Hickory Dickory Dock (1955) by Agatha Christie

Hickory Dickory Dock is the 30^th Poirot novel and one that shifts from a more typical closed-circle environment of a stately home to that of student lodgings. While it had been two years since the last Poirot (After the Funeral - 1953), this novel was at first positioned as a ‘New Poirot Thriller' in its magazine appearance, but when the book was published it became a 'Christie for Christmas'.

While the title of this novel is based on a mid-18^th century nursery rhyme, it has little to do with the plot of the novel. The loose connection is that the student hostel that is at the centre of the plot is located on Hickory Road, along with an even more tenuous link that the dock relates to a courtroom. Of note, a number of foreign printings used the title ‘Murder on Hickory Road’ which is certainly more direct.

The novel had mixed reviews when it was released. In The Times Literary Supplement on 23 December 1955, critic Philip John Stead called Poirot’s return “something of an event,” and that Christie “rapidly establishes her favourite atmosphere by her skilful mixture of cheerfulness and suspense.”  A more negative review came from crime writer Robert Barnard who said it was “A significant falling-off in standards” and “perfunctory”.

First Editions

First Appearance:

As with many Christie’s novels in the 1950s, the story appeared in John Bull (UK) magazine prior to its book publication. It was serialised and abridged across six instalments from May 28, 1955 to July 2, 1955 (Vol. 97, No. 2552 – 2557). The first instalment was clearly marketed on the cover, with both Christie's name and the title. While her name appeared on the covers of the 2nd - 4th instalments, it was absent on the 5th and 6th.

Each instalment was illustrated by Gerry Fancett. In addition to frequently illustrating articles in John Bull, he also worked for the British magazines Woman and Woman’s Weekly.

First American Magazine: In the States, the story was published under the slightly alternate title of Hickory Dickory Death. This alternate title had been suggested to Christie by Dodd, Mead & Co. as more suitable for the American market. It was first serialised and abridged in Collier’s Weekly across three issues from October 14 to November 11, 1955 (Vol. 136, No. 8 - 10). Only the first instalment promoted the Christie story on the cover.

The illustrations were by Robert Fawcett who was English by birth but found his career success in New York. There he created illustrations for many publications including The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s and Cosmopolitan. He is perhaps best known for his illustrations that accompanied Collier’s publication of various Sherlock Holmes stories.

First Book Editions.

First Edition: 

The novel’s first book edition was published by Collins’s The Crime Club on October 31, 1955. Priced ‘10s. 6d. net’ on the front flap, the novel was shod in a very post-war austere jacket designed by Kenneth Farnhill, whose name appears on the bottom left of the front panel. Notably Farnhill created many of Collins’ Christie jackets in the 1950s and 1960s. The book was the standard orange cloth with black lettering.

First American Edition: 

In the States, Dodd, Mead & Co. published the book as one of their Red Badge Detective mysteries, on November 1, 1955. Priced $3.00 on the front flap, the jacket was designed by S.K.A.  Associates, a firm I’ve been unable to learn more about. The book’s boards were green with silver embossing. A list of recent Christie titles faces the title page. It is interesting to note that the copyright for this book was assigned to Max Mallowan and Edmund Cork.

Other Early Editions of Note:

1956 The Book club (Foyles). In Britain, Foyles had started book clubs for their clients that sold books at a significantly lower price than Collins. While their initial Christie titles were placed in their ‘Thriller Book Club’, that branding had been discontinued when they printed Hickory Dickory Dock in 1956. As with their prior Christie titles, one of the appealing attributes of these books were the covers which were far more illustrative than the Collins firsts (image below left)

1956-1957 Dodd Mead Book Club. Most copies of the early Dodd, Mead & Co. hardbacks that appear for sale in the States will be book club editions. If the jacket is present, it will state this on the foot of the front flap. The book is also different and quickly identified by the red lettering and logo, not silver, on the boards (image below right).

Omnibus Editions.

For those who collect omnibus editions, 1970 saw British & American omnibuses issued that contained this story.  In Britain, Paul Hamlyn published it as one of their Agatha Christie Crime Collection volumes which included Cat Among the Pigeons and The Labours of Hercules in addition to Hickory Dickory Dock (image below left). This same volume was sold in Australia in 1983 when it was republished there by Lansdowne Press.

In the States, Dodd, Mead & Co. included this title in their 1970 omnibus The Nursery Rhyme Murders. It contained two different novels than Hamlyn did: A Pocket Full of Rye, Hickory Dickory Death and Crooked House.  The original first edition sold for $6.95 (image below right).  While very uncommon, it does have a different notably different dust jacket than the book club edition (BCE).  The first edition dust jacket has three review quotes on the front flap - from The New Yorker, The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.  In addition, the rear panel of the first edition dust jacket has a red number seven and red text on the upper part of the panel, as opposed to black on the BCE. 

Foreign Language Editions.

The earliest for translated editions appeared in 1956 as follows:

1956: Le Masque, France as Pension Vanilos.

1956: Sijthoff, Netherlands as Moord in het Studentenhuis.

1956: Bonniers, Sweden, surprisingly initially with its English title.

 If anyone has a better image of the Dutch printing, please do share. Image source: DeliciousDeath.com. The Swedish cover image source: agathachristiesamlaren.se.

Paperbacks

First Paperback.

The first paperback was published in the States by Pocket Books. In Britain, Fontana published the first paperback.

1956 – Nov: Pocket Books (USA), No. 1151.

1958 – May: Fontana (UK) 1st version, No. 237.

Later paperbacks of note:

1965: Fontana Books, No. 2033. Tom Adams’s first cover design.

1967: Pan Books (first version), No. X598.

1972: Fontana Books, No. 2944. Tom Adams’s second cover design notable for its use of Elizabeth Taylor’s face. Archive material courtesy of the Tom Adams Estate.

1973 - May: Pocket Books (USA) 5^th Edition, No. 77655. Cover art by Tom Adams. Previously unseen archival material is being shared below showing the studio photos and source material Tom used to assist in creating this cover.

1984: Fontana No. 7000. Cover art by Martin Baker.

2025: William Morrow (USA). Note that America uses the original British titles for all Christie books today. Cover art by Stephen Millership.

Values

Hardback Values. The first Collins (UK) edition in ‘very good’ condition is valued at £200 - £250 ($250 - $325). The most common flaw with this book is a sunned and faded spine which reduces its value. Collectors should strive to find a bright coloured spine and acknowledge that a premium may need to be paid to secure one. In addition, avoid price-clipped jackets or jackets that lack Farnhill’s name on the cover. When absent of the artists name, the jacket came from a later printing. The book without a jacket is valued at £40 ($55) when in very good condition and is easy to locate.

The Dodd Mead & Co. first is surprisingly difficult to locate in ‘very good’ condition. It is worth £75 ($90) in a very good jacket, which is surprisingly good value at this time. I expect prices of these US 1950s first to grow significantly over the next decade. Without a jacket, the book alone is worth £15 ($20). Avoid the book club edition which is only worth used book prices.

For more details on Omnibus pricing, go to this link.

Paperback Values. All paperbacks are still affordable and fairly valued at used book prices. Thus, be patient and seek copies in very good condition. However, the Tom Adams covers are starting to see price escalation and copies in very good condition of all pre-2000 paperbacks are getting harder to source.

Note: All the data regarding printings, editions and dates is to the best of my knowledge.  Since I have not seen every edition in person, some specifics are missing.  Those that are provided are accurate.  Any information that fills in the gaps or other updates from our readers is most welcome. 

Other Items:

This article is one of many that go in-depth on a single Christie title. As I write more of them, I am updating the complete index which can be found at the top of the page under 'Title Index' or via this link.

Festival Update: Only a very few tickets remain for my talk at the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay this September. I'll be sharing fresh insights into Christie's masterpiece - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Details at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/agathachristiefestival/2100162

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