La Fille au Masque Pourpre (Les Chefs-d’Oeuvre du Roman Feuilleton) [The Girl in the Purple Mask (Masterpieces of the Serial Novel)]

Jean d'Hourec, 1925-01-01. Leather Bound. Very Good. In French. 1925 second edition, Librairie Gallimard (Paris), 4 7/8 x 7 3/8 inches tall hardbound, blue marbled paper-covered boards over green leather spine, five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine, top page edges trimmed, fore and bottom page edges untrimmed, green marbled endpapers, full color wraps with cover illustration by noted French caricaturist Bernard Becan (1890-1942) bound in, 252 pp. plus an ad for the next novel in its series, Les Chefs-d’Oeuvre du Roman Feuilleton [Masterpieces of the Serial Novel]. Slight rubbing and edgewear to covers, with moderate rubbing and sun fading to the spine. Small tear to the upper tip of the first blank front free-endpaper. Mild sun toning throughout. Otherwise, a very good copy – clean and unmarked – by this rare copy of one of the pioneering detective novels in France in the 1920s. OCLC (No. 459425835) lists only one copy at collections worldwide – at the French National Library (Bibliotheque Nationale de France) in Paris. ~T~ [1.5P] This rare 1925 crime novel by Jean d’ Hourec, La Fille au masque pourpre (The Girl in the Purple Mask), was part of a pioneering series which included many detective novels issued by Gallimard, Les Chefs-d’Oeuvre du Roman Feuilleton (Masterpieces of the Serial Novel). The series later morphed into Les Chefs-d’oeuvre du roman d’aventures (Masterpieces of the Adventure Novel), where Dashiell Hammett was first published in France.