FER-DE-LANCE

First UK edition, first printing. Original black cloth with purple titles to the spine, lacking the rare dustwrapper. A very good copy, the binding firm with a slight lean to the spine, the extremities rubbed, the corners with slight wear. The contents, with faint foxing to the first few pages and a few small spots to the closed text-block edge, are otherwise clean and without stamps or inscriptions.

The first Nero Wolfe mystery novel and the launch of a classic detective series that would grow to include 33 novels and 41 short stories. First published in the US in 1934 by Farrar and Rineheart. The basis for the 1936 film 'Meet Nero Wolfe', directed by Herbert Biberman and starring Rita Hayworth, Edward Arnold and Lionel Stander. (Hubin).