Beschreibung:

FREEMAN, R. Austin. The Red Thumb Mark . London: Collingwood Bros., [1907]. 8 o. Frontispiece. (Some pale marginal foxing at beginning and end.) Original decorated black cloth, front cover lettered in white and with red thumb print (the author's own), spine lettered in white (white lettering on spine mostly rubbed away as usual); cloth slipcase. Provenance : Ralph Straus (1882-1950), prolific English novelist and biographer (presentation inscription from the author). FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR on the front free endpaper: "Ralph Straus from R Austin Freeman with affectionate regards. 10 t h May 1938." The Red Thumb Mark marks the introduction of Freeman's famous Dr. Thorndyke, and contains generally the first accepted use of identification by fingerprints. Fingerprint identification, however, had previously been described by Clemens in Life on the Mississippi (1883, see lot 49) and Herbert Cadett in The Adventures of a Journalist (1900). See Queen's Quorum , p.45. Donaldson 4.