changed hands and the intros were dispensed with to cut costs - shame!

The reality is that reprinting old crime novels has never been a passport to publishing riches, even if you can make some easy money by turning out-of-copyright books into ebooks. The British Library's amazing success is really an exception that proves the rule. And whatever the merits of my own contributions, which aim to give the series a distinctive personality, there's no doubt that the cover designs play a crucial part in that success. This is because they play a big part in booksellers' decisions about stocking the books. The series is a publishing phenomenon and my association with it is a continuing source of pleasure. And in case you're wondering, yes, there are plenty more good books to come....