Agatha Christie Crime Collection. THE CRIME COLLECTION COMPLETE

Hamlyn,, [1969-1972]. 24 vols., 8vo., First Edition; decorative black cloth, upper boards and backstrips blocked and lettered in gilt and red, red tops, red endpapers, a near fine set. A notably bright, clean set of the definitive collected edition, including the author's short stories, issued on a subscription basis by the publisher and not available through bookshops. Each volume contains three stories or story collections. It would seem that many subscribers may have lacked commitment during the four years of publication for complete sets are far less common than one might imagine. The attractive bindings incorporate a golden dagger. The set comprises The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, They do it with Mirrors, Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1969); Cards on the Table, N or M?, A Murder is Announced (1969); Appointment with Death, Crooked House, Sad Cypress (1969); 4.50 from Paddington, Lord Edgware Dies, Murder in Mesopotamia (1969); Murder on the Orient Express, Death in the Clouds, Why didn't they ask Evans? (1969); The Murder on the Links, A Pocket Full of Rye, Destination Unknown (1969); The Hollow, The Moving Finger, Three Act Tragedy (1969); Mystery of the Blue Train, The Listerdale Mystery (short stories), Murder at the Vicarage (1970); Murder is Easy, Dead Man's Folly, The Man in the Brown Suit (1970); The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, They came to Baghdad, The ABC Murders (1970); Ordeal by Innocence, One Two Buckle my Shoe, Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1970); Cat among the Pigeons, The Labours of Hercules, Hickory Dickory Dock (1970); The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Ten Little Niggers, Dumb Witness (1970); The Pale Horse, The Big Four, The Secret Adversary (1970); Peril at End House, The Body in the Library, Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1970); Death on the Nile, Towards Zero, After the Funeral (1970); Sparkling Cyanide, The Secret of Chimneys, Five Little Pigs (1970); Evil Under the Sun, Death Comes as the End, The Sittaford Mystery (1970); A Caribbean Mystery, Taken at the Flood, The Seven Dials Mystery (1971); By the Pricking of my Thumbs, The Mysterious Mr. Quin, Endless Night (1971); Hallowe'en Party, Passenger to Frankfurt, The Thirteen Problems (1971); The Clocks, Third Girl, Murder in the Mews (1971); Partners in Crime, At Bertram's Hotel, The Hound of Death (1972); Nemesis, Parker Pyne Investigates, Poirot Investigates (1972). COMPLETE SETS IN THIS CONDITIONS ARE SELDOM OFFERED FOR SALE