Description
8vo, pp. 128. Original colour printed yellow wrappers. A little soiled, corners creased, spine cocked, front joint splitting at ends, large tear to rear wrapper. Crossword completed in pencil.
At The Villa Rose.
- [London]: Hodder and Stoughton 1937
£60
Notes
An undated 'Crossword Ninepennies' paperback reprint of the first Inspector Hanaud novel, originally published in 1910 and a Haycraft Queen Cornerstone, thrice adapted for film in the 1920s and 30s. The front wrapper explains 'first read the book, then do the crossword' - as the title-page is in the form of a crossword puzzle, with the clues printed inside the front wrapper. Reading the novel first would certainly assist the solver, as several of the clues are plot points or quotes from the novel. The rear wrapper advertises a further 18 titles in the series but this book is undated and they have barely troubled the historical record - no library catalogues distinguish the crossword edition from other pre-war reprints, apart from a run in the Bodleian, and the only clue to its date is a Dunedin, New Zealand bookseller's advertisement from 1937, selling the series as 'the latest attraction'.
