Christie (Agatha) The Thirteen Problems, first edition, 6pp. advertisements, some light spotting to initial and later pages, light browning to endpapers, original orange cloth lettered in black, very slight toning to spine, spine tips and corners a little rubbed, patch of very light soiling to upper cover, dust-jacket priced at 7/6, neatly backed with brown paper and corners trimmed, slight fading to spine, slight chipping to upper fore-edge, short nick to foot of lower joint, some very light cockling to upper cover and spine, with original publisher's wraparound band (spine sunned with vertical crease), a near-fine copy overall, [Cooper & Pike pp.82-9], 8vo, The Crime Club, 1932.

⁂ A superb example of this great Christie rarity, including the first appearance of Miss Marple in book form. This copy with a dust-jacket that was likely used for pre-publication promotion by Collins salesmen.

Christie first introduced the character of Miss Marple in the short story "The Tuesday Night Club", published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927. The story was republished here in book form, becoming the first of thirteen stories to feature the sleuthing spinster, Agatha Christie's most popular creation. We can trace only the Charlie Watts copy appearing at auction in a dust-jacket (sold, Christies, 28th September 2023, £48,000).

This copy was bought from Ralph Spurrier in the 1980s. Spurrier worked as a salesman with Gollancz and was familiar with the sales practices of the 1930s publishers. The backing in brown paper and clipping of the corners as in the present copy was typical of the methods used by publishers to to reinforce the jackets for use by their salesmen.