MORSE'S GREATEST MYSTERY and Other Stories [LIMITED DE LUXE EDITION]

Bristol: England: Scorpion Press, 1993. First Edition, LIMITED EDITION of 1 of only 99 NUMBERED DE LUXE copies, this being number "6", SIGNEDby Dexter. "Morse’s Greatest Mystery" is Dexter’s first collection of detection stories. It contains eleven stories, six with Morse and five others with various themes of crime and criminality. The author of the Appreciation is June Thomson, a noted crime writer (DCI Jack Finch series, and the same age (born 1930) as Colin Dexter. She also shares with Colin a love of the classic detective story. She is an authority on Arthur Conan Doyle and has produced some highly successful Sherlock Holmes pastiches. She describes in her Appreciation why Dexter is a satisfying writer and his skill at developing his stories. This volume was published as a signed limited edition of 99 copies and 20 specially bound presentation copies. From the beginning Scorpion Press decided to include four elements: all books were autographed by the author (or authors); additional material was commissioned about the author; print runs were kept very small (truly limited); and finally the books drew on traditional craft book-binding skills, but had a modern appearance because of a high degree of opulent colour co-ordination. Most of the books have a distinctive look -- being colour coordinated with subtle or striking colours, devised around a leather spine, marbled paper over boards, coloured top edges and patterned coloured endpapers. The marbled papers are hand-made, sometimes to specifications set down by the press. Machine-made marbling does not have the same vitality and eye-appeal of the human controlled marbling process. Block lettering is usually in gold leaf. Should the press issue a second or subsequent book by an author it prefers to keep to the original design and colours.. Signed. 1st Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Limited/ Numbered Edition.