About this Item
First edition, 8vo., [i-vi]+[7]8-286pp., owner inscribed in pencil '. 11/4/34', original black cloth, spine lettered in red, hinges split, spine loose, worn, frayed, front free endpaper browned, otherwise contents very good. No copy on the net and 3 in Copac - NLS, BL, Oxford, a rare first edition. Masterman (1891-1977) noted academic, sportsman & author, Tutor of Modern History in Christ Church and later Provost of Worcester College (1946-1961) and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1957-1958. Knighted in 1959. Best known as Chairman of the Twenty Committee which during WWII ran the Double Cross System, the ingenious scheme that controlled double agents in Britain. In 1933 he wrote a murder mystery novel entitled 'An Oxford Tragedy' set in the fictional Oxford College of St. Thomas . An unpopular tutor was found shot in the Dean's rooms and the hero takes it upon himself to solve the crime - the murderer exposed. The novel itself was quite unusual for its time in providing an account of how murder affects the tranquil existence of Oxford Dons. It established the tradition of Oxford based crime fiction, notably in the works of Michael Innes and Edmund Crispin [Wikipedia]. Seller Inventory # B452
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