Detective Fiction: 10 works

Lot 363
29.09.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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£ 4 032
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1029014
Lot 363 | Detective Fiction: 10 works
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
A group of 10 volumes, comprising:

DOYLE, Arthur Conan (1859-1930). The Return of Sherlock Holmes. London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1905.
First UK edition of a collection of 13 Sherlock Holmes stories. Green and Gibson A29a. Octavo. Frontispiece and 15 illustrations by Sydney Paget, two leaves of publisher’s ads at end (spotting). Original blue cloth, spine and upper cover lettered in gilt (extremities lightly rubbed and bumped); housed in modern blue cloth clamshell box. Provenance: early gift inscription on front free endpaper.

FREEMAN, R. Austin (1862-1943). The Mystery of Angelina Frood. London: Hodder and Stoughton Limited, [1924].
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author. Freeman’s most politically nuanced mystery, with the iconic Dr Thorndyke as protagonist. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine and upper cover lettered in black, upper cover bordered in blind (top edge faintly sunned, front hinge split at title, endpapers partially browned); original dust-jacket priced at 7/6 (somewhat creased and soiled, small tape repairs to verso); housed in blue quarter morocco box. Provenance: Dr. F. S. Horrocks (authorial presentation inscription to front free endpaper).

HUME, David [ J. V. Turner] (1900-1945). Bullets Bite Deep. London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1932.
First edition of the author’s first book, considered to be the first English take on the American ‘hard-boiled’ genre. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered in black (slightly cocked, spine and edges sunned, bottom edge of lower cover stained); original dust-jacket (lightly creased, spine sunned, top and bottom edges with chips and nicks, those to backstrip resulting in the loss of the publisher’s name and a few letters of the title, some glue residue on verso).

BERKELEY, Anthony (1893-1971). Not to be Taken. A Puzzle in Poison. London: Hodder and Stoughton Limited, 1938.
First edition, publisher’s file copy. Octavo. Two leaves of publisher’s ads at end (lower corner slightly bumped). Original blue cloth, spine and upper cover lettered in black (lower corner of upper panel bumped, spine and top edge sunned); original dust-jacket (lightly rubbed and spotted, backstrip slightly sunned). Provenance: Publisher’s file copy (stamp to front pastedown and annotation to spine of dust-jacket).

BURKE, Thomas (1886-1945). Limehouse Nights. Tales of Chinatown. London: Grant Richards Limited, 1916.
First edition, presentation copy of a Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone; a ‘work of high literary art that became a classic overnight’ (Queens Quorum). Queen's Quorum 58. Octavo. Original brown cloth, spine and upper cover lettered in brown (lacking very rare dust-jacket). Provenance: Hermione Murphy Grimshaw Eastry (authorial presentation inscription to front free endpaper, dated 1916).

— The Pleasantries of Old Quong. London: Constable and Co. Ltd., 1931.
First edition of Burke's classic mystery short stories, containing the first appearance of the highly-regarded and frequently anthologized, ‘The Hands of Mr. Ottermole’. Octavo. (Light spotting to top edge.) Original yellow cloth, spine lettered and decorated in blue (extremities lightly rubbed and soiled, most heavily affecting spine with loss to a few letters); original dust-jacket priced at 7/6 (lightly rubbed, spine sunned with chip at head, lower panel with some spotting, a few small nicks and closed tears along edges).

FOWLER, Sydney (1874-1965). By Saturday. London: The Bodley Head, 1931.
First edition. Octavo. Three leaves of publisher’s ads at end (light occasional spotting). Original green cloth, spine and upper cover lettered in yellow (lightly marked); original dust-jacket designed by S. G. Hulme Beaman (lightly soiled and chips with some reinforcements on verso).

GARY, Berkeley [Edwy Searles Brooks] (1889-1965). Vultures Ltd. London: Collins, 1938.
First edition of the second novel of the Norman Conquest Series. Octavo. (Marginal spotting.) Original blue cloth, spine lettered in silver (slightly cocked, extremities rubbed and stained, most heavily affecting head of spine and outer edge of lower panel); original dust-jacket, later issue priced at 4/- (edges and folds rubbed, lower panel soiled, chips to ends of backstrip reinforced on verso).

FARJEON, J. Jefferson (1883-1955). The Third Victim. London: Collins for The Crime Club, 1941.
First edition. Octavo. Two leaves of publisher’s ads at end (textblock split between E8 and F1). Original orange cloth, spine lettered in black (cocked, extremities lightly rubbed); original dust-jacket priced at 7/6 (lightly marked and nicked, repaired on verso with tape).

SIMMAT, R. (fl. c. 1936). Murder on Mitcham Common. London: Newnes, 1936.
First edition. Octavo. (Occasional spotting, large tear to leaf 7/7 crudely repaired.) Original green cloth, spine lettered in black (extremities lightly rubbed); original dust-jacket priced at 2/6 (somewhat rubbed and soiled, chips to backstrip and small nicks to edges, creased and chipped area of lower upper panel reinforced with paper insert on verso). Provenance: contemporary gift inscription (pencil to front pastedown).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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