Description

INSCRIBED BY AGATHA CHRISTIE IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION,
SCARCE FIRST EDITION OF THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS, 1952

CHRISTIE, Agatha. They Do It With Mirrors. London: Crime Club / Collins, (1952). Octavo, original orange cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition, the sixth Miss Marple mystery, inscribed by Christie in the year of publication, “Philip from Agatha, Nov. 1952,” followed in different ink by the notation “Given to H.B. Craft, Dec. 1956” and the name “Philip M. Mallowan,” Christie’s brother-in-law—the brother of her second husband, archeologist Max Mallowan.

Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) “created two of the most distinctive sleuths of detective fiction, Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot” (New York Times). Possessed of “a dazzling ingenuity in the planting of clues and the trailing of red herrings? Christie was a mistress of complication? [and] a mistress of simplicity.” Christie’s Miss Marple, “the most ordinary of old ladies, triumphed as a detective frequently by seeing the ordinary in the act of murder or by finding clues during the everyday process of gossip” (H.R.F. Keating). The beloved Miss Marple made her first appearance in the 1930 novel Murder at the Vicarage and ended her sleuthing career 11 novels later with Sleeping Murder (1976). This scarce first edition of They Do It With Mirrors, (aka Murder with Mirrors) is the sixth Miss Marple mystery. The inscription’s “Philip M. Mallowan” refers to Christie’s brother-in-law, the brother of her second husband, archeologist Max Mallowan. Their happy marriage lasted from 1930 until Christie’s death in January 1976. The identity of “H.B. Craft” remains unverifiable. With original dust jacket signed Furnhill. Hubin, 81-2. Russell, 144.

Text fine, light soiling, edge-wear and fading to near-fine book; light edge-wear, light foxing to rear panel, small closed tears along seams of bright, extremely good dust jacket.