The Gracie Allen Murder Case
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. First Printing (with "A" and publisher's seal on copyright page). 8vo: 227,[7]pp. Publisher's canary yellow cloth, spine and upper cover stamped in black,fore-edge untrimmed, typographic dust jacket priced $2. A Near Fine or better copy, cloth clean and bright, offsetting to end papers page edges lightly toned; in a better than Very Good jacket, rubbed along edges with miniscule losses. Detective Fiction, pp. 290-92. Near Fine+ / Very Good+. Item #BB1099
The penultimate Philo Vance mystery, intended as a Hollywood scenario, filmed in 1939 film with Gracie Allen, Warren William, and Ellen Drew. According to Haycraft, "two factors contributed principally to the success of the Van Dine books: the great literacy with which they were written . . . and a high degree of verisimilitude, so carefully worked out in every detail that in the early years numerous uncritical readers thought the cases had really occurred . . . In a few short years, [S. S. Van Dine] had become the best known American writer of the detective story since Poe; he had rejuvenated and re-established the genre in his native land; and his name and that of his sleuth will endure—for all their joint pretentious faults—among the immortals of the literature." N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
Price: $124.00