The Secret of Chimneys - photo 1
The Secret of Chimneys - photo 2
The Secret of Chimneys - photo 3

The Secret of Chimneys

Sold
£ 6 300
Auction dateClassic
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1016410
Lot 20 | The Secret of Chimneys
The Secret of Chimneys

Agatha Christie

CHRISTIE, Agatha (1890-1976). The Secret of Chimneys. London: John Lane the Bodley Head Limited, 1925.



Rare presentation copy of the first edition, inscribed by the author to ‘Mrs Winckworth in memory of a pleasant two months spent in 25 Gordon Place from Agatha Christie’. We are unable to trace any other presentation copy in auction records. Mrs Winckworth’s address in Kensington, London, was probably one of the temporary residences in which the Christies stayed following their return from a 10-month round-the-world promotional tour for the British Empire Exhibition (1924-25). The Christies lived at various addresses in London on their return before settling on a move to Sunningdale in 1924. The Secret of Chimneys was the last of Christie’s books published under the Bodley Head imprint and ‘one of the best of Agatha Christie’s early thrillers’ (C. Osborne, The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie [1999]). Hubin p. 80.



Octavo. 2 pages of publisher’s advertisements at end (free endpapers lightly browned). Original blue cloth, upper cover and spine decorated and lettered in black (lacking the dust-jacket as usual, spine slightly discoloured, extremities slightly rubbed, minor soiling to covers). Provenance: Mrs Douglas P. Winckworth, 25 Gordon Place, Kensington (presentation inscription from the author on preliminary blank).

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
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