Lot 304: BLAKE, NICHOLAS.

COLLECTION OF 16 VOLUMES, COMPRISING:

A Question of Proof, Collins Crime Club, 1935, first edition, facsimile dust-jacket; another copy; Thou Shell of Death, 1936, first edition, facsimile dust-jacket; a reprint of the same title; The Beast Must Die, Collins Crime Club, 1938, first edition, dust-jacket, 10mm. loss to top of spine of dust-jacket, affecting lettering, 3mm loss to base of spine, not affecting lettering, closed tears and chips; Malice in Wonderland, Collins Crime Club, 1940, first edition, later issue dust-jacket priced 4s.6d.; Minute for Murder, Collins Crime Club, 1947, first edition, dust-jacket , a few closed tears and marks to dust-jacket; Head of a Traveller, Collins Crime Club, 1949, first edition, dust-jacket , a few closed tears to dust-jacket, a couple of chips, one affecting lettering at base of spine; The Dreadful Hollow, Collins Crime Club, 1953, first edition, dust-jacket , a few closed tears and small chips to jacket, couple of damp marks to page edges; The Whisper in the Gloom, Collins Crime Club, 1954, first edition, dust-jacket , a few closed tears and small chips to jacket; End of Chapter, Collins Crime Club, 1957, first edition, dust-jacket , a few small chips to jacket; The Worm of Death, Collins Crime Club, 1961, first edition, dust-jacket , few chips to jacket; The Deadly Joker, Collins Crime Club, 1963, first edition, dust-jacket; The Sad Variety, Collins Crime Club, 1964, first edition, dust-jacket , a few closed tears to jacket that have been repaired; The Morning After Death, Collins Crime Club, 1966, first edition, dust-jacket , no front endpaper, library stamps, a few chips to spine of jacket; The Private Wound, Collins Crime Club, 1968, first edition, dust-jacket , a few closed tears to jacket; 8vo (16)

NOTE

Nicholas Blake was a pseudonym of Cecil Day Lewis (1904 -- 1972) who was Poet Laureate at the time of his death. His first crime novel A Question of Proof was based upon his experiences whilst teaching at Summer Fields, the Oxford preparatory school. He went on to write twenty detective novels. His series detective was Nigel Strangeways, partly based on the author's friend W.H. Auden.