Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$60.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Undated 16mo in jacket, lists Crofts titles through "Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy" (1927) only, so probably 1928 or 1929, though possibly later. Priced one shilling ("1'- net") to jacket spine. (The first was October, 1922; this is NOT the first printing.) Book is "very good" with NO visible rub to corners; no problems with hinges. Jacket is complete, "good," with chipping along both top and bottom edges. Author Crofts (1879-1957) was an Irish railway engineer who wrote detective fiction in his spare time until his move to England in 1929, from which point he wrote full time. To his plots he brought a mind trained in mathematics, specializing in rail and ferry timetables and the seemingly unbreakable alibi. Raymond Chandler praised Crofts' plotting, calling him "the soundest builder of them all when he doesn't get too fancy." Agatha Christie included parodies of Inspector French alongside Sherlock Holmes and her own Hercule Poirot in her "Partners in Crime" (1929) Totals 246 pp. of relatively smaller type. Here reduced from $135.
Seller: Cat's Curiosities, Pahrump, NV, U.S.A.
AGATHA CHRISTIE. THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN. W. COLLINS SONS & CO. LTD. LONDON, 1928.
Price: US$452.44 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: EX-LIBRARY BOOK THAT WAS REBOUND FOR LIBRARY USE. FIRST FREE END PAPER MISSING. ASSORTED WRITING AND STAMPS ON FRONT PASTE DOWN. TWO DATE STAMPS ON RECTO OF LAST PAGE OF TEXT. COCKED. CLEARLY, FREQUENTLY READ DURING ITS LIBRARY HISTORY. THIS IS A TRUE FIRST EDITION AS INDICATED BY THERE BEING NO DATE ON THE COPYRIGHT PAGE. A FAIRLY EARLY CHRISTIE NOVEL FEATURING HERCULE POIROT. THE NOVEL HAS BEEN ADAPTED TO BOTH RADIO AND TELEVISION, THE LATTER AS RECENTLY AS 2006. AMONG THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER CHRISTIE TITLES. EXTRAORDINARILY RARE IN 1ST EDITION. MYLAR PROTECTED
Seller: BooksCardsNBikes, Stratford, ON, Canada
Agatha Christie. The Mystery of the Blue Train. W. Collins Sons & Co Ltd, 1928.
Price: US$547.51 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, First impression. A lovely copy finely bound by Temple book bindery in 3/4 red morocco with contrasting black lettering labels to spine with title and author. Five raised bands to spine with gilt tooling. Marbled end papers and gilt page edges. Internally good + with some very light spotting throughout.
Seller: William Collins Rare and Collectable Books, Grimsby, United Kingdom