Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
James, P. D.. A Mind to Murder. Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$96.24 + shipping
Description: First UK Edition. Publisher's red boards with gilt lettering to the spine. Ex-library. A couple of South African library stamps to the verso of the title page, faint strip of tape residue to the front and rear free end-papers, a library mark to the front free end-paper, faint tape stains to the boards (caused by an old dustwrapper protector). Boards bright and clean. About VG. No dustwrapper. Photographs/scans available upon request.
Seller: James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA., LEICESTER, United Kingdom
James, P. D.. A Mind to Murder. Faber and Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: P. D. James' (1920-2014) second novel. First Printing. 224 pp. 8vo. This is a facsimile dust jacket with little wear, now in mylar cover. Red cloth boards with gold titling to spine have considerable wear and cloth loss along edges, front and rear gutter paper has split with mull still tight to text block, date stamp at bottom of the title page. Likely ex-library.
Seller: Craig Olson Books, ABAA/ILAB, Belfast, ME, U.S.A.
P. D. James. A Mind to Murder. Faber and Faber, 1963.
Price: US$669.21 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Minor fading and chipping to top and bottom of spine. Creasing to the edge of the spine. Price clipped. Minor staining and wear to back of dust jacket. Book is cocked (minor). Two hospital library stamps on inner rear and inner front boards. Initials on FFE. Some minor foxing to edges. Otherwise book is clean and tight.
Seller: Gnosis Books, Brunswick West, VIC, Australia
James, P. D.. A Mind to Murder. Faber and Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$962.44 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 224 pages. Red cloth with gilt title to spine. Nice tight clean book.
Seller: Books & Bygones, Reading, United Kingdom
James, P. D.. A Mind to Murder. Faber and Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: P. D. James' (1920-2014) second novel but still a scarce volume in this condition. First Printing. 224 pp. 8vo. Dust jacket has considerable wear and scuffing, stain at head of spine, skull label indicating it is a mystery at base of spine, glue residue on verso vertical edges of end flaps, now in mylar cover. Red cloth boards with gold titling to spine, clean within.
Seller: Craig Olson Books, ABAA/ILAB, Belfast, ME, U.S.A.
James (P.D.). A Mind to Murder.. Faber and Faber, 1963.
Price: US$2245.71 + shipping
Description: UNCORRECTED PROOF, pp. 224, foolscap 8vo, original pale grey wrappers, with a little handling soiling, backstrip and front cover printed in black and incorporating 'Uncorrected Proof Copy' on the front cover, very good. An uncorrected proof copy of the author's second book.
Seller: Blackwell's Rare Books ABA ILAB BA, Oxford, United Kingdom
JAMES, P.D.. A Mind to Murder.. London Faber, 1963.
Price: US$2268.75 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression. 8vo; publisher's red cloth, titles to spine gilt. With the pictorial dust jacket. An especially fresh copy in the strikingly bright dust jacket which was trimmed just a millimetre short. The best copy we have handled of the author's second book. The slight shortness of the jacket has been noted on other copies, but with no clue as to why this would have happened in production. Whatever the case may be, this is a beautiful copy and deeply uncommon thus.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom
James, P.D.. A Mind to Murder. Faber & Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 12mo, 224 pages, first impression; publisher's red cloth, spine printed in gilt, near fine dust jacket, with 18s price on front flap. Neat owner name on FEP, dust jacket with the slightest fade at spine and top of front panel. A lovely copy, internally quite clean. Ms. James' second book.
Seller: Charles Parkhurst Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Surprise, AZ, U.S.A.
James, P. D.. A Mind to Murder. Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$3079.84 + shipping
Description: First UK Edition. Publisher's red boards with gilt spine lettering. A near fine (or better) copy in like dustwrapper with no discolouration to the white portion of the spine and with no wear, tears or pieces missing. The dustwrapper fits the book perfectly and is NOT TRIMMED as several other copies online seem to be. On the verso of the dustwrapper there is faint evidence of damp although this does not show through to the front side of the wrapper. A very nice copy indeed of P D James' scarce second book. A Mind To Murder is a "superbly satisfying mystery" (Chicago Daily News). "On the surface, the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is one of the most reputable institutions in London. But when the administrative head is found dead with a chisel in her heart, that distinguished facade begins to crumble as the truth emerges. Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate and quickly finds himself caught in a whirlwind of psychiatry, drugs, and deceit. Now he must analyse the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts has resulted in murder and stop a cunning killer before the next blow" (Good Reads). Photographs/scans available upon request.
Seller: James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA., LEICESTER, United Kingdom
P d James. A Mind to Murder. Faber & Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$3528.98 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: HARDBACK - The book is in very good condition, with clean red boards and unfaded gilt lettering to the spine. There is some foxing to the page block, but the book is free of any previous owner names or inscriptions. The dust wrapper is in very good condition with some light restoration to the spine tips. The correctly printed price of 18s.net is present to the front flap. Overall, a very good example of a very scarce title.
Seller: West Hull Rare Books - P.B.F.A., Hull, YORKS, United Kingdom
JAMES, P.D.. A Mind to Murder. Faber & Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$4509.41 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 8vo. Gilt lettered red cloth in pictorial dust jacket. A few light bumps and slightly darkened board edges and lightly foxed endpapers. Dust jacket not price clipped, with fade to the spine, creases to the edges, a little darkened overall and some creasing to upper panel edges as well. This copy signed by P. D. James on the title page, with the book signing ticket from The National Capital Reading Series. Event ticket from Wednesday November 19, 1997.
Seller: Karol Krysik Books ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA, Toronto, ON, Canada
JAMES, P. D.. A MIND TO MURDER.. Faber and Faber, [1963], London, 1963.
Price: US$5000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Author's second mystery novel. Signed by the author on the title page. Lightly foxed on front and rear fly leafs and fore-edges, else a fine, bright copy in dust jacket with a tiny rub to head of spine and top front corner point. Adam Dalgleish mystery. This copy is housed in a cloth clamshell case with the dust jacket copy repeated on the front and rear covers and the spine panel. An exceptional copy of a scarce title.
Seller: BUCKINGHAM BOOKS, ABAA, ILAB, IOBA, GREENCASTLE, PA, U.S.A.
P d James. A Mind to Murder - INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR IN 1964. Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$5126.65 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: HARDBACK - The book is in near fine condition, free of any previous owner names or Inscriptions. The pages are lightly toned, but free of any signs of foxing. The book has been inscribed by the author to the ffep. The inscription reads.J PAGE / FROM / P D JAMES / JAN 1964. The books red boards are bright and un faded as is the gilt lettering to the spine. The dust wrapper is in near fine condition. The colours are very bright with none of the usual fading or browning to the spine. The rear panel is very clean indeed, as is the dust wrapper in general. Correctly priced at 18s.net
Seller: West Hull Rare Books - P.B.F.A., Hull, YORKS, United Kingdom
JAMES P D. A MIND TO MURDER. Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$7699.59 + shipping
Description: First UK Edition. Publisher's red boards with gilt spine lettering. Mild foxing to the top edge otherwise a fine copy in a lovely near fine D/W with just a touch of discolouration to the white portion at the base of the spine caused by a tiny bit of damp on the verso of the D/W. Still an outstanding copy. Signed on the title page
Seller: James M Pickard, ABA, ILAB, PBFA., LEICESTER, United Kingdom
JAMES, P. D.. A Mind to Murder.. London: Faber and Faber, 1963, 1963.
Price: US$8662.04 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author to Otto Penzler on the front free endpaper, "P. D. James to Otto with affection & admiration", over the book label of Elaine Greene, her literary agent. This is a superb literary association: Penzler is an American author, editor, and owner of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York, and the Mysterious Press, which published mystery, crime, and suspense authors, including P. D. James. This was James's second book, and the second title in the Adam Dalgliesh series. Octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spine gilt. With dust jacket. A fine copy in the sharp, bright dust jacket, with just a little sunning to spine panel, rarely encountered in such nice condition.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
James, P.D. A Mind To Murder.. Faber and Faber, London, 1963.
Price: US$11500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of the author's second book. Octavo, original green cloth. Signed by the author on the title page with a transcription from the novel as follows, "The invitation would commit him to nothing more crucial than seeing that she had a pleasant evening and paying the bill. And a man was surely entitled to call his own publishers P.D. James." The inscription is from the final sentence of this novel. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Charles Mozley. Rare and desirable, especially with such a lengthy inscription and in this condition. The second book to feature Scotland Yard investigator Adam Dalgliesh, A Mind To Murder is a "superbly satisfying mystery" (Chicago Daily News). "P.D. James is one of the national treasures of British fiction. As James takes us from one life to another, her near-Dickensian scale becomes apparent" (Malcolm Bradbury).
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.