The Red Thumb Mark.

£1,250 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

haycraft queen cornerstone A Haycraft Queen Cornerstone, The Red Thumb Mark was the first of many Dr Thorndyke novels by R. Austin Freeman, a medico-legal investigation undertaken with characteristic forensic exactitude by the good Doctor, investigating a bloody fingerprint left on a piece of paper together with a parcel of diamonds inside a safe-box. One of the earliest detective fiction stories to focus on fingerprint identification, following on the heels of Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle. Scarce in such good condition. First edition, first impression; 8vo; frontispiece by T.E. Francis; publisher's black cloth with red thumbprint and white lettering to upper cover, white lettering to spine gone as usual, a little rubbed at lower fore-corner tips, some minor bumping to extremities, but overall a very good, solid copy. Queen's Quorum, p.45; Quayle pp.80-81

• Binding: Hardcover

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