AUCTION PREVIEW: Heritage - Oct 14, 2026

2 hours ago

8 min read

Heritage Auctions is offering a significant collection of rare books at auction on October 14, 2026. Included are numerous scarce and important Agatha Christie first editions. The auction is divided into two sessions. Session One starts at 11am (USA Central Time) and is a live auction (in person and online). Session Two starts at 6pm (USA CT) and is an online auction only.

Session One features seven Agatha Christie first editions. The detailed lot descriptions, with their stated editions and condition reports are all as provided by Heritage Auctions. The images are all sourced from Heritage Auctions.

While Heritage does provide a starting bid, no estimate is provided. For the listings below, I am providing the start bid and current bid (if online bids have already been placed). After the auction I will convert this to a ‘Review’ with the actual prices realised. Each lot will also have a Buyer’s Premium of 25% added to the hammer price which I will include in the final price achieved. Buyers needing more detail or images needed to reach out to Heritage directly or visit their website at ha.com.

The Lots:

All lots sold with no reserve. All prices are in US dollars. The total price will have a buyer’s premium of 25% added. Shipping and handling costs will also increase the price. At the time of this article the exchange rate for US dollars was $1.32 per £1.

Lot 45261: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a Detective Story. New York: John Lane Company, 1920.

Starting bid: $2,000. Current bid: $2,700.

First Edition. 8vo. Rebound in pale pink-cream leather to match original boards, stamped in gilt, by Buller. Christie's first novel, and the first appearance of Hercule Poirot. This American edition preceded the English, which was published the following year.

Condition: Light scratches and a spot or two to binding.

CC Comments: Christie’s first novel was printed in the US in October 1920 while its British equivalent didn’t appear until January 1921. The rebinding of this volume is particularly well done as it mirrors the look of the original cloth binding. However, it is still rebound and this is a significant consideration that will cut its value by more than 50%. Alternatively, it enables someone to acquire those first printed pages at a much more affordable entry point. My price guide values an original at £6,000 ($7,800).

Lot 45262: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a Detective Story. London: John Lane, the Bodley Head, 1921.

Starting bid: $7,500. Current bid: $7,500.

8vo. Publisher's brown cloth decoratively stamped in black, top edge stained blue. First British Edition. Christie's first novel, and the first appearance of Hercule Poirot. The American edition was published the year prior, in 1920.

Condition: Light wear at edges and spine ends; corners a bit rounded; a few spots; rear hinge cracked before rear free endpaper; a few pale spots to text. A near fine copy of this uncommon novel, cheaply made, and not usually found in such fine condition.

CC Comments: This scarce book usually appears for sale flawed with fraying cloth or more hinge damage. This is truly a near-fine copy for this title. My price guide values an original at £8,000 ($10,400) but I expect this could well exceed that now.

Lot 45263: The Murder on the Links. London: John Lane the Bodley Head Ltd., [1923].

Starting bid: $2,500. Current bid: $3,500.

8vo. Publisher's orange cloth decorated and lettered in black; 8pp. of advertisements at the end. First Edition of Christie's third novel and second to feature Poirot.

Condition: Lacking dust jacket. Edgewear to boards, with spine ends and corners frayed; hinges starting; lightly soiled and faded; text block shifted. Some spotting to the fore edge and a bit of foxing to the publisher's ads; bookseller's stamp ("Wm. Tyrell & Co. Toronto") to front flyleaf.

CC Comments: The general consensus is that this book is actually harder to find than Styles. As with these first few books, those that do appear often have severe cloth issues and this is better than most. The book stamp implies it was an export copy though for these early books there was no difference. My price guide values an original at £7,000 ($9,100).

Lot 45264: Partners in Crime. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, [1929].

Starting bid: $1,000.

8vo. Publisher's blue boards decoratively stamped in orange, top edge stained red; original pictorial dust jacket. First American Edition. This collection features the married private detectives, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford.

Condition: Very mild edgewear and very light soiling. Dust jacket unclipped (priced "$2.00"); approximate 19 mm tear on front spine panel; spine panel lightly toned; small scuff on lower spine panel; rear flap creased; mild edgewear and a few small chips.

CC Comments: In my opinion the most beautiful jacket (even though Tommy’ hair is the wrong colour!) and book cloth design on any Agatha Christie first edition. Still undervalued by most, these early Dodd, Mead & Co. printings are highly appealing. While my price guide values an original at £2,000 ($2,600), which is where the market likely is, the day will come when people wish they’d stocked up on them at this price point.

Lot 45265: Cards on the Table. London: Collins for The Crime Club, [1936].

Starting bid: $5,000. Current bid: $5,000.

8vo. Publisher's orange cloth, spine stamped in black; original pictorial dust jacket. Housed in a custom quarter morocco slipcase. First Edition of a classic Hercule Poirot mystery novel featuring the first appearance of Ariadne Oliver in a Poirot novel. The plot revolves around a dinner party hosted by the enigmatic Mr. Shaitana, who boasts of collecting people who have "gotten away with murder."

Condition: Spine slightly faded with touch of soiling at ends; covers slightly soiled; light toning to endpapers; a few spots to edges of text block (migrating into page margins slightly on a few occasions). Dust jacket unclipped (priced "7/6 net"); minor wear to extremities with only small chips or short tears at corners; very minor edgewear with a few tiny nicks, breaks or creases; light soiling to rear panel. Overall, a very good copy in a near-fine unrestored jacket.

CC Comments: Once more common but now scarce, especially in a complete priced jacket. This is truly a near-fine copy for this title. My price guide values a Very Good jacketed book at £10,000 ($13,000) so anything around this level or below would be a good buy.

Lot 45266: Death on the Nile. A Poirot Story. London: Published for The Crime Club by Collins, 1937.

Starting bid: $2,500. Current bid: $2,700.

8vo. Publisher's orange cloth, spine lettered in black, upper cover without lettering (binding variant); original pictorial dust jacket. First Edition of Christie's 18th novel and 15th to feature Hercule Poirot, published at the height of her pre-war period. First Printing, with "Copyright 1937" to copyright page and no references to subsequent printings, lists to "Dumb Witness" on list of Christie books to the left of the title page, four pages of ads at the rear (reviews for "Dumb Witness," "Cards on the Table" and "Murder in Mesopotamia," and ad to join the Crime Club). First State Dust Jacket, with generic reviews on the back panel and reviews for the last three publications on the rear flap.

Condition: Dust jacket unclipped (priced "7s.6d net"). Spine ends a touch faded and lightly worn. Dust jacket with loss at the spine ends and corners; 50mm tear to the back panel, extending into an 80mm closed tear to the rear flap; a bit of toning at the edges of the jacket.

CC Comments: Surprisingly the only listing where the full jacket isn’t shown implying the flaws on the rear may be worth examining before bidding. Interested parties should request a complete front and rear jacket image. My price guide values a Very Good jacketed copy at £15,000 ($19,500) but I expect this won’t reach that level given the chipping and damage. That said, it’s a marquee title and broadly collected. While it does show for sale periodically, the frequency of appearances is diminishing.

Lot 45267: Ten Little N-s. London: Collins for The Crime Club, [1939].

Starting bid: $5,000. Current bid: $6,001.

8vo. Publisher's orange cloth, spine stamped in black; original pictorial dust jacket. Housed in a custom quarter morocco slipcase. First Edition. According to the publishers, "Ten Little N-s is certainly the greatest story that the Crime Club has ever published. We believe it may come to be considered the greatest crime problem ever devised in fiction" (dust jacket blurb). The politically incorrect title caused reprinted editions to be retitled Ten Little Indians and in America the book was published as And Then There Were None (1940). Considered one of Agatha Christie's best works, it was adapted several times for stage, screen, and radio, most notably the 1945 René Clair film adaptation starring Walter Huston.

Condition: Hint of fading to cloth on spine, otherwise fine. Dust jacket unclipped (priced "7s. 6d. net"), with just a trace of light wear to corners; a short closed tear with associated light creases on upper edge of front panel crossing first letter of title (spot-reinforced with a tab of paper on verso); very minor edgewear with a few tiny closed tears, creases or small nicks at edges; small area of rubbing on spine panel at lower center; light soiling to rear panel. Overall, a fine copy in a fine and remarkably bright dust jacket. A superb copy.

CC Comments: I have intentionally distorted the images for this lot to reduce the unintentional risk of offense. The actual lot has no defects to the text of the book or jacket. The best-selling Christie of all time and justifiably so. An excellent novel, brilliantly constructed. Despite its now regrettable title, this first is worthy of a place on any collectors shelf. My price guide values an original at £5,000 ($6,500) but given the prices paperbacks and reprints of this original title have been selling for I expect my guide needs revising. I’ll await the outcome of this sale to see how high it goes.

Thoughts on Values:

While future valuations cannot be predicted, two years ago I wrote an article that looked at how valuations had changed over the prior 20 years. My observations were that American and British books from the 1920s and 1930s without jackets had increased in value between 2-6% per annum, while jacketed books had increased on average between 4-9% per annum. The full article can be found at: link. Given the uncertainties of the stock and bond markets, and rampant global inflation, I can understand when many people are happy to hold tangible assets that historically have held their value or appreciated, while also giving them something to enjoy seeing on their shelves. That said, values are significant and any meaningful collection of Christie books is likely of substantial value even if you bought many of the books years ago at cheaper prices. Therefore, if you don’t have insurance for your books please do consider obtaining it. Most collector policies have a premium of no more than 0.5% of the total value per year.

Summary.

It is less common to see these British firsts at an American auction house. My historical observations are that British firsts are slightly more affordable in the States. Perhaps British collectors don’t want to deal with repatriating the books via global shipping and/or deal with the actual shipping costs or don’t like not being able to visually inspect the books. Consequently, there may be some deals here. We’ll see! While many 1940s and 1950s Agatha Christie books have appeared at auction over the last year, it has been several years since any non-association copies of 1920s and 1930s jacketed firsts have appeared (i.e. excluding Charlie Watts’s collection). Collectively, I’m looking forward to seeing the results of this sale to assess if location still seems to impact pricing and whether there’s been a shift in overall expected valuations.

Closing Comments.

Do consider following me on Facebook, X and Instagram - I can be found on all of those platforms easily under the name 'Collect Christie' or 'Collecting Christie'.

Last, but not least, I can be reached at collectchristie@gmail.com - I enjoy hearing from you so don't be shy if there's something you want to share, a correction or edit to any of my articles or something you'd like to read about.

Happy Collecting!