The Brigand - Edgar Wallace 1927 - Hodder and Stoughton, London - First Edition Lovely fine copy, in the scarce first edition dust jacket, albeit with later strengthening.

‘Anthony Newton was a soldier at sixteen; at twenty-six he was a beggar of favours, a patient waiter in outer offices, a more or less meek respondent to questionnaires which bore a remarkable resemblance one to the other. Newton struggled through eight years of odd jobs. And at the end of the eighth year he discussed the situation with himself and soberly elected for brigandage of a safe and more or less unobjectionable variety.

The dictionary defines a brigand as a robber or a bandit, particularly from an outlaw band. But that definition is perhaps too harsh for Tony Newton; he focuses on "the art of gentle robbery." And he succeeds, as he himself modestly admits.

The Brigand is a collection of twelve stories, each an escapade of Tony Newton as he moves from one adventure to another, one gullible rich man to another, escaping a detection here, a marriage to a "plum pudding girl" there, a murder attempt elsewhere, even becoming a successful member of the House of Commons in one delightful episode.

The Brigand is Edgar Wallace at his best - simple story lines, a loveable character with whom you empathise even though you know that he not quite on the straight path, a bit of crime, loads of humour, some deceptively simple philosophising. Among the lesser known one-book-only characters created by Edgar Wallace, Tony Newton would probably be right up there on the top.’
  Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932), best known for his screenplay ‘King Kong’ and novel ‘The Four Just Men’, left school at age 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during the Second Boer War, for Reuters and the Daily Mail. Struggling with debt, he left South Africa, returned to London, and began writing thrillers to raise income. Wallace later moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a script writer for RKO studios. Calling Wallace prolific is an understatement, he wrote screen plays, poetry, historical non-fiction, 18 stage plays, 957 short stories, and over 170 novels, and more than 160 films have been made of Wallace's work.

References: Haycraft,
Murder for Pleasure, 151, Herbert, The Oxford Companion to Crime & Mystery Writing, 489.

Octavo (19 x 13 cm). pp. 312 [1 (publisher’s ad)] [1]. In publisher’s orange cloth, spine lettered in black with red circle, front board lettered in blocked with vignette in black. Small booksellers plate to front pastedown. First edition dust jacket with additional later paper backing, is priced 3’6 net to spine.
  Condition: Fine, in good only dust jacket because at some point it has been backed with an additional layer of thin card.   Ref: 109020   Price: HK$ 1,200