[Rarebooks] FS: Edgar Wallace First and Self-Published Murder Mystery, Signed

[Ezra Tishman]

Today, despite his teeth being worn down to the gum (the brain not far behind) from utter frustration at never never EVER being able to fully have confidence in
the completely capricious arbitray photograph process, Ezra from Aardvark offer this (and if you want photographs, I’ll pull them out
of the soup for the serious only):


Wallace, Edgar. THE FOUR JUST MEN (SIGNED). London, England: The Tallis Press (Self-Published), 1905.
First Edition. 8vo. Orange cloth-covered boards, rubbing to extremities,front hinge started. Staining and denting to boards, but
still solidly bound. Bookplate of Mebel Knowlton to front pastedown. Inscription to front free endpaper reads: "A mon cher
ami et confrere Raymundo (this is where my French ends) from me, Edgar Wallace, London, July 23/ 06" Includes the
numbered (No. 9709) blank competition form at rear ("Note -- This sheet is numbered to prevent fraud. Readers before
despatching this coupon should take careful note of the number..."). Lacks folding frontispiece diagram of 44 Downing Street,
where the murder occurred.

Several newspaper clippings laid in, with resulting brown offset stain to verso of front free endpaper. One of the articles, dated
March 31, 1929, reads: "Since he quit active newpaper work he has written and had published over 140 novels, whose sales
amount to 5,000,000 copies a year. He writes a novel in two weeks, unless something happens to demand hurry, and then he is
likely to turn it out over a week-end. A week-end is sufficient for the dashing off of a play-- he has written twenty plays in the
last three years, and he has sometimes as many as six dramas all running successfuly in London at the same time...". Another,
from December 11th, 1931 simply headlines "Edgar Wallace Signed by RKO." Wallace did in fact move to Hollywood,
where his most famous script would be that of King Kong. He also contributed to the 1932 production of Hound of the
Baskervilles, produced in England.

"Back in the 1920s,there was an oft repeated joke about...Wallace. A friend was said to have telephoned him one day, only to
be told that Wallace was writing a new novel. 'That's okay,' the caller remarked, 'I'll wait.' ".
"...Wallace’s work ethic and concentration while writing remain legendary. He kept the plot of each book entirely in his head,
never making notes, and worked very long hours, all the while chain smoking cigarettes through a dramatically long holder,
and downing cup after cup of sugared tea. He habitually wrote the first page of each book in longhand, and then dictated the
rest either to a secretary or into a machine..." (Quotes by Michael Mallory in "Mystery Scene" Blog). Good. Hardcover.
(#84876)

Edgar Wallace created Tallis Press - his own publishing company, and went into considerable debt to promote this book,
which came with an offer of £500 total prize money (he was talked down from £1000), but in a crucial omission, failed to limit
the prize awards to a single winner from each winning tier (First, Second, Third). As time went on, future entrants guessed the
correct answer to solve the mystery, and Wallace was obliged to pay them all. He subsequently went bankrupt and sold the
rights to the novel for £75 to Sir George Newnes (who had published novels featuring Sherlock Holmes). Between 1908 and
1928, Wallace went on to write five sequels. In 2012 Wordsworth Editions published "The Complete Four Just Men", which
comprised all six books in the series. "A Remarkable Offer is made in connection with this novel. Apart from its interest as a
most brilliant piece of story writing, Mr. Edgar Wallace has heightened its charm by leaving at the end one mystery unsolved.
The Publishers invite the reader to solve this mystery and offer Prizes to the value of £500 (First Prize £250), to the readers
who will furnish on the form provided the explanation of Sir Philip Ramon's death”      

For someone who wrote 140 novels, there appears to be very few online now, nor have there been many of his books which
were signed. My deduction is that he didn’t sign many.              $400








Ezra The Bookfinder
Aardvark Books, ABAA 
& 
Ezra Tishman Book Appraisals, LLC
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