The Moonstone: A Novel
New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1868.
First American edition, wrappered issue. 223, [1] pages. Frontispiece (included in pagination) with in-text illustrations throughout. Publisher's light brown printed wrappers, perfect-bound; text block edges trimmed. Very Good, with rubbed and edge-worn wrappers, a few stains and inked signature to front wrap; rolled spine, chipped at head and tail with evidence of glue added along rear hinge. Contents generally bright; chipping to some individual page edges; a few leaves roughly opened toward rear; corners bumped and a little curled. Still, a remarkable survival of an extremely fragile issue.
The Moonstone is often considered the very first detective novel. T.S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels." This issue not mentioned in Gasson's Wilkie Collins:An Illustrated Guide, and no other examples found in the trade. A Haycraft Queen Cornerstone.
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