First edition. Original gold cloth with dark blue border and titles on upper cover and spine. Top edge blue. In the very rare pictorial dustwrapper with full length portrait of Hercule Poirot by W. Smithson Broadhead. Laid in is an advance review slip for the book, noting publication to be due on 21 March 1924. A fine bright copy, with slight spine lean, in a very good dustwrapper indeed, which just shows minor wear to the head of the spine and a small nick to the the lower corner. An exceptional survival.

The author's first book of short stories and fourth book overall. Christie had signed a rather disadvantageous six book deal with The Bodley Head and insisted on making a book of some Poirot stories she had written for The Sketch in 1923. The W. Smithson Broadhead illustration of Poirot on the dustwrapper also originally appeared in the 21 March, 1923 issue of The Sketch.
That copies of the Bodley Head Christie books in their original dustwrappers fall into the highest stratum of rarity is beyond argument. Many ardent collectors despair of ever seeing an example, never mind owning one. It is, however, an interesting discussion point as to why they should be so rarely encountered in comparison to other books of a similar period or genre. Bodley Head were not habitual publishers of detective fiction, and issued Christie's books in relatively small numbers, significantly lower print runs than those of Collins when they became her publishers in 1926. The cloth binding on all six books was both sturdy and carried an attractive geometric design; it would be easy to see buyers choosing to jettison the dustwrapper on aesthetic grounds. Where dustwrappers were retained, the popularity of the books would lead them to be read many times, causing the gradual deterioration and eventual loss of the dustwrapper.
Whatever the reason for their scarcity, opportunities to acquire these books in dustwrapper present themselves so very infrequently that they can, for practical purposes be considered unique. That this is one of the three scarcest Poirot books and the fact it has remained in first rate condition serves only to add to its lustre.

Queen's Quorum 71

Stock ID: 30355