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The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason -
Melville Davisson Post
1896 - G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York - First Edition
A fine and thus rare copy of this ground breaking work of detective fiction which controversially laid out the legal loopholes on which a criminal could carry out his plans on the basis that he would be acquitted in court (the relevant statutes are cited). Obviously an unscrupulous and highly intelligent lawyer is required, that man being Randolph Mason, who features in this collection of seven stories.
Housed in custom clamshell case, with additional signed compliments slip from the author loosely laid in.
‘Post (1871-1930) studied law at West Virginia University in 1892, several years spent in the practice of criminal and corporation law in his native state gave him the background for these short stories. The book created something of a furore, moralists objecting that it gave too much advice to criminals. Post retorted that nothing but good could come of exposing the law’s defects. And in fact the second story ‘The Corpus Delicti’ is credited with hastening a long need change in criminal procedure.’ - Howard Haycraft, ‘Murder for Pleasure’.
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Price HK$ 20,000
1896 - G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York - First Edition
A fine and thus rare copy of this ground breaking work of detective fiction which controversially laid out the legal loopholes on which a criminal could carry out his plans on the basis that he would be acquitted in court (the relevant statutes are cited). Obviously an unscrupulous and highly intelligent lawyer is required, that man being Randolph Mason, who features in this collection of seven stories.Housed in custom clamshell case, with additional signed compliments slip from the author loosely laid in.
‘Post (1871-1930) studied law at West Virginia University in 1892, several years spent in the practice of criminal and corporation law in his native state gave him the background for these short stories. The book created something of a furore, moralists objecting that it gave too much advice to criminals. Post retorted that nothing but good could come of exposing the law’s defects. And in fact the second story ‘The Corpus Delicti’ is credited with hastening a long need change in criminal procedure.’ - Howard Haycraft, ‘Murder for Pleasure’.
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Price HK$ 20,000
The Queen's Awards, 1946 -
Ellery Queen
1948 - Victor Gollancz Ltd, London - First English Edition
Sixteen prize winning short stories, including pieces by Manly Wade Wellman, Manning Coles, Ngaio Marsh, Q. Patrick, Anthony Gilbert, William Faulkner, and Michael Innes, as well as Kenneth Millar's [Ross MacDonald] first published story, ’Find the Woman’.
A nice example in the delicate Gollancz dust jacket.
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Price HK$ 1,000
1948 - Victor Gollancz Ltd, London - First English Edition
Sixteen prize winning short stories, including pieces by Manly Wade Wellman, Manning Coles, Ngaio Marsh, Q. Patrick, Anthony Gilbert, William Faulkner, and Michael Innes, as well as Kenneth Millar's [Ross MacDonald] first published story, ’Find the Woman’.A nice example in the delicate Gollancz dust jacket.
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Price HK$ 1,000
The Devil to Pay -
Ellery Queen
1938 - Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York - First Edition
First edition featuring Ellery Queen as he heads to Hollywood...
‘Some slight hints of what you will find’: ‘An exotic movie actress, the swivel-hipped blonde, Winni Moon, and her scented chimpanzee; a murder which, already precious, became a managing editor’s dream; Pink, who came from Flatbush, Brooklyn; Solly Spaeth who was spawned in New York...’
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Price HK$ 5,500
1938 - Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York - First Edition
First edition featuring Ellery Queen as he heads to Hollywood...‘Some slight hints of what you will find’: ‘An exotic movie actress, the swivel-hipped blonde, Winni Moon, and her scented chimpanzee; a murder which, already precious, became a managing editor’s dream; Pink, who came from Flatbush, Brooklyn; Solly Spaeth who was spawned in New York...’
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Price HK$ 5,500
The Dragon's Teeth. A Problem in Deduction -
Ellery Queen
1939 - Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York - First Edition
A nice clean first edition of one of the best Ellery Queen mysteries in which Ellery Queen teams up with the son of a former police colleague, the casework begins with the death of a retired munitions magnate, who dies unexpectedly while sailing his yacht in the Caribbean, and ends up in the search for two missing heiresses.
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Price HK$ 7,000
1939 - Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York - First Edition
A nice clean first edition of one of the best Ellery Queen mysteries in which Ellery Queen teams up with the son of a former police colleague, the casework begins with the death of a retired munitions magnate, who dies unexpectedly while sailing his yacht in the Caribbean, and ends up in the search for two missing heiresses.
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Price HK$ 7,000
Ellery Queen's Challenge to the Reader - Inscribed -
Ellery Queen, H. C. Bailey
1938 - Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York - First Edition
The ‘Challenge’ - In each of these 25 short stories the name of the detective is changed; the reader must recognise the great detectives by their methods, mannerisms, and other “internal” evidence. The correct names of the detectives are revealed at the end of each story.
One of the rare fifty de luxe signed gift editions, with rather fabulous association, being the one presented to ‘H. C. Bailey’, British Golden Age author, whose detective ‘Reggie Fortune’ features in one of the stories contained within, of course we will not tell you which one...
This signature of ‘Ellery Queen’, the creation of authors Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee, is most likely to be Dannay’s.
Containing the first book appearances of Dashiell Hammett’s A Man Called Spade, about detective Sam Spade, and T. S. Stribling’s Bullets, about detective Professor Poggioli.
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Price HK$ 18,000
1938 - Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York - First Edition
The ‘Challenge’ - In each of these 25 short stories the name of the detective is changed; the reader must recognise the great detectives by their methods, mannerisms, and other “internal” evidence. The correct names of the detectives are revealed at the end of each story.One of the rare fifty de luxe signed gift editions, with rather fabulous association, being the one presented to ‘H. C. Bailey’, British Golden Age author, whose detective ‘Reggie Fortune’ features in one of the stories contained within, of course we will not tell you which one...
This signature of ‘Ellery Queen’, the creation of authors Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee, is most likely to be Dannay’s.
Containing the first book appearances of Dashiell Hammett’s A Man Called Spade, about detective Sam Spade, and T. S. Stribling’s Bullets, about detective Professor Poggioli.
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Price HK$ 18,000
Vanity Dies Hard - Signed -
Ruth Rendell
1966 - John Long, London - First Edition
A fine copy in bright dust jacket, signed by the author to title page.
Wealthy Alice Whittaker – now Alice Fielding – is known for her generosity, and when her friend Nesta vanishes Alice is determined to find her and help her. If that means money, well, Alice has plenty of it.
Then Alice starts to feel sick – a virus perhaps, something she just can't shake. Her handsome husband, who is ten years younger than she is, seems determined to keep her at home. Does he just want her to feel better? Or is he trying to keep her from finding Nesta?
Ill though she is, Alice can't help asking questions. And the more she learns about Nesta's disappearance, the more certain she becomes that her own life is in peril....
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Price HK$ 9,000
1966 - John Long, London - First Edition
A fine copy in bright dust jacket, signed by the author to title page. Wealthy Alice Whittaker – now Alice Fielding – is known for her generosity, and when her friend Nesta vanishes Alice is determined to find her and help her. If that means money, well, Alice has plenty of it.
Then Alice starts to feel sick – a virus perhaps, something she just can't shake. Her handsome husband, who is ten years younger than she is, seems determined to keep her at home. Does he just want her to feel better? Or is he trying to keep her from finding Nesta?
Ill though she is, Alice can't help asking questions. And the more she learns about Nesta's disappearance, the more certain she becomes that her own life is in peril....
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Price HK$ 9,000
Death at the Helm. A Dr. Priestley Mystery -
John Rhode
1941 - Dodd, New York - First American Edition
Featuring Dr. Lancelot Priestley ’one of the enduring figures of detective fiction, an awesome old party with a passion for truth and a restless, analytic brain that forbids compromise and marshals evidence with mathematical precision’.
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Price HK$ 4,500
1941 - Dodd, New York - First American Edition
Featuring Dr. Lancelot Priestley ’one of the enduring figures of detective fiction, an awesome old party with a passion for truth and a restless, analytic brain that forbids compromise and marshals evidence with mathematical precision’.
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Price HK$ 4,500
The Circular Staircase -
Mary Roberts Rinehart, Lester Ralph (illustrator)
1908 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First Edition
First edition, in which all goes wrong for a wealthy, middle-aged spinster renting a millionaire’s mansion for the summer holidays in California. Illustrated with one colour and six black and white plates by Lester Ralph.
This is Rinehart’s first successful novel and was wildly popular when it first came out in 1907. She went on to become America’s highest pad author before the war. It is the book which invented the ‘Had I But Known It’ school of detective fiction, in which the principal character's actions have the effect of inadvertently prolonging the mystery and the action. Ogden Nash famously parodied this form of mystery writing in his poem Don't Guess Let Me Tell You: “Had I but known what I know now, I could have saved at least three lives by revealing to the Inspector what I heard through that fortuitous hole in the floor!”.
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Price HK$ 900
1908 - The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis - First Edition
First edition, in which all goes wrong for a wealthy, middle-aged spinster renting a millionaire’s mansion for the summer holidays in California. Illustrated with one colour and six black and white plates by Lester Ralph.This is Rinehart’s first successful novel and was wildly popular when it first came out in 1907. She went on to become America’s highest pad author before the war. It is the book which invented the ‘Had I But Known It’ school of detective fiction, in which the principal character's actions have the effect of inadvertently prolonging the mystery and the action. Ogden Nash famously parodied this form of mystery writing in his poem Don't Guess Let Me Tell You: “Had I but known what I know now, I could have saved at least three lives by revealing to the Inspector what I heard through that fortuitous hole in the floor!”.
More details
Price HK$ 900