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A TASTE FOR HONEY by Heard, H[enry Fitz]gerald - [1941]

by Heard, H[enry Fitz]gerald

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A TASTE FOR HONEY by Heard, H[enry Fitz]gerald - [1941]

A TASTE FOR HONEY

by Heard, H[enry Fitz]gerald

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
New York: The Vanguard Press, [1941]. First edition. Some darkening to paste downs from binding glue degradation, top page edges dust soiled, a very good or somewhat better copy in a very good dust jacket with mild edge wear and mild color fade to the spine panel. A nice copy of an uncommon book in dust jacket. (23581). Octavo, pp. [1-2] [i-vi] vii-viii [9-10] 11-234 [235-238: blank] [note: last two leaves are blanks], original apple green cloth, front and spine panel stamped in black, top edge stained yellow, fore-edge untrimmed. The first of the three weird mystery novels featuring an old and somewhat mysterious scientist/detective who keeps bees in a rural Sussex village and calls himself Mr. Mycroft (in the Cassell edition it's Mr. Bowcross, "only one of my family names," which the retired Great Detective is now using "because my full name was once pretty widely known"). "When this novel was first published in 1941, it caused something of a stir. NEWSWEEK lauded it as "one of the ten best mysteries of all time." Such prominent Sherlockians and mystery fans as Vincent Starrett and Boris Karloff sang its praises, calling it "terrifying ... perfectly done" and " a triumph of ingenuity." To this day some aficionados consider it a classic." - Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, pp. 352-3. To be truthful, after this laudatory sentence, Bill Pronzini absolutely trashes Heard's novel, and this cataloguer has to agree that the narrator, Sydney Silchester -- Mycroft's unwilling companion, who just wants to be left alone to putter about in his garden and to indulge his taste for honey -- "is a twit, one of the dullest, most annoying protagonists the genre has yet produced." But he's so egocentric he's fun, and so is the book. Heard is "now remembered mostly for his delightful novel A TASTE OF HONEY ... Set in the British countryside, ably characterized, with a leisurely pace, it is perhaps the finest novel-length pastiche of Sherlock Holmes -- even though Holmes is not mentioned by name." - E. F. Bleiler, Lesley Henderson (ed.), Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers, Third Edition, p. 521. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone. The novel was the basis for "The Deadly Bees," a bad 1967 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis from a screenplay by Robert Bloch. Bleiler (1948), p. 146. Reginald 07007. Not in Bleiler (1978). Hubin (1994), p. 388.
  • Bookseller John W. Knott, Jr., Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB US (US)
  • Book Condition Used - Some darkening to paste downs from binding glue degradation, top page edges dust soiled, a very good or somewhat better copy in
  • Edition First edition
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Publisher The Vanguard Press
  • Place of Publication New York
  • Date Published [1941]
  • Keywords Mystery . Film Source
  • Product_type

We have 1 copies available starting at $5.17.

A Taste For Honey

A Taste For Honey

by Henry Fitzgerald Heard

  • Used
  • Acceptable
  • Paperback
  • first
Condition
Used - Acceptable
Binding
Paperback
Quantity Available
1
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Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, United Kingdom
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This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
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Description:
Penguin Books, 1961. Paperback. Acceptable. 1961. First Edition Thus. 155 pages. Green striped penguin cover. Binding remains firm. Pages are lightly tanned throughout. Paper cover has mild edgewear with curling to corners. Light tanning to spine and edges. Water stain to front cover. Wear marks overall. Covers are bent.
Item Price
$5.17