PORTRAIT OF A MURDERER (Pre-war first cheap edition in the very scarce dustwrapper) Anne Meredith (pseudonym of Lucy Beatrice Malleson) First Editions,Literature,World War Two (Second World War)

Second impression - first cheap edition, published by Victor Gollancz in September 1934. This is the only crime novel that Lucy Malleson published under her pen name Anne Meredith. As stated on the printer's page, the book was originally published by Victor Gollancz in October 1933. ***Very good in thin scarlet cloth-covered boards with black titles to the spine. The boards are clean and unmarked, just slightly faded at the top of the spine where the dustwrapper is chipped. Spine still clean and bright, with no reading creases. No creases or bumps to the boards, and no tears to the cloth, even on the spine. No reading lean to the book, and the spine is tight. The top edge of the page block is slightly dusty and all page block edges are lightly foxed. Internally the book is also very good, with a neat contemporary owner's name and date in fountain-pen ink on the front pastedown (partially hidden by the front flap of the dustwrapper). No other annotations. Pages generally clean, just slightly tanned, and with some very light foxing mainly to the endpapers and first and last few pages. No serious creases or tears, however there is slight splitting of the paper at the gutter of the title page. No cracking to the fragile binding though. ***In a very good thin paper printed dustwrapper, priced on the front cover with a 3/6 sticker over the original printed price, and the same on the spine. The dustwrapper is largely complete, with just some slight loss at the head and tail of the spine and corner tips. Virtually no loss to the lettering. The dustwrapper is inevitably nicked and creased at the extremities, and is somewhat marked and discoloured, as is common with Gollancz dustwrappers of this period. The spine of the dustwrapper, however, is quite clean - just a little browned. The front and back panels are also very clean, with just a small amount of light foxing. Flaps very clean and bright, retaining the original yellow colour - there is some creasing to the top corner of the front flap (please see scans). ***192mm x 134mm. 283 pages plus a one-page Epilogue. ***'Anthony Gilbert was the pen name of Lucy Beatrice Malleson (15 Feb 1899 - 9 Dec 1973), an English crime writer. She also wrote fiction and a 1940 autobiography, "Three-a-Penny", as Anne Meredith. While Malleson's books sold well enough to keep publishers asking for more, she was never a best-seller. However, in 2017 interest in her was revived through the reissue of the Anne Meredith crime novel "Portrait of a Murderer" under the British Library's Crime Classics imprint. Martin Edwards believes this novel to be "a major departure. Dostoevsky was her model, although Anthony Berkeley's influence was also in play." Although quickly forgotten in 1933 it did win the praise of Dorothy L Sayers. "Portrait of a Murderer" was a stand-alone novel by the author, at the time known for her series featuring Scott Egerton, and later for her Arthur Crook mystery thrillers. It broadly takes the structure of an inverted detective story, as from near the beginning the identity of the murderer is revealed.' (Wiki) ***A second impression of the true first edition, and first cheap edition, published by Victor Gollancz in 1934. The original editions of this book did not sell well, and are now extremely hard to find in the original dustwrapper. Gollancz produced the books very cheaply, with thin boards and paper and very thin dustwrappers. In consequence, pre-war copies in collectable condition are very elusive - especially so in their original dustwrappers. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.