Mary Roberts Rinehart — The Circular Staircase

Indianapolis, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1908 . First edition. Cloth. A very smart example of the first edition of Mary Roberts Rinehart's popular and thrilling mystery novel, illustrated throughout. The first edition, first printing, with the September statement of publication to the colophon.Illustrated with a colour frontispiece and six further plates from Lester Ralph. Collated, complete.Initially published serially the prior year, this story follows dowager Rachel Innes as she thwarts a series of strange crimes at a summer house she has rented with her niece and nephew.The success of this thrilling tale established Rinehart as one of the era's most popular writers.It was adapted into the 1920 Broadway play 'The Bat', which was a major success. In the publisher's original pictorial cloth binding. Boards bright. Light rubbing to joints and back strip head and tail. Centre of front hinge a touch strained, but firmly held. Internally, firmly bound. Pages bright, but with significant instances of spotting and handling marks to the first twenty pages. Very Good . Ill.: Lester Ralph. Very Good .