"OVER THE WALL" WHISPERED BIGGLES. An Original Illustration for Biggles and the Foreign Legionnaire.

Gouache and watercolour on artists board measuring 40 x 27cm. Inscribed in blue ink on the reverse "Biggles - Foreign Legionnaire / Captain W. E. Johns / p.96 / "Over the wall" whispered Biggles". In fine condition. Mounted, framed and glazed.

This original artwork by Leslie Stead (1899-1966) is one of six colour plates reproduced in the 1954 first edition of Biggles and the Foreign Legionnaire, in which Biggles and Ginger go undercover in the French Foreign Legion, seeking to smash an international villainous ring which is creating wars in order to profit from armament sales. From 1942, Leslie Stead illustrated most of the Biggles books, following the death of Johns' brother in law, Howard Leigh (1909–1942).