Murder on the Orient Express is probably Agatha Christie's most famous novel. It was first published in book format in 1934, and it features her unique Belgian Detective, Hercule Poirot, trying to solve the brutal death of a fellow passenger on board the Orient Express train during its long run from Istanbul, Turkey, to Calais, France.
"What has occurred?" Poirot asked."You may well ask that. First this snow---this stoppage. And now---" He paused---and a sort of strangled gasp came from the conductor."And now what?""And now a passenger lies dead in his berth---stabbed."
As it happens, I saw all of the filmed versions before I read the book, and even though I've always admired director Sidney Lumet's
pivotal
1974
film adaptation the book proved to be a much better format for delivering Christie's decidedly brilliant yet incredulous plot---but I usually feel that way about any written piece in comparison to its film counterpart, although I've yet to listen to any of the audio versions.
As you might guess I'm also fascinated by the illustrations and cover art that has helped promote the novel throughout the 20th Century and beyond. (Note: this is not a complete chronological listing of covers, just the best that I could muster.)
The true first publication of Agatha Christie's novel in any form was in the United States in 1933, as a Saturday Evening Post magazine serialization in six installments, but under the permutated title of Murder in the Calais Coach so it wouldn't be confused with Graham Greene's bestselling 1933 novel Orient Express, which itself was changed for American publication from its original British title of Stamboul Train. Each installment ran from September 30th to November 4th, and each had at least two black & white illustrations by William Clifford Hoople (b. 1893- ?), a New York based commercial artist. Seen above is the opening illustration by Hoople, showing Colonel Arbuthnot inviting himself to breakfast with pretty English governess Mary Debenham.
Hercule Poirot (in foreground) and Dr. Constantine search for clues inside compartment no. 2, where the murder of Ratchett occurred.
Poirot greets the Countess Andrenyi just prior to beginning her interview.
Supposedly, the kimono is the property of Countess Andreny, but is it really her scurrying down the passage?
Poirot conducts his first interview with Mary Debenham in her compartment.
During the second interview with Poirot, Mary Debenham breaks down, sobbing (from left to right: Dr. Constantine; M. Bouc; Hercule Poirot; Colonel Arbuthnot).
The Orient Express train, as conceived by artist William C. Hoople in 1933 for The Saturday Evening Post.
The true first hardcover edition was
published in January, 1934, by William Collins Sons & Company Ltd., of London, using their Crime Club imprint. Collins went with the title Murder on the Orient Express and not 'Calais Coach', which was a good decision on their part and one that has obviously held sway. Though their cover is regarded as unremarkable (showing the engine-car's interior view with the rail yard slipping past on either side), for some reason I've come to actually appreciate it. I suppose it's because of my fondness for trains in general. However, an artist was not credited, and to this day that person, or persons, remain unknown.
Dodd, Mead & Company of New York also published Christie's novel in 1934, but as Murder in the Calais Coach, in keeping with the Post's American title. It hit store shelves in late February, nearly two months after the British edition came out. Dodd's dustjacket art was produced by Clayton Rawson (1906-1971), a noted mystery writer, editor and magician, who in addition to illustrating book covers supposedly produced illustrations for magazines too. Rawson was also one of the original founding members of the Mystery Writers of America, which included Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat and Brett Halliday (all sturdy company). His diagram of the Pullman coach that was superimposed over the train lists each compartment and the name of its occupant, and it was also cooly reproduced on the endpapers. This diagram would be reprinted inside most of the Pocket Books mass-market paperback editions that were issued beginning in 1940.
"High in the mountains of Jugo-Slavia, the Orient Express, speeding northward, was halted by heavy storms and huge snow-drifts. One compartment of the Calais coach, which by curious coincidence was full despite an off season, was occupied by Hercule Poirot. In another lay the body of a murdered man! Than particular coach was shut off from the the rest of the train. There had been no stops since the victim, a certain wealthy American who went by the name of Ratchett, had last been seen alive. There were no tracks in the snow. Unquestionably, the murderer was still aboard---a member of the heterogeneous group that filled the coach. And thus commences a case that will take place second to none in the annals of fictional crime."
The very first softcover edition was published by Collins of London in 1936. It had a dustjacket and a cover design that conformed to their newly created Crime Club softcover lineup, itself a direct response to British rival Penguin and their highly successful softcover launch of 1935. These books were smaller than traditional digests but still a tad larger than the mass-market paperbacks that would soon be issued in the United States by Pocket and others. Unlike Penguin, Collins has never officially credited any specific person or persons for their Crime Club cover design or logo.
Penguin, who was the first publisher to launch Christie in paperback and as part of their inaugural 'ten' titles, was finally able to publish their edition of Murder on the Orient Express in 1948. Penguin's distinctive two color, three strip cover design was created in 1935 by Edward Young, a 21-year-old office junior who also drew the first version of the Penguin. The green and white color scheme denoted Penguin's crime fiction lineup; other colors, such as orange and white, denoted general fiction or other categories.
The cover art for Pocket's 16th printing in 1950 was painted by Harvey Kidder (1918-2001), a renowned American artist and illustrator and a longstanding member of The Society of Illustrators and The Graphic Artists Guild. In addition to producing paperback cover art, Kidder also illustrated dozens of books for children and he even wrote one himself about his favorite pastime, titled, Illustrated Chess for Children (Doubleday, 1970).
The cover art on Fontana's (UK) first mass-market paperback edition (1959) had the victim's body posed in a way that didn't exist in the story. Eileen Walton produced dozens of covers for Fontana during the late 1950's and early 60's, as well as dustjacket art for several British hardcover publishers, and she was usually quite reliable with her depictions, this time being an exception. Her sister Barbara was also a professional book cover illustrator.
"Mr. Ratchett was found dead in his berth with a dozen stab wounds in his body. On the floor of his compartment were a lady's handkerchief and a man's pipe cleaner. Some of the stab wounds seemed to have been inflicted by a left-handed person---others by a person who was right-handed. Most amazing of all, some were done (or so it seemed) long after Ratchett was already dead! Poirot knew that the killer must be another passenger. But not one of them had a motive, and since the victim's compartment was still locked from the inside, no one on the train had had the opportunity to kill him. Who was the killer? How did he do it? ? And who really was the corpse?"
Here is the large print edition from Ulverscroft that was published in 1965. The illustration is not signed and an artist was not credited but it is an interesting piece--a coach window reflecting the outside landscape (no snow though), while also revealing a portion of the seating. The skull, however, makes no sense to me other than it being an obvious reflection of death.
For their 20th printing (1965),
Pocket favored a new cover by an unknown artist that seemed to pay homage to their first
edition in 1940. New art of course didn't
mean that Pocket would change their
tradition of having a diagram of the Calais Coach inside each of their reprints. It's hard to discern but towards the front of
the coach are two wash rooms and at the rear is the conductor's seat,
two important elements in the events of the murder.
Pocket's 28th printing (1971) had its cover produced by noted Agatha Christie artist Tom Adams. However, his illustration does not appear in his much recommended art book on the author, Agatha Christie, The Art of Her Crimes: The Paintings of Tom Adams (Everest House, 1981). And that's too bad because I find it just as interesting as all of the other covers he's done.
Tom Adams has said that he was not altogether pleased with this painting, but whether he preferred it over his Pocket illustration that preceded it is anyone's guess. Fontana published this edition in 1972. Take note of the items that have been placed on top of the Macedonia map; a watch, burnt matches, a pipe cleaner and a charred bit of paper--all important clues found at the murder scene.
"Thundering along on its three-day journey across Europe, the Famous Orient Express came to a stop in the night. Snowdrifts blocked the line. Everything was quiet. Surrounded by the silent Balkan hills, the passengers settled down for the night. Hercule Poirot did not sleep well. He awoke with a start in the small hours, roused by a loud groan from nearby. At the same moment the ping of a bell sounded sharply. Someone said: "It was nothing, a mistake..." Then Hercule Poirot heard no more and after a while dozed off uneasily. But in the morning the man in the next compartment lay dead; stabbed viciously and frenziedly, over and over again---and the murderer was still on the train..."
Dodd, Mead & Co., published a hardcover book-club-edition of Murder on the Orient Express in the fall of 1974. It was in effect a movie tie-in of the just released Sidney Lumet film, with the principal cast featured in a montage of floating heads on the dustjacket. Pocket followed suit in February, 1975, with their 37th printing, retaining the same artwork (note the disparaging difference in image quality between the two formats). The art was produced by Canadian born Allan Mardon (1931- ), who is mostly recognized now as a fine arts painter
of very large-scale works. His subjects usually depict North American history and myths but he began his career like so many other artists as a New York based magazine illustrator. Sports Illustrated, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Time and National Geographic, were just a few of his many clients. He also produced book covers for the Franklin Library, Knopf, Ballantine and Fawcett, among others.
"Snowbound in the Balkan hills, the passengers on the Orient Express awaken to the shocking news that one of their number had been viciously murdered in the night. With a business more grim than murder afoot, Poirot has not a moment to waste. For the Killer is still at large on the train..."
Pocket's 42nd printing was also a movie tie-in, and published approximately a year after their first movie tie-in edition came out, in 1976. This time the cover reflected the film's actual lobby poster, changing only the background color from black to red. The poster was drawn by Richard Amsel (1947- 1985), a celebrated American graphic
designer and illustrator who had a brief but meteoric career producing movie posters, album covers, magazine covers and even a few book covers before succumbing to the 1980's plague, aids.
Pocket's 46th printing (circa
1980) did not credit their cover art, but I believe it is the work of Shannon Stirnweis. The portrait of Poirot at the top has been attributed to Mara McAfee (1929- 1984), a realist painter who produced
dozens of great book covers for Pocket, Ballantine and Fawcett, among others, and also magazine covers for National Lampoon. Pocket was so impressed by McAfee's talent that they went ahead and published a 64 page book of her illustrations in 1981.
Here's a simple yet very effective cover (note the blood dripping off the left buffer) by Martin Baker (M. B.), a talented British artist who produced dozens of fantastic Christie paperback covers for Fontana during the 1980's. This edition, exact printing unknown, was published in 1986.
Fontana published this paperback in 1987. Another Tom Adams perhaps, replacing Martin Baker? Or is it just a photo?
Black Dog & Levanthal Publishers of New York issued this hardcover edition in 2006, with a photograph of a train on the cover by Michael S. Yamashita. Overal book design and interior was credited to Elizabeth Driesbach.
This mass-market paperback edition from HarperCollins was published in
April of 2011. The bold color contrasts and font are certainly striking,
but no credit was given to a designer or photographer.
"The murderer is with us---on the train now..."
Sometime in the 1990's HarperCollins, an imprint of William Morrow, began publishing trade softcover editions of Christie's novels after gaining the rights to most of her work. These were probably the first Christie's in that specific format ever issued. Michael P. Correy is credited with many if not all of their new cover designs which also included this unusually bright and cheery one for Murder on the Orient Express, which was published in January, 2017. But wait--aren't those blood corpuscles spewing out of the train?
"Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the Millionaire Simon Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow passengers must be the murderer. Isolated by the storm and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer amongst a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again..."
In 2017 William Morrow published an omnibus hardcover edition of Christie's works for the mega bookstore chain Barnes & Noble that included Murder on the Orient Express as its headliner. The book was designed by artist Jim Tierney and bound in bonded-leather, with distinctive gilt-edging, decorative endpapers, and a silk ribbon marker, but the ultra-thin paper allowed for the reverse-side text to bleed through, an annoying feature for any book to have, even one as nice as this.
William Morrow also issued a trade hardcover edition in 2017, in anticipation of a new feature-film adaptation directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh (whose Poirot mustache was so over-the-top that it became a annoying distraction from beginning to end--aargh!). Once again, Michael P. Correy, made good on a great design for the book's dustjacket, a tweaking of sorts from his previous work on the earlier HarperCollins softcover edition.
* * * * *
"As for trains---what can beat a train? Especially before the diesels and their smell arrived. A great puffing monster carrying you through gorges and valleys, by waterfalls, past snow (sic) mountains, alongside country roads with strange peasants in carts. Trains are wonderful; I well adore them. To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches and rivers-- in fact, to see life."--- AGATHA CHRISTIE
As an Agatha Christie fan and mystery reader, I might argue that sometimes to travel by train is, in fact, to see death!, à la Murder on the Orient Express!
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[May, 2019, © Jeffersen]
