Keeper of the Keys: A Charlie Chan Story

$250 · Offered by Book Collector Inc

Author: Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933) Year: 1932 Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill Company Place: Indianapolis Description: 307 pages. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's black cloth with red lettering to spine and cover with pictorial end papers in original jacket. First edition. Earl Derr Biggers is remembered primarily for his novels, especially those featuring the fictional Chinese American detective Charlie Chan, from which popular films were made in the United States and China. Derr Biggers was born in Warren, Ohio, and graduated from Harvard University in 1907. He worked as a journalist for The Plain Dealer before turning to fiction. His novel Seven Keys to Baldpate was popular in 1913, and George M. Cohan quickly adapted the novel as a hit Broadway stage play of the same name. Cohan starred in the 1917 film version, one of seven film versions of the play, and a 1935 revival. More than 10 years after Baldpate, Derr Biggers had even greater success with his series of Charlie Chan detective novels. The popularity of Charlie Chan extended even to China, where audiences in Shanghai appreciated the Hollywood films. Chinese companies made films starring this fictional character. Derr Biggers publicly acknowledged the real-life detective Chang Apana as the inspiration for the character of Charlie Chan in his letter to the Honolulu Advertiser of June 28, 1932. Keeper of the Keys (1932) is the sixth and last mystery in the Charlie Chan series of Earl Derr Bigger

• Binding: Hardcover

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