LeBLANC, Maurice. Arsène Lupin. From the Play by Maurice Leblanc and Francis de Croisset. London: Mills and Boon. 1909.
8vo. Original black cloth, titles to spine gilt and to front board in red, small photographic portrait of Gerald Du Maurier to front board, with the very rare printed dust-jacket; pp. [vi], 344, 32 (Mills and Boon Catalogue); spine ends gently rubbed, edges lightly foxed, dust jacket browned, especially spine panel, a few nicks, chips and tears, and repairs to verso; overall an excellent copy.
First edition, issued not before 1913, of this English translation of LeBlanc’s novel, with a photographic portrait of the English actor Gerald Du Maurier as Lupin to the front cover, in excellent condition and retaining the very rare dust jacket.
The story originally appeared as a four-part play by Maurice LeBlanc and Francis de Croisset, a Belgian-born French playwright and opera librettist. Titled Arsène Lupin, the play premiered on 28 October 1908 at the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris, and met with considerable success. The following year, it was translated into English and performed at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London, with Gerald Du Maurier in the role of Lupin. The play was subsequently adapted into a novel by LeBlanc and published in French in 1909. The same year saw the release of this English translation by Edgar Jepson, author of adventure and detective fiction.
This 1909 first edition of Arsène Lupin includes a 1913 Mills and Boon catalogue bound at the end, and a brief list of ‘new novels’ from the same period facing the title page. These subsequent advertisements suggest that the publishers did not sell out the entire initial print run immediately. Instead, they retained some printed sheets to be bound and released at a later date, as demand rose.
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