Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan (1890-1976), the novelist known as Agatha Christie, was born in Torquay on 15 September 1890. She received little or no formal education as a child, but taught herself to read at an early age. She married Archibald Christie in 1914 and they welcomed a daughter, Rosalind, in 1919.
During the First World War she worked with the Voluntary Aid Detachment in a local hospital and then in a dispensary. It was at this point that her idea of writing a sleuth story was born, and took the shape of a Belgian detective, Hercules Poirot, inspired by people she met evacuated from the continent. In 1921, her first novel, 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles', was published in the UK.
Agatha and Archibald Christie divorced in 1928. Following the divorce, Agatha travelled to Baghdad where, in 1930, she met Max Mallowan, an archaeologist. They married later that year. During their marriage, Agatha often accompanied Max on archaeological expeditions, and these experiences contributed the settings to several of her novels set in the Middle East. Agatha also drew on her experience of international travel when writing her 1934 novel, 'Murder on the Orient Express', which is said to have been based on a journey from Stamboul [Istanboul] to London in 1930.
Agatha Christie went on to become the world's biggest-selling author and is particularly well-known as the writer of 66 detective novels and the longest-running play in London, 'The Mousetrap'. She was given a CBE in 1956, an Hon D.Litt. from Exeter in 1961, and in 1971 she was made a Dame of the British Empire. She died on 12 January 1976 at her home in Oxfordshire.
The archive held at the University of Exeter Special Collections is from the offices of Hughes Massie and Co. Ltd. and relates to Agatha Christie's literary estate. Throughout her career her literary agent was Edmund Cork, and these files were created by him to reflect his dealings with publishers, film-makers and other professional persons with an interest in the Christie estate, including Agatha Christie herself, and her husband, Sir Max Mallowan.
For a larger view of the exhibition board click on the image to take you through to the image page, then click on it again to view it in a zoomable format.
Further information about the Agatha Christie Business Papers can be found on the archives catalogue.
The exhibition board relating to Agatha Christie is currently being hosted at Oxfam Books & Music Exeter until September 2023.