Description
The first edition, first printing of The Garden Murder Case: A Philo Vance Story, signed by S.S. Van Dine.
Octavo, [2], 332pp, [10pp ads]. Publisher’s black cloth, title stamped in gilt. The first printing, with the “Scribner’s A” on the copyright page. Faint wear to black cloth, light scuff mark on front cover along fore-edge. Solid text block, internally clean. In the publisher’s first state dust jacket, $2.00 on the front flap, two closed tears with archival tissue reinforcement to verso, notable wear along bottom edge of front panel, wear at tips, a very good example.
This copy is signed on the front free endpaper by S.S. Dine.
The Garden Murder Case was first published in 1935 by Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York. The novel was serialized in American Magazine beginning in February 1935, just before its book release. A British edition was issued the same year by Cassell and Company in London. The book was the ninth in the Philo Vance series and was one of the later entries before the character’s popularity declined. A film adaptation by MGM, starring Edmund Lowe as Vance, was released in 1936.
