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Agatha Christie Auction Highlights

The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper | Thursday 7 November 2024

On Thursday 7 November, we are excited to hold our auction ‘The Detective Fiction Collection of John Cooper’. John Cooper read his first detective novel at age 12 in 1956, and he has been devoted to the genre ever since. Before his retirement, he taught science for 43 years and for 12 years ran Marjon Books which was a successful book business specialising in crime fiction.

Over the years, he developed a deep knowledge of all things detective fiction and has been widely consulted by fellow experts. In this auction, we are delighted to offer nearly seventy works by the ‘Queen of Crime', renowned British writer, Agatha Christie, who is best known for her 66 detective novels, 14 short stories, and plays.

Browse the auction »

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Lot 120: Christie (Agatha), ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, first edition, with original wraparound band, The Crime Club, 1934 | Est. £800-1,200 (+ fees)

Born in Torquay in September 1890, Christie was the youngest of three siblings, and was educated at home by her mother, who encouraged her daughter to write. As a child, Christie enjoyed fantasy play and creating characters and wrote her first short story, "The House of Beauty".

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Lot 125: Christie (Agatha) ‘Cards on the Table’, first edition, The Crime Club, 1936. | Est. £2,000-3,000 (+ fees)

Iconic Characters | Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple

During her literary career, Christie created iconic characters such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Poirot made the most appearances in Christie’s work in titles including Death in the Clouds (Lot 122) and Cards on the Table (Lot 125).
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Lot 137: Christie (Agatha), ‘The Moving Finger’, first English edition, The Crime Club, 1943 | Est. £300-400 (+ fees)
Miss Marple was first introduced in the short story The Tuesday Night Club, published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927. The story was republished in book form called The Thirteen Problems (Lot 113) and was the first of thirteen stories to feature the sleuthing spinster. Others include The Moving Finger (Lot 137) and A Pocket Full of Rye (Lot 155).
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Lot 113: Christie (Agatha), ‘The Thirteen Problems’, first edition, The Crime Club, 1932 | Est. £15,000-20,000 (+ fees)

Christie The Playwright

She was also a noted playwright. The Witness for the Prosecution and Three Blind Mice (Lot 148) was originally broadcast as a half-hour radio play in the UK in 1947 in honour of the 80th birthday of Queen Mary. Christie then adapted the work for the present novella before subsequently expanding it for a full theatrical production when it was staged as The Mousetrap in 1952, which is still running today on London’s West End. Christie stipulated that as long as The Mousetrap was performed in the West End, the story should not be published in the UK. Consequently, this story has only ever appeared in the US
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Lot 148: Christie (Agatha) The Witness for the Prosecution and Three Blind Mice, first edition, New York, Detective Book Club, [1948] | Est. £600-800 (+ fees)
Christie died at her home, Winterbrook House, aged 85 on 12 January 1976 and is buried in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Church in Cholsey - just 30 minutes away from Dreweatts’ salerooms in Newbury. At her death, it was estimated that more than 300 million copies of her thrillers had been sold worldwide and her works continue to captivate readers across the globe.
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Lot 127: Christie (Agatha) ‘Dumb Witness’, first edition, 1937 | Est. £3,000-4,000 (+ fees)

Auction Details

Thursday 7 November 2024, ending from 12 noon
Auction Location: Forum Auctions, 4 Ingate Place, Battersea, London SW8 3NS
Browse the auction »

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