THE TRIUMPHS OF EUGÈNE VALMONT. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1906. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] v [vi] vii [viii] 1-330 [331-336: ads], eight inserted plates, original pictorial black cloth, front panel stamped in orange and white, spine panel stamped in white. First U.S. edition, first printing. "The first Golden Era started hitting on all cylinders with the publication of a deceptive book which seemed to be just another volume of detective shorts but which actually proved to be an outstanding achievement. The real purpose behind Barr's THE TRIUMPHS OF EUGÈNE VALMONT has long been misunderstood. Some critics think of Eugène Valmont simply as a comic criminologist; other critics consider him merely a forerunner of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. The truth is deeper: what Robert Barr intended was a satirization of the nationalistic differences between French and English police systems and, as such, the book is a trenchant, if generally unrecognized, tour de force. The humor, warmth, and ingenuity,especially in the classic story, "The Absent-Minded Coterie," are extra dividends." - Queen's Quorum 35. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone. Queen, The Detective Short Story, p. 10. Haycraft, Murder for Pleasure, pp. 66-7. Barzun and Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime (1989) 3601. Cloth lightly worn at spine ends, several small rubs and scuffs to cloth, a very good copy. (#159740).
Price: $450.00
"Published March, 1906" on copyright page. First printing has code "(1)" on page 330.