8vo. Original blue cloth framed and lettered in red-orange (slight lean to spine, a few faint stains to upper cover). Provenance: John Talbot Gernon (morocco bookplate).

"ONE OF THE LANDMARKS OF DETECTIVE LITERATURE" (Keating).

FIRST EDITION of Christie's most famous and controversial work with a twist that "might seem to flout the agreed conventions of the detective story. But, in fact, it merely takes advantage of these conventions in order to create a puzzle that is a peak of the genre's art" (ibid). Hubin p.80; ibid, Crime and Mystery, the 100 Best Books, 12. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.