On the final day of the Twelve Days of Christiemas I thought I’d take a look at the variety of covers that have graced the books of Agatha Christie over the years.

There are of course still first editions available out there, (for an eyewatering price). You can therefore still own a piece of the original artwork for some of her novels.

Here are a few examples taken from Harrington Books (where if you are feeling a bit flush you can buy one the books).

These two are Crime Club editions:

And here’s a proof copy, proving that the idea of giving advanced reader copies of books tantelising covers is not a new one.

I collect vintage Agatha Christie novels. I don’t often find them in the shops near where I live. Recently I popped into my local charity shop where I got chatting to one of the volunteers and mentioned I collected the books. She said she had some at home and would bring them in for me to buy. Imagine my joy when I turned up the next day to find 22 vintage editions waiting for me. Needless to say I snapped them up without even looking at them. The covers from the 1970s and 80s or there abouts are often bizarre, and sometimes border on creepy. Here are a few that stood out from my collection.

These are the Pan covers.

And here are the Fontana covers.

Here you can see the different directions the art departments at Pan and Fontana  took!

I even have an old US edition

And a Penguin classic edition

Harper Collins have revivied the era of the novels in their latest set of editions.

One of my favourites of recent years has to be this edition of Murder on the Orient Express, it so easily evokes the sense of granduer of the famous train.

There are even the facsimile editions that repeat the covers of the past.

There have been, without a doubt, many variations on the covers over the years. Some will have worked better than others. Some will have been of their time, others will be timeless. The one thing each one does, is wrap up a story that is bound to entertain.