Sexton Blake is a fictional detective who has been featured in many British comic strips, novels, and dramatic productions since 1893. He was featured in various British publications from 1893 to 1978 in a variety of formats: single-issue adventures, short stories, serials, and comic strips. In total, Blake appeared in more than 4,000 stories by over 200 different authors.
During its golden age (1920s–1940s), Blake's adventures were widely read and translated into at least twenty different languages, including Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, French, Arabic, Hindi, and Afrikaans.
Publication history The first Sexton Blake story was "The Missing Millionaire". Written by Harry Blyth (using the pseudonym Hal Meredeth), it was published in The Halfpenny Marvel number 6, on 20 December 1893, a story paper owned by the Amalgamated Press.Wright, Norman. The Adventures of Sexton Blake Detective. Introduction to The Sexton Blake Detective Library, Hawk Books, 1989 p. 7. Blyth wrote six more Sexton Blake tales, three for Marvel and three for The Union Jack, a story paper launched in April 1894.
The Amalgamated Press purchased the copyright to Blake along with the first story Blyth had submitted and from 1895 onwards several authors began to pen Blake tales. From August 1905 onwards, Blake became the resident character in The Union Jack, appearing in every issue until its transformation into the Detective Weekly in 1933.
Blake's popularity began to grow during the Edwardian era, and he appeared in a number of different story papers. These appearances included serials in the tabloid sized Boys' Friend, complete tales in the pocket-sized Penny Pictorial, and short stores in Answers, one of the Amalgamated Press' most popular papers.Wright, Norman. The Adventures of Sexton Blake Detective. Introduction to The Sexton Blake Detective Library, Hawk Books, 1989 p. 9. Longer tales of 60,000 words or so appeared in The Boys' Friend Library and the success of these led to the creation of The Sexton Blake Library in 1915.Wright, Norman. The Adventures of Sexton Blake Detective. Introduction to The Sexton Blake Detective Library, Hawk Books, 1989 p. 11. This digest-sized publication specialized in longer tales, and at the height of its popularity was published 5 times a month. It ran for just under 50 years.
In 1959 Fleetway Publications acquired the rights to Sexton Blake adventures and published The Sexton Blake Library until the title's demise. The final tale, The Last Tiger, was published in June 1963.Wright, Norman. The Adventures of Sexton Blake Detective. Introduction to The Sexton Blake Detective Library, Hawk Books, 1989 p. 16.
In 1965, Blake's editor William Howard Baker licensed the rights of the Sexton Blake character. He published the fifth series of The Sexton Blake Library independently via Mayflower-Dell Books, which ran until 1968. He then issued a final series of four Sexton Blake novels, using his Howard Baker Books imprint, in 1969. From 1968 to 1971 Valiant published new comic strips in the style of the Knockout strips from decades earlier. Blake's last original appearance was in Sexton Blake and the Demon God "a period thriller with ancient curses and cliff-hanger endings" in 1978.
There were a few anthologies and reprints in the 80s and 90s. In 2009 Wordsworth Books published the casebook of Sexton Blake and Snowbooks published Sexton Blake Detective. 2018 saw an uptick in Sexton Blake reprints, with the first print novels published by Stillwoods Publishing, a Canadian publisher out of Nova Scotia. In 2020, ROH Press began publishing Sexton Blake tales with Sexton Blake The Early Years, a collection of Blake's first cases. British publishers Rebellion Publishing produced four anthologies in 2020–21, each introduced by Blakeologist Mark Hodder.
Compiling the Sexton Blake bibliography The bibliography originated in the pages of Story Paper Collectors' Digest where collectors began recording and compiling the list of Blake tales that appeared in The Union Jack and The Sexton Blake Library. A master corpus was assembled in the late 1950s by The Sexton Blake Circle to facilitate the research of the Blake story papers.Packman, J. Blakiana, Collectors Digest v12 #135, 1958, p. 87
Titles and authorship were verified from the archived records of the Amalgamated Press.Packman, Josie Sexton Blake Library Titles and Authors. Collectors' Digest #158, February 1960 pp. 44–45 Available at http://www.friardale.co.uk/Collectors%20Digest/1960-02-CollectorsDigest-v14-n158.pdf As many of authors published in The Union Jack before 1929 were uncredited, the Sexton Blake Circle adopted the practice of accrediting authorship to the person who received payment for the tale until proven otherwise.Webb, W. The Author Who Died Twice, Collectors' Digest Christmas Annual 21, 1967 p109 Led by Len and Josie Packman expansion and revision on the master corpus was ongoing throughout the early 1960s as research brought more titles to light.Turner, E.S. Old Boys' Papers, Weekend Telegraph #7, 6 November 1964
The Sexton Blake Catalogue was published in 1966. The announcement in Story Paper Collectors' Digest read:
In 1970 Josie Packman announced a reprint of the Sexton Blake Catalogue along with a "supplement of all the new information."Packman, J. Blakiana Collectors Digest, v24 #286, October 1970, p 10
In July 1971 its completion and availability was announced in the Collector's Digest with the following announcement:
Since publication the Catalogue and supplement have been considered an "invaluable" tool by researchers interested in the Blake canon.Hawkey, L. Do You Know, Collectors' Digest Vol 44, #525, 1990 p 22Bridgewater, J. The Disguised Detective, Collectors' Digest Vol 44, #522, 1990 p 9 As Blake research was ongoing as new information or titles were discovered in primary sources, the catalogue was updated.Hopkins, R. Sexton Blake Penny Pictorial Reprints in the 1927 Popular, Collectors' Digest Vol 45, #529, 1991 p7
The catalogue provided verification that Sexton Blake had appeared in roughly 4000 tales by around 200 authors. Based on this statistic, Otto Penzler and Chris Steinbrunner writing in the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, concluded that Sexton Blake was "the hero of more novels and stories than any other detective."Steinbrunner, Chris; Penzler, Otto. Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, McGraw-Hill 1976, p7
In 1993 the second edition of the "famous Sexton Blake Catalogue" was announced in honour of the detective's 100th birthday. The announcement read:
It was issued by The Sexton Blake Library of the London Old Boys' Book Club.Hawkey, L. Do You Know, Collectors' Digest Vol 47, #563, 1993, p 19
Additions to the catalogue since 1993 have been made from publisher and retailer websites. ISBN numbers, where applicable, have been added to assist verification.
The Sexton Blake bibliography parts 1 to 4
Due to the extreme length of the bibliography it has been divided into four eras:Nevins, J. The Encyclopaedia of Pulp Heroes, 2017 1893–1911: The Victorian/Edwardian Era Sexton Blake bibliography 1912–1945: The Master Criminals Era Sexton Blake bibliography part 2: 1912–1945 1946–1978: The Post War Era Sexton Blake bibliography part 3: 1946–1978 1979–present: Revivals and Republications: Sexton Blake bibliography part 4: 1979–present
Notes to the cases All authors have been listed and linked to their Wikipedia biographies where possible. Many of these authors are remembered nowadays for the adversaries they pitted against Blake or the femme fatales they introduced. Many of these popular characters and their appearances have been described and included as well as key incidents in the life of Sexton Blake.
1979 to 1985
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1986 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes ISBN Anthology Sexton Blake Wins Gwyn EvansGeorge Hamilton TeedJohn HunterRex HardingeDonald StuartAnthony ParsonsAnthony Skene (George N. Philips)Robert Murray (Robert Murray Graydon)Pierre Quiroule (W. W. Sayer) Everyman PaperbacksFeatures: The House of the Hanging Sword The Treasure of Tortoise Island Under Sexton Blake's Orders The Man I Killed The Green Jester The Secret Amulet The Box of Ho Sen The Four Guests Mystery Sexton Blake Solves It
1987 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes ISBN Anthology The Sexton Blake Casebook Leonard H. BrooksWilliam Murray GraydonWilliam J. BayfieldHal Meredeth (Harry Blyth) Galley Press Vintage Detective Stories The Episode of the Black Diamond Anon. (Cecil Hayter) Galley Press
1988
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1989 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes ISBN Anthology The Sexton Blake Detective Library George Hamilton TeedAndrew MurrayJohn W. BobinAnon. (Matthews/Heade) Hawk BooksFeatures: The Yellow Tiger Ill-Gotten Gains The Shadow of His Crime The Rajah's Revenge The League of Crime The first four tales were reprints of the first four tales of The Sexton Blake Library published in 1915. Giant Holiday Adventure Comic Album Sexton Blake and the Loch Kyle Monster Edited and compiled by Mike Higgs, Hawk Comics
1990 to 1993
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1994 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes Non-Fiction Sexton Blake: A Celebration of the Great Detective Norman Wright & David Ashford Museum Press
1995 to 1997
None
1998 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes ISBN The Shadows of Sherlock Holmes Sexton Blake and the Time Killer Anon. (Gwyn Evans) Wordsworth Editions Ltd Anthology of Victorian Era Detectives Collection edited by David Stuart Davies
1999
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2000 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes Sherlock Holmes Gazette #36 Sexton Blake and the White Fairy (fan fiction) John Hall Sherlock Holmes Gazette Ltd Sherlock Holmes Gazette #40 Sexton Blake and the Curse of Ozymandias (fan fiction) John Hall Sherlock Holmes Gazette Ltd
2001 to 2004
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2005 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes ISBN Tales of the Shadowmen – Vol. 1: The Modern Babylon The Werewolf of Rutherford Grange G. L. Gick Black Coat Press Features Heroes and Villains from Pulp Literature
2006 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes Fan fiction The Séance at Stillwater Mansion Mark Hodder Blakiana Website Published online Fan fiction The Return of the Yellow Beetle Mark Hodder Blakiana Website Published online Fan fiction Special Dispensation 5 and 6 Mark Hodder Blakiana Website Published online Fan fiction The Case of the Left Hand of Thoth Mark Hodder Blakiana Website Published online
2007 Publication Title Author Publisher Notes ISBN Farmerphile Magazine #8 The Shades of Pemberley (part 1) Win Scott Eckert Michael Croteau Farmerphile Magazine #9 The Shades of Pemberley (part 2) Win Scott Eckert Michael Croteau Novel The Jungle Boy William Murray Graydon Wildside Press Reprint of The Union Jack (2nd Series) 85, 1905
2008
None
2009