MURDER DOWN UNDER.
Pp. [xii]+298, full page plan; grey cloth, spine and upper board lettered and decorated in red, slightly rubbed, fore-corners lightly bruised, the spine faintly faded; fore-edges uncut; text block slightly browned, the endpapers lightly offset, with 2 small initial stamps on lower free endpaper and a minor production (folding) fault to the lower endpapers resulting in some paper loss around head of lower hinge, corners of a few leaves slightly creased, a little light foxing; published for the Crime Club by Doubleday, Doran, New York, 1943. First U.S. edition. Loder p. 231. * Lacking the dust wrapper. Originally published in Australia by Angus & Robertson in 1937, and in Britain by Hamilton in 1938, each under the title Mr. Jelly's Business. This was the first of Upfield's novels to be published for the Crime Club in America, and only the second of his books published in America (the other being his first novel, The House of Cain, in 1929). In the introduction to this edition, the publishers describe Upfield as 'the leading mystery-story writer of Australia in regard to both productivity and popularity.... In this book, as well as in other books by Mr. Upfield which we plan to publish at frequent intervals, there is a picture drawn of Australian life which is bound to interest Americans now more than at any other time. Because of the thousands of Americans now in Australia with our armed forces, that country has become to many of us the most intriguing, important part of the globe, and we welcome an opportunity to meet its people and its scene through an informal, intimate medium such as the detective story' [ pp. vii-viii]. Item #132057
Price: $300.00