Description

Hardcover, original brown publisher’s cloth stamped in blind on covers and lettered in gold on spine. 223 pages. Illustrated throughout with full page and vignette engravings. Printed in double-column format. Includes four pages of Harper ads at front: a two page catalog of Harper’s “Library of Select Novels”, a full page ad for various works by Miss Mulock, and one page with two titles on The Dutch Republic and The United Netherlands. First American edition. Considered to be the first detective novel, the story originally was serialized in Charles Dickens’ magazine “All the Year Round”; together with “The Woman in White” this novel is considered to be Collin’s best work. No previous ownership marks. Some incidental sporadic foxing, though a generally clean, square and unmarked copy. Spine gilt bright and cloth covers clean and sound with mild wear to spine ends and upper tip on rear cover. A very nice copy of “probably the very finest detective story ever written” [Dorothy L. Sayers; Hall, Sharon K (1979). Twentieth century literary criticism. p.531]. Very good+. Hubin, p.180; Wolff, 1368a; Parrish, pp. 75-76