![FREEMAN, R. Austin. The Red Thumb Mark. London: Collingwood Bros., [1907].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2002/NYR/2002_NYR_01104_0067_000(042337).jpg?w=1)
Details
FREEMAN, R. Austin. The Red Thumb Mark. London: Collingwood Bros., [1907].
8o. Frontispiece. Original decorated black cloth, front cover lettered in white and with red thumb print (the author's own), spine lettered in white (white lettering on spine mostly rubbed away as usual, some very light edgewear to one corner); cloth folding case. Provenance: John Carter, English bibliographer (presentation inscription from the author). -- Adrian H. Goldstone (sale, California Book Auction Galleries, 10 December 1981, lot 1161). -- "Property of a Gentleman" (sold Christie's New York, 7 December 1990, lot 88).
FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR on the front free endpaper: "For John Carter with warmest greetings & all good wishes from R. Austin Freeman 5th December 1938." The noted bookman and bibliographer John Carter was a pioneer in the collecting of detective literature: his ground-breaking essay "Collecting Detective Fiction" (noting The Red Thumb Mark) appeared in New Paths in Book-Collecting 1934. In the following year, Scribner's issued the first major catalogue devoted to detective fiction first editions, gathered mostly from Carter's collection, which he catalogued and annotated. See Queen's Quorum, p.45. Donaldson 4; Lilly Detective Fiction 40; a Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone (and on the original Haycraft Cornerstone list).
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FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR on the front free endpaper: "For John Carter with warmest greetings & all good wishes from R. Austin Freeman 5