Martin Hewitt, Investigator
London, Ward, Lock & Bowden, Limited, 1894 (first edition).
Octavo, [viii], 324, [4] (publisher's catalogue) pages with numerous illustrations by Sidney Paget.
Pictorial light blue cloth lettered in gilt; cloth very lightly marked and rubbed; contemporary ownership signature; paper a little tanned around the margins; essentially a fine copy.
The seven stories in this volume appeared in 'The Strand Magazine' between March and September 1894. They effectively took up where Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' left off after twelve appearances between July 1891 and June 1892. 'Of Doyle's contemporary imitators, the most durable (indeed, the only important one to survive over the ages) is the private investigator, a man of awe-inspiring technical and statistical knowledge, in "Martin Hewitt, Investigator"' (Ellery Queen in 'Queen's Quorum'). Fittingly, Sidney Paget illustrated both series of short stories.
Item #102247
Sold