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Castle Skull (Harper Sealed Mystery)
by Carr, John Dickson
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Good plus
- Seller
-
Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1931. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Good plus. Black cloth over boards with title stamped in orange onto top board and spine, 8vo (7-5/16 x 4-15/16 inches [18.5 cm x 12.5 cm]), pp. [i-iv], v, [vi-viii], 1-279, all edges trimmed. Stated "First Edition" and code "I - F" [Sept. 1931], to copyright page and "1931" on title page, "A HARPER SEALED MYSTERY" device stamped in orange onto bottom of spine and top board, remnants of original blue onion skin "seal" to rear paste down/rfep and pg 233. Modest wear and rubbing to boards, one small bump damaging the cloth at center fore-edge of rear board, spine with both ends softened and fading to spine lettering, front hinge tender. Text toned with moderate soil throughout and light damp stain touching the fore-edges of first and last few leaves, p.153 with a large closed tear noted and rfep partially attached to rear paste-down by blue onion skin "seal" remnant near spine. Carr's third of forty-six detective novels, following IT WALKS BY NIGHT (1930) and THE LOST GALLOWS (1931). It was not published in Britain until 1973 with it's issue by Tom Stacey, and later by Severn House who put in their own cancel title-page dated 1976 and provided a new dust jacket. CASTLE SKULL was the twelfth and final "Harpers Sealed Mystery" released by Harpers in 1931, just in time for the Fall reading season. Created by a master of the "Locked Room" mystery subgenre, Carr matches "the most dangerous man in Europe" - French detective Bencolin - against an old enemy; watch out for that silver-headed walking stick! Ref. Hubin, p.135; Zempel 4th ed. p. 257; Berch, 2010; Cooper, 65-74; Steinbrunner/Penzler, p.23, 62; Winn, p.262; Penzler/Steinbrunner/Lachman, p. 9, 233.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Harropian Books, IOBA
(CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 547
- Title
- Castle Skull (Harper Sealed Mystery)
- Author
- Carr, John Dickson
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good plus
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, First Printing
- Publisher
- Harper & Brothers
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1931
- Bookseller catalogs
- Modern First Editions; Books into Film;
Terms of Sale
Harropian Books, IOBA
- Items are subject to prior sale.
- Canadian sales are subject to 5% GST.
- Items may be returned within 30 days. Please contact us first.
- Institutions and individuals known to us will be billed according to their needs.
- Traditional courtesy to the trade.
About the Seller
Harropian Books, IOBA
Biblio member since 2006
Nelson, British Columbia
About Harropian Books, IOBA
Harropian Books is an online bookseller offering a diverse selection of antiquarian, collectible, rare and out of print items. Our focus is on the interesting & unusual, covering all fields. ***** We are a member of the IOBA (Independent Online Booksellers Association) and have attended the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar (2011), Rare Book School in Virginia (2014 - Developing Collections ; 2016 - The History of Printed Book Illustration in the West), London Rare Book School (2021 - The History of Maps and Mapping) and Gwain Weaver Art Conservation (2019 - Care and Identification of Photographs).
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- RFEP
- The portion of the endpaper which is left loose after binding. The first loose page upon opening a book from the rear. It may be...
- Copyright page
- The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Device
- Especially for older books, a printer's device refers to an identifying mark, also sometimes called a printer's mark, on the...
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Hinge
- The portion of the book closest to the spine that allows the book to be opened and closed.
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Paste-down
- The paste-down is the portion of the endpaper that is glued to the inner boards of a hardback book. The paste-down forms an...
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