The Mystery of a hansom cab

A$1,250 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

A sensational novel A startling and realistic story of Melbourne social life. London : The Hansom Cab Publishing Coy., 60 Ludgate Hill, [1887-1888]. Two Hundredth Thousand (t.p.). Small octavo (182 x 122 mm), original pictorial wrappers, the upper wrapper featuring an illustration of the hansom cab in a Melbourne street, lower wrapper with advertisement for Champagne de Lossy (Holden) Reims, inside wrappers with advertisements for Williams Sons Whisky and Pulvermacher s Galvanic Establishment; pp [2 advertisements], [1-4], 5-230, [2 advertisements]; spine with small amount of paper loss at tail; small rust marks surrounding the exposed staples at gutter of first few leaves, a very good copy of a book difficult to find in collectable condition. Written and set in Melbourne, Hume s novel The Mystery of a hansom cab helped to create the genre of crime fiction. It has been hailed The most successful Detective Story of all time ( Everyman s Dictionary of Literary Biography , 1960). Of the original Melbourne edition (1886) only copies of the last (fourth) impression are readily obtainable on the market. The present copy is one of the Two Hundredth Thousand , an example of the ninth of thirteen London impressions printed in 1887-1888 by The Hansom Cab Publishing Company. At this early stage the book was selling at the rate of around 25,000 copies per month. From the ADB: Fergusson Wright (Fergus) Hume (1859-1932), novelist, was born on 8 July 1859 in England, the second son of James

• Binding: Hardcover

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