The Tongue-tied Canary

First edition, first printing.  224pp.  In black cloth-covered boards with red lettering on gold relief on the spine.  8vo. Cloth a little worn, gently rounded on corners.  Upper text block edge lightly toned, internally pages off-bright.  In its original dust wrapper, rubbed on edges, chipped at corners and spine ends with minor loss, crude but largely invisible repair to dust jacket on interior masking loss along top rear edge.  Dust jacket now protected in a Mylar wrapper fitted without the use of tape or adhesives. Nicoloas Bentley, the son of crime writer E C Bentley, was a leading commercial artist and humourist of the 1920s and 30s.  The dust wrapper claims that this was his first novel but it wasn't - it was preceded by Gammon and Espionage a decade earlier.