Two 1st Ed Philo Vance Mysteries by S.S. Van Dine

Description: The Bishop Murder Case: A Philo Vance Story, true first edition (1929, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons), 5 1/2 x 7 5/8 inches tall black buckram cloth hardcover in publisher's unclipped ($2.00) dust jacket, blue lettering to front cover and spine, viii, [1], 349 pp. First edition, with the publishers device on the copyright page (the A designation was not introduced until 1930); first printing, with no additional imprints listed on the copyright page. Slight to moderate soiling, rubbing and edgewear to covers. Creasing to spine. 1929 prior owner names to blank front free-endpaper. A handful of pages with very slight marginal foxing or soiling. Otherwise, a very good copy in a moderately to heavily soiled, chipped and edgeworn dust jacket which is preserved in a clear sleeve. - The fourth in a series of mystery novels by S. S. Van Dine about fictional detective Philo Vance. The detective solves a mystery built around a nursery rhyme. The Bishop Murder Case is believed to be the first nursery-rhyme mystery book. The story involves a series of murders taking place in a wealthy neighborhood of New York City. The first murder, of a Mr. Joseph Cochrane Robin, who is found pierced by an arrow, is accompanied by a note signed "The Bishop", with an extract from the nursery rhyme, "Who Killed Cock Robin". This crime takes place at the home of an elderly physicist with a beautiful young ward and a private archery range. District Attorney Markham finds the circumstances so unusual that he asks his friend Philo Vance to advise upon the psychological aspects of the crime. Further murders connected with the physicist's family and neighbours are accompanied with similar extracts from Mother Goose, such as the case of Johnny Sprigg, "who was shot through the middle of his wig, wig, wig." A film starring Basil Rathbone was made of The Bishop Murder Case in 1930. The film was an early "talkie" and lacks a music soundtrack. The Gracie Allen Murder Case: A Philo Vance Story, true first edition (1938, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons), 5 1/2 x 7 5/8 inches tall yellow buckram cloth hardcover in publisher's unclipped ($2.00) dust jacket, black lettering to front cover and spine, 227 pp. plus publisher's ads. First edition, first printing, with the publishers device and the A designation on the copyright page. Slight to moderate soiling, staining and rubbing to covers. Slight staining to fore page edges. Age toning to endpapers. Slight to moderate staining to some pages from the front matter through about p. 21. Otherwise, a very good copy - clean, bright and unmarked - in a moderately to heavily soiled, chipped and edgeworn dust jacket which is preserved in a clear sleeve. - The eleventh of twelve detective novels by S. S. Van Dine featuring his famous fictional detective of the 1920s and 1930s, Philo Vance. It also features the zany half of the Burns and Allen comedy team. It is in some ways a roman à clef, including not just Burns and Allen but also such characters as Gracie's mother and brother. (George Burns, after all, has described the couple's act as, "All I had to do was ask, 'Gracie, how's your brother?' and she talked for 38 years.") That gave the book an unusual feel, as did the comic tone of much of Gracie's dialogue. This tone suddenly shifts in a later chapter to one character's philosophically anguished speculations, and then back again to Gracie. The novel was adapted into a 1939 film starring Gracie Allen (who received billing above Warren William's portrayal of Philo Vance) which was fairly faithful to the novel. S.S. Van Dine is the pseudonym used by American art critic Willard Huntington Wright (1888-1939) when he wrote detective novels. Wright was active in avant-garde cultural circles in pre-World War I New York, and under the pseudonym (which he originally used to conceal his identity) he created the fictional detective Philo Vance, a sleuth and aesthete who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in films and on the radio.

Price: 159.95 USD

Location: Sun City, California

End Time: 2025-01-20T21:56:35.000Z

Shipping Cost: 8.23 USD