Agatha Christie | First Editions
1890 - 1976
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright. She also wrote six romances under the name Mary Westmacott; however, Christie is best known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections that she wrote under her own name, most of which revolve around the investigative work of such characters as Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Parker Pyne, Ariadne Oliver, Harley Quin/Mr Satterthwaite and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. Christie also wrote the world's longest-running play, a murder mystery entitled The Mousetrap. In 1971, she was made a Dame for her immense contribution to literature.
Christie was initially unsuccessful in getting her work published, but in 1920 The Bodley Head press published her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring the character of Hercule Poirot. This launched her literary career. Today, the Guinness Book of World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies worldwide, and her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the world's most-widely published books (behind Shakespeare's works and the Bible). Christie remains the world's most-translated individual author – having been translated into at least 103 languages. And Then There Were None is Christie's best-selling novel, with 100 million sales to date, making it the world's best-selling mystery ever. Nearly all of Christie's books and short stories have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics, and more than thirty feature films have been based on her work.
See below our stock of Agatha Christie First Editions, fine bindings, sets, and signed copies.
Agatha Christie
The Labours of Hercules.
London: The Crime Club, Collins, 1951. [Modern Literature] VINTAGE HARDCOVER REPRINT. Octavo (19 x 12cm), pp.256. Publisher's blue cloth lettered in gilt to spine, illustrated dust-jacket with printed price of 2/- to front cover and spine. Toning to edges of textblock and pages, rubbing to gilt, bumping to spine and..... More
The Listerdale Mystery. And Other Stories.
London: Collins, 1934. [Crime fiction] FINELY BOUND FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.251; [5 of advertisements]. Finely bound by the Baker Bindery, Anniston, Alabama in green full morocco, with gilt titles and decoration to spine, green patterned paste-paper endpapers, generous turn-ins ruled in gilt, with gilt motifs of dagger..... More
Lord Edgware Dies.
London: For the Crime Club by Collins, 1933. [Detective fiction] FIRST EDITION. Crown octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.252; [4], advertisements. Publisher's orange cloth, titled in black to upper and backstrip. Contents clean. Spine tips lightly worn, scarce original jacket has price excised from spine (sunned beneath), chipped to crown and..... More
The Man in the Brown Suit.
London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1924. [Mystery novel] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[vi]; 310; [2], advertisements. Publisher's light brown cloth, titled and decorated in dark brown. Contents clean. Spine tips and corners with trivial wear, a scuff on the front panel, else a very good..... More
The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side.
London: The Crime Club by Collins, 1962. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION, First Impression. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.256. Publisher's red cloth with black titles to spine. With the illustrated dust-jacket. Contents clean, no inscriptions, some toning to page edges, jacket with some chips and tears but generally bright, larger chip/loss..... More
The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side.
London: The Crime Club by Collins, 1962. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION, First Impression. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.256. Publisher's red cloth with black titles to spine. With the illustrated dust-jacket priced at 15s. Contents and page edges clean, no inscriptions, jacket lightly worn, toned to spine with a few small..... More
Miss Marple's 6 Final Cases. and two other stories.
London: Collins, 1979. [Crime fiction] FINELY BOUND FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.138; [2].Finely bound by the Baker Bindery, Anniston, Alabama in green full morocco, with gilt titles and decoration to spine, green patterned paste-paper endpapers, generous turn-ins ruled in gilt, with gilt motifs of dagger, pistol, moustache and..... More
Moord in de Pastorie. [Murder at the Vicarage].
Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1964. [Crime Mystery] DUTCH FILM TIE-IN. Octavo (18 x 12cm), pp.181 [4]. Publisher's grey cloth with red titles to spine. With the dust-jacket showing still of Margaret Rutherford playing Miss Marple, not priced. Heavily browned to low-quality paper. Light handling only, with the jacket showing some toning..... More
The Mousetrap and Other Plays.
London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993. [Crime Mystery Short Stories] FIRST THUS. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.[6] 714. Publisher's maroon cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the illustrated dust-jacket priced at £15.99. A clean, fine copy. Eight gripping plays here published for the first time in a book-form edition. Includes..... More
The Mousetrap. A Play in Two Acts.
London: Samuel French Limited, [circa 1990]. [Drama] CENTENARY EDITION. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.[2] 70 [4]. Publisher's yellow paper covers, illustrated to upper, reproducing the original from 1954. With a photogravure plate showing the set. Internally bright and clean. Minor crease to upper. A fine copy. First performed in 1952..... More
The Moving Finger.
New York, NY: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1942. [Murder mystery] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (20 x 15cm) pp.[vi]; 229; [5], blank. Publisher's red cloth blocked in black, fore-edge untrimmed, illustrated dust-wrapper by Koerner priced at $2.00 to front flap. Light wear to edges, owner name hidden beneath flap, else..... More
Mr Parker Pyne Detective.
New York, NY: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1934. [Murder Mystery cases] FIRST US EDITION. Octavo (20 x 15cm) pp.vi; 245 [5]. Publisher's bright orange cloth with black titles to spine and upper. Top edge orange, fore-edge untrimmed, and patterned endpapers. With the illustrated dust-jacket, priced at $2.00. A crisp, clean..... More
Mrs McGinty's Dead.
London: The Crime Club by Collins, 1952. [Crime fiction] FINELY BOUND FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.188; [4] of advertisements. Finely bound by the Baker Bindery, Anniston, Alabama in green full morocco, with gilt titles and decoration to spine, green patterned paste-paper endpapers, generous turn-ins ruled in gilt, with..... More
Mrs McGinty's Dead.
London: The Crime Club by Collins, 1952. [Detective novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.188; [4], advertisements. Publisher's red cloth with black titles to spine, in pictorial dust-wrapper by Kenneth Farnhill priced at 9/6. Book is slightly dusty, no inscriptions. Jacket with a little wear to joints and extremities..... More
Mrs McGinty's Dead.
London: The Crime Club by Collins, 1952. [Detective novel] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.188 [4]. Publisher's red cloth with black titles to spine. With the illustrative dust-jacket. Internally clean with no inscriptions, some rolling to spine, dust-jacket price-clipped, gentle spotting to rear panel, some spotting visible..... More
Mrs McGinty's Dead.
London: The Crime Club by Collins, 1952. [Detective novel] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.188; [4], advertisements. Elegantly hand-bound in half deep red calf, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with raised bands, cloth sides, illustrated jacket panel bound in at rear. Contents clean, exterior as new. A near fine..... More
Murder In Mesopotamia (A Hercule Poirot novel).
London: For the Crime Club by Collins, 1936. [Detective Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (18 x 13cm), pp.284; [4], advertisements. Elegantly hand-bound in half tan calf over matching cloth sides, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with traditional raised bands. Contents clean with a few small marks/spots within, exterior as new. A...... More
Murder In The Mews. 4 Poirot Stories.
London: For The Crime Club by Collins, 1937. [Detective mysteries] FIRST EDITION, Colonial copy. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[ii]; 28; [4], advertisements; [2], blank. Publisher's orange cloth lettered in black to the spine. A. H. Wheeler's [Railway Bookstall Proprietors] 'Post Copy' stamp (priced in rupees) to free endpaper, neat ownership..... More
Murder In The Mews. 4 Poirot Stories.
London: Odhams Press Ltd, no date (1938). [Detective mysteries] Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.280. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine, code 'C338' to copyright page denoting 1928 as date printed. Some light foxing within, covers lightly shelfworn with a few small marks. Very good. Crime short stories, featuring..... More
Murder in Three Acts [Three Act Tragedy].
New York, NY: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1934. [Detective Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (20 x 15cm), pp.[8] 279 [1]. Publisher's orange cloth, with black titles to spine and upper, and publisher's decorated endpapers. With the illustrated dust-jacket priced $2.00. Quite heavy wear to cloth at head of spine, otherwise crisp..... More
A Murder Is Announced.
London: William Collins, 2012. [Crime Mystery] FACSIMILE EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.256. Publisher's red cloth blocked in black. With the illustrated dust-jacket. A clean, fine copy. Guests expecting a party game of murder at a country retreat are horrified to discover a real corpse, and another case for Miss..... More
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
London: William Collins, 2011. [Crime Mystery] FACSIMILE EDITION, First thus (no later printings stated). Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.237; [3]. Publisher's red cloth blocked in black. With the illustrated facsimile dust-jacket, priced at 7/6. Absolutely fine/as new. The definitive Christie mystery; widely regarded as one of the most influential crime..... More
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
London: Harper Collins, 2022. [Modern Literature] FIRST EDITION THUS. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.xiii; [3]; 269; [5], blank. Red cloth imitation paper over boards lettered and patterned in gilt with white lettered quotation to back. Printed price of £14.99 to lower board. Red Art Deco illustrative endpapers. Loosely inserted is..... More
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
London: W. Collins and Sons and Co. Ltd., 1926. [Crime Fiction] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.312. Bound in publisher's dark blue cloth, red lettered title and border, with titles in red to spine. Contents clean, edges toned with some spotting, top edge browned, neat ink ownership..... More
Murder on the Orient Express.
London: Book Club Associates, [1934] 1974. [Crime Mystery] Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.254. Elegantly hand-bound in half mid green calf over matching cloth sides, spine gilt-lettered in six compartments with traditional raised bands, with red morocco label. A near fine copy in an attractive recent leather binding. This hardcover edition..... More