Trent's Last Case (W/Two Hand-Written Letters)

London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1913. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Good/Very Good. 8vo., 375pp. Solid First Edition of this Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone title, which haycraft considered the first "Modern" detective story. (Murder For Pleasure p.113). Bound in dark blue cloth with lettering in gilt on spine and blind-stamped on frond board. Embossed borders and decorations on front board and spine. Illustrated end-papers. Full-color frontispiece. Published in the US with the title "The Woman in Black". Tight and clean throughout save a previous owner's name on front paste-down. Some wear to edges and spine ends. A couple of small nicks to the fore-edge of the front board. Hinges professionally repaired with new head and tail bands. Spine toning. Included are two hand-written letters from the author, written shortly after the publication of this, Bentley's first book, The first letter is four pages, (8 1/2" x 11" folded in half), to a friend or associate, "Fred", discussing many topics one of which is the possibility of turning "Trent's Last Case" into a play. The second is also a folded sheet with writing only on two pages, written in 1915. This to "My dear Archie" and he seems to discuss how busy he is and how tough it is to get away but perhaps they can get together for lunch one day when he is going to be in a specific area. The writing in both is quite small and perhaps a bit hurried and many words are indecipherable. Not perfect but a respectable collectable copy and with the letters, very pleasing indeed. (Hubin, p. 31).