Agatha Christie first editions

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Agatha Christie first editions make for an excellent area of rare book collecting. The Queen of Crime’s long career as an author of high quality crime fiction ensures there are various levels of value, which means collectors of her first editions can start with the later, generally more affordable first editions of her crime fiction titles, and build their way toward the more expensive first editions from the 1920s & 1930s.

Many of Dame Agatha’s first editions feature excellent dust-jacket artwork. The American first editions of Agatha Christie are often clad in truly lovely dust-jackets, very different in style to their UK counterparts, and can also provide a more affordable option for collectors than the UK first editions.

Some collectors like to focus on one of her famous serial characters, including Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot of course. Whatever your poison, you should be able to start building a collection relatively quickly.

Agatha Christie also wrote under a pseudonym, ‘Mary Westmacott’, and these titles are also not easy to find in first edition, especially in the dust-jackets.

Some care has to be taken in identifying the correct first issue dust-jackets, particularly with her earlier detective fiction, so do contact us if you are looking to buy or sell Agatha Christie first editions. It is however not always about the dust-jacket! Many collectors like the early paperback editions of Christie’s works, and some collect first editions without the dust-jackets, to have them rebound in a uniform style of their liking, for example in modern half leather bindings.

£795



New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1937.

First US edition, no printing specified on copyright page. 8vo. Original dark beige cloth lettered in dark blue. Early/first reprint dust-jacket, no price.

The first US edition of one of Christie's most famous Poirot novels, here in probably the first reprint dust-jacket, issued the same year.

£125



London, Collins, 1954.

First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10s6d.

An attractive first edition example of this 1950s Agatha Christie, set largely in Morocco.

£625



New York, Grosset & Dunlap, March 1934.

First US edition, fourth printing. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in red. Dust-jacket, priced $.75

An attractive early printing of the first US edition of Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, retitled in America to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel Stamboul Train, which had been published in the United States as Orient Express.

£1,575


A New Poirot Mystery
New York, Dodd, Mead, 1936.

First US edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.00.

First USA edition of this excellent Hercule Poirot novel, satisfyingly televised by the BBC in 2018 with John Malkovich as the moustachioed detective.

£150



London, Collins Crime Club, 1960.

First edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket.

A nice first edition of this Hercule Poirot title, featuring five cases set in an English country house at Christmas time.

£125



London, Collins Crime Club, 1955.

8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6s.

Attractive jacketed edition of this murder-mystery with supernatural elements.

£185



London, Collins Crime Club, 1953.

First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket.

A poisoned nursery rhyme leads detective Miss Marple to untangle a web of deceit and murder within a wealthy family, uncovering dark secrets along the way.

£250


[The Under Dog; Blackman's Wood.]
London, The Readers Library, n.d. [1929].

First edition thus. Small 8vo. 2pp. adverts. Original cloth, gilt. Dust-jacket.

A rare pre-1930s Readers Library title, combining a title by Agatha Christie and another by E. Phillips Oppenheim.

£50



Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1948

First Penguin edition. 8vo. Original green & white wrappers.

£50



London, Collins Crime Club, n.d..

Collins 2/- issue. 12mo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket.

A neat early edition of this Agatha Christie classic.

£750



London, Collins, 1929.

First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original near black cloth blocked in red.

A thrilling tale of deception and intrigue unfolds as a group of young adventurers stumble upon a deadly secret connected to the enigmatic Seven Dials Club.

£60



London, Collins Crime Club, 1952.

8vo. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 6s.

Attractive edition of this murder-mystery with supernatural elements.

£225



London, Collins Crime Club, 1951.

First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

A very good first edition of this tale of international intrigue and deadly peril.

£225



London, Collins Crime Club, 1951.

First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original dark orange cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

A very good first edition of this tale of international intrigue and deadly peril.

£295



London, Collins, 1946.

First edition. 8vo. Original red cloth lettered in gilt to spine. Dust-jacket, priced 10s. 6d.

The first edition of Agatha Christie's personal memoirs about her travels to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan, where she worked on the digs and wrote some of her most evocative novels.