The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

and it's now time for it to find a new home!. It's been in my Agatha Christie collection for many years. This is a golden chance for a Christie completist to acquire a serious rarity. Further images can be supplied on request. Remarkably, the original dustwrapper is still present and in near-fine condition with just minuscule loss at the corners and foot of the spine, which should be visible in the accompanying photos. The pages throughout are lightly and evenly tanned and the first owner's name and address are neatly written,together with the date December1926,to the front free endpaper. The orange covers are really fine and, with the exception of a small mark at the bottom right front corner, the book appears ' as new' - remarkable for a title nearly 100 years old.

This edition, the Cheap Edition,priced at 2/-, and with completely new artwork for the dustwrapper, followed in March 1926. To put it into context, the first edition was issued in the US in 1920, followed by Canada and then the UK first in 1921, priced at 7/6.The second edition or Popular Edition was issued in February 1923, priced at 3/6. I've never seen another copy with or without the dustwrapper and it's possibly even rarer than the first printing. An exceptionally rare early dustwrappered edition of Agatha Christie's first detection novel featuring Hercule Poirot.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie