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Parker Pyne Investigates

Lot 32
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 20 160
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1016447
Lot 32 | Parker Pyne Investigates
Estimate value
£ 6 000 – 10 000
Parker Pyne Investigates

Agatha Christie

CHRISTIE, Agatha (1890-1976). Parker Pyne Investigates. London: Collins, 1934.



From the library of Agatha Christie's sister: first edition in the extremely scarce dust-jacket, signed by the author and her sister Madge. ‘"There was no doubt that Madge was the talented member of our family," wrote Agatha in her autobiography […] and Agatha wondered if her sister “would have gone on writing if she had not married” (so it was probably a relief to Agatha that she did marry)’ (Laura Thompson, pp. 44-45). In 1901 Madge Miller married James Watts who was heir to Abney Hall near Manchester, a palatial Victorian mansion where Prince Albert had stayed. ‘Abney became Agatha's greatest inspiration for country-house life, with all the servants and grandeur which have been woven into her plots. The descriptions of the fictional “Styles”, “Chimneys”, “Stoneygates” and the other houses in her stories are mostly Abney in various forms’ (Wagstaff & Poole. Agatha Christie: A Readers Companion, 2004).



Parker Pyne Investigates is a collection of twelve short story mysteries in which James Parker Pyne, a self-described ‘detective of the heart’, advertises his services in the personal ads section of The Times. Originally released as a magazine serial, the collection notably features the introduction of the characters Ariadne Oliver and Miss Felicity Lemon, who would later appear in the iconic Agatha Christie series ‘Hercule Poirot Investigates’. Hubin p.80.



Octavo. Four leaves of integral publisher’s ads at end (occasional variable light spotting, heavier to contents leaf and first few pages and gathering I). Original purple cloth, spine lettered in silver (spine slightly faded, covers faintly spotted, slight lean to spine); original pictorial dust-jacket supplied from another copy (two large chips in lower panel and smaller chip to top corner of front panel, several short creases, nicks and short closed tears). Provenance: Margaret 'Madge' Frary Watts (née Miller; 1879-1950, sister of Agatha Christie; signature on preliminary blank in pencil ‘Madge Watts / Abney’, signed beneath by her sister in ink: ‘Agatha Christie’; sale at Bearne’s, Exeter, ‘The Greenway Sale’, property from the home of Dame Agatha Christie, 12 September 2006).

Place of origin:Northern Europe, Europe, United Kingdom
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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28.09.2023 – 28.09.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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