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Details
COLLINS, William Wilkie. The Moonstone. A Romance. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1868.
3 volumes, 8o. Half-titles, 2-page publisher's advertisement at end of vol. III. (Vol. II lacking the leaf of ads at beginning and blank leaf at end, few marginal repairs.) Original purple blindstamped cloth, gilt-lettered and -decorated on spines (skilfully recased with new endpapers, few repairs at ends of spines, spines faded, light wear at extremities); half blue morocco slipcase. Provenance: Estelle Doheny (morocco bookplates; sold Christie's Camarillo, 1 February 1988, lot 483).
FIRST EDITION OF A DETECTIVE LANDMARK, inspired by the case of Constance Kent, who murdered her younger brother in 1860, and the Northumberland Street murder. Although Sargeant Cuff is not "conspicuously a detective, and the clues, though fairly laid out from the beginning, satisfy only an antiquarian interest in ratiocination," The Moonstone has remained both a a literary classic and a classic of the genre, filled with unforgettable characters. See Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime 576. Parrish, p.89; Sadleir 598; Wolff 1368. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. (3)
3 volumes, 8
FIRST EDITION OF A DETECTIVE LANDMARK, inspired by the case of Constance Kent, who murdered her younger brother in 1860, and the Northumberland Street murder. Although Sargeant Cuff is not "conspicuously a detective, and the clues, though fairly laid out from the beginning, satisfy only an antiquarian interest in ratiocination," The Moonstone has remained both a a literary classic and a classic of the genre, filled with unforgettable characters. See Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime 576. Parrish, p.89; Sadleir 598; Wolff 1368. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. (3)