Dine Inscribed (5 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. 1037 pages with frontispiece, drawings, illustrations, photographs and plates. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's beige cloth with black lettering to spine and cover in original pictorial jacket. Signed sheet by the author laid in. (Firsts: Volume 14, number 9, page 32. First omnibus edition. This omnibus edition, published after Garden, collects three of the earlier titles: Scarab, Dragon and Kennel Murder Cases. More importantly it also contains several essential articles, both by and about Willard Huntington Wright, including his "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories." Also included are several "portraits" of Philo Vance from the serialization of the novels in periodicals, and a motion picture studio portrait of William Powell as Vance. this copy has a inscribed leaflet: To Harry F Crouss Yours for bigger and better crimes! S S Van Dine. Condition: J Inscribed sheet by the author laid in. Jacket with minor rubbing to edges, few scratches else near fine in like jacket. Inscribed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. viii+349+[3 ad] pages with fold out illustration. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's black cloth with blue lettering to spine and cover in original jacket. Signed card laid in. First edition. Wright wrote as a critic and journalist until 1923, when he became ill from what was given out as overwork, but was in reality a secret drug addiction, according to John Loughery's biography. His doctor confined him to bed (supposedly because of a heart ailment, but actually because of a cocaine addiction) for more than two years. In frustration and boredom, he began collecting and studying thousands of volumes of crime and detection. In 1926 this paid off with the publication of his first S. S. Van Dine novel, The Benson Murder Case. Wright took his pseudonym from the abbreviation of "steamship" and from Van Dine, which he claimed was an old family name. Wright wrote a series of short stories for Warner Brothers film studio in the early 1930's. These stories were used as the basis for a series of 12 short films, each around 20 minutes long, that were released in 1930 - 1931. Of these, The Skull Murder Mystery (1931) shows Wright's vigorous plot construction. It is also notable for its non-racist treatment of Chinese characters, something quite unusual in its day. As far as it is known, none of Van Dine's screen treatments have been published in book form and none of the manuscripts survive. Short films were popular then and Hollywood made hundreds of them during the studio era. Except for a handful of comedy silents, however, most of these films are forgotten and not listed in film reference books. Wright died April 11, 1939, in New York City, a year after the publication of an unpopular experimental novel that incorporated one of the biggest stars in radio comedy, The Gracie Allen Murder Case, and leaving a complete novelette-length story that was intended as a film vehicle for Sonja Henie, and was published posthumously as The Winter Murder Case. Condition: Old bookseller ticket to front pastedown heal. Jacket with edge wear, some closed edge tears, some creasing to rear heal edge and fold over flaps else better than very good in like jacket. Signed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. 283+[7 ad] pages. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's black cloth with green lettering to spine and lettering to cover bordered with a green rectangle boarder in original jacket. Inscribed by the author. First edition. The Casino Murder Case is a 1934 novel written by S. S. Van Dine in the series about fictional detective Philo Vance. In this outing, a murder investigation is connected with a private casino on New York's Upper West Side, and the wealthy and unorthodox family that operates it. It was adapted into a film in 1935. Bookplate for the library of Henry Tatnall Brown, Jr. Henry Brown's bookplate may be a miniature autobiography: the three institutional seals at the bottom suggest that he attended the public schools of Philadelphia ("Good instruction is better than riches"), Haverford College, and was a member of the Orpheus Club. The golf clubs and guitar in the drawing of the library probably represent, along with the books, his hobbies. Condition: Inscribed to Henry Tatnall Brown, Jr with his book to front paste down and back end paper, corners gently bumped. Jacket with light edge wear else very good to fine in a near fine jacket. Inscribed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. viii+349+[3 ad] pages with illustrations one folding. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's black cloth with Art-Deco style printing in blue lettering to spine and cover with "Scribner's seal" appearing at the bottom of the copyright page and same year is listed to title and copyright page in original jacket which the index card is printed with a teal background. Early photograph of the author laid in. (Firsts, volume 14, Number 9 page 29) First edition Inscribed by the author and dated 1929. The Bishop Murder Case is not as common and The Green Murder Case. The fourth title in the series. The Bishop Murder Case (1928) is the fourth in a series of mystery novels by S. S. Van Dine about fictional detective Philo Vance The detective solves a mystery built around a nursery rhyme. The Bishop Murder Case is believed to be the first nursery-rhyme mystery book. The story involves a series of murders taking place in a wealthy neighborhood of New York City. The first murder, of a Mr. Joseph Cochrane Robin, who is found pierced by an arrow, is accompanied by a note signed "The Bishop", with an extract from the nursery rhyme, "Who Killed Cock Robin". This crime takes place at the home of an elderly physicist with a beautiful young ward and a private archery range. District Attorney Markham finds the circumstances so unusual that he asks his friend Philo Vance to advise upon the psychological aspects of the crime. Further murders connected with the physicist's family and neighbours are accompanied with similar extracts from Mother Goose, such as the case of Johnny Sprigg, "who was shot through the middle of his wig, wig, wig." Midway through the book, an elderly woman confesses to the crimes, but this possibility is discounted by the police for physical reasons and by Philo Vance for psychological ones. Vance and the police luckily discover the kidnapping and confinement of a little Miss Moffatt before the child suffocates in the closet in which she has been locked. Vance finally realizes the significance of one character's pointed reference to The Pretenders, a play written by Henrik Ibsen; Bishop Arnesson of Oslo was a prominent character in the play. Vance arranges a spectacular finale in which the criminal is poisoned by a glass of liqueur which that person prepared for another suspect. A film starring Basil Rathbone was made of The Bishop Murder Case in 1930. The film was an early "talkie" and lacks a music soundtrack. Condition: Inscription to front end paper. heal points rubbed and beginning to show. Jacket spine ends chipped, some closed edge tears, some rubbing to spine and hinges. Photograph corners torn not affecting the image else very good in a better than very good jacket with an early photograph of the author in good condition. Inscribed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 332+[viii ad] pages. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's gilt-stamped black cloth in original jacket. Inscription to front end paper. (firsts Volume 14, number 9 page 31) First edition. Garden marked the return to the original design for the dust wrappers, without any graphics added to the standard index card layout. Here the card is in gold and the front and back panels, and the front and spine of the book's cover are also stamped in gold. Floyd, the son of Professor Garden, invites his socialite friends to the rooftop garden of his father's New York penthouse to listen to the outcome of horse races. Detective Philo Vance receives an anonymous telephone message inviting him to one of Floyd's gatherings. On that particular night, Floyd's best friend has placed an enormous bet on a horse named Equanimity. Once it is announced that Equanimity has lost the race, a gunshot is heard and Floyd's friend is found dead of a gunshot wound. Though initially thought to be a suicide, Detective Vance deems the death a murder. The night proves to be even more eventful, due to the attempted poisoning of Floyd's mother's nurse and the subsequent murder of his mother. Ultimately, Detective Vance is able to solve the murders. He lures the murderer into revealing himself and gathers photographic evidence of him trying to push the detective off of the garden balcony. Condition: Inscribed on front end paper "To / Harry P. Burton / With sincerest regards / S.S. Van Dine.". Irregular darkening to lower outer blank margins of front end end matter, gently bumped corners. Jacket edgewear, heaviest to flap folds, fold corners, and head and foot of spine panel, unclipped else better than very good in like jacket. Inscribed by Author(s).