Mary Roberts Rinehart collection by RINEHART, Mary Roberts (1876-1958) - 1948

1948. No binding & hard cover. Mary Roberts Rinehart was an American novelist, playwright, and author, often called the American Agatha Christie. She wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues and articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies. It was one of her books, 1930 The Door, that produced the phrase, "The butler did it," and in her prime, she was more famous than her chief rival, England's Agatha Christie.

The collection includes 14 items, dating from 1914 to 1948, specifically, 12 photos, 1 book (a publisher's dummy), and 1 letter. There are 7 signatures by Rinehart.

1 "dummy" Book:

• The Street of Seven Stars. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914. Green cloth, stamped in silver on the cover. Cloth water stained. Some staining to endpapers. Spine panel of the jacket and spine of the book blank, as are the jacket flaps. The jacket is in very good condition (small pieces missing on the creases of the flaps and a nick on the front cover). A rare publisher's dummy consisting of the first four pages of Chapter I (pp. 3-6), repeated four times, plus the title leaf. The rest of the book has blank leaves. On the front pastedown is a mimeograph blurb for the book which cites its reception when it was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post and that the book will be published November 1914. Affixed to the front free endpaper cover is a card signed by Rinehart: "Faithfully yours | Mary Roberts Rinehart".

1 Typed Signed Letter:

• TLS to Kenneth H. Browne (American playwright and novelist), 15 May 1948, re sending him a photo, destruction of her property, renting a house in Bar Harbor, very tired.

12 b&w Photos:

• 1 photo of Rinehart wearing a coat, photo affixed to a card signed by her, Houghton Mifflin, [191?];

• 5 photos of Rinehart in various poses (wearing a large hat, standing, etc.), three apparently with her signature, [circa1910-192?], Brown Brothers, Sterling, P.A.;

• 3 photos of Rinehart seated in a car, between 1920 and 1932, one photo signed by her on the verso in pencil, Brown Brothers, Sterling, P.A.;

• 1 photo Rinehart standing by a car, chauffeur seated, between 1920 and 1932, Brown Brothers, Sterling, P.A. (pieces missing on the left side but not affecting the image);

• 1 photo Rinehart standing on a boardwalk and wearing a large hat ("Many notables arriving in Atlantic City....", Atlantic Foto Service, N.E.A., 10 April 1922;

• 1 photo Rinehart wearing a fur shawl, N.E.A, N.Y., 29 July 1932.

Collection on consignment with LDRB.