THE TONGUE-TIED CANARY

First edition, first printing. Original black cloth lettered in red to the spine, in dustwrapper. A better than very good copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. Softening to spine tips, with a few light marks to the cloth. Complete with the rubbed, nicked, slightly dusty wrapper, that is chipped with loss (c. 1 cm) to the upper edge of the spine. Not price-clipped (8s. 6d. net to the front flap). A presentable copy of the first of Bentley's three post-war thrillers.

Nicolas Bentley (1907-78), better known for his work as an illustrator (Belloc's 'Cautionary Tales'; Eliot's 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats', among many others) was also, as the jacket of this novel reminds us, the son of E. C. Bentley (1875-1956), the author of the greatly admired detective novels, 'Trent's Last Case' (1913) and its sequel, 'Trent's Own Case' (1936). 'The Tongue-Tied Canary' is the first of the three thrillers that Nicolas Bentley published between 1949 and 1953. (Hubin).