Joseph Shearing (Marjorie Bowen) - Moss Rose

A First edition of this very rare crime novel by Marjorie Bowen - written under the pen-name of Joseph Shearing. Moss Rose is a fictionalized account of a true story about the unsolved murder of a prostitute in 1872 - with the addition of the author's theories about whodunnit.

Published in London by Heinemann in 1934. Original dark pink cloth with gilt titles at the backstrip, 340 pages and one further leaf of ads (for two other titles by the author) at the rear.

A Very Good copy. With a very minor lean and a reading crease along the backstrip. The binding is firm, the corners fairly sharp, minor bumping to the tips and some loss of colour/sunning at the extreme edge of the lower tip.

The top-edge of the block is just slightly dusty, remaining edges clean. The block is remarkably fresh, completely free from foxing or spotting, there are no previous owner names or bookplates.

This is an excellent-condition copy.

The printed dustjacket is unclipped with price of 7/6 Net at the front flap. There is normal, minor shelf-wear to the edges and corners commensurate with age but nothing substantial other than at the spine tips where some loss of the laminate has occurred. The rear panel shows some crease-lines and some print-soiling. Overall, Very Good with faults.

Extremely rare in the dustjacket, a splendid example of a very rare title.