CHRISTIE, Agatha (1890-1976). The Hollow. London: for The Crime Club by Collins, 1946.

First UK edition in a very good dust-jacket. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to her secretary, amanuensis and close friend Charlotte 'Carlo' Fisher: 'Carlo from Agatha (Delayed in Transit!)'. The setting for The Hollow was based on the house of Christie’s friends Francis L. Sullivan ('Larry') and his wife Danae, who lived in Haslemere, Surrey, where Agatha sometimes stayed during the War. The printed dedication reads 'For Larry and Danae, with apologies for using their swimming pool as the scene of a murder'. Sullivan played the role of Poirot in two of Christie’s stage adaptations.

Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered in black (spine sunned, edges lightly spotted, top edge of boards slightly spotted and dust-stained); original dust-jacket supplied from another copy (chipped at head and foot with small loss, spine sunned, rathe toned, lower panel frayed at edges). Provenance: Charlotte 'Carlo' Fisher (1895-1976, secretary, amanuensis and close friend of Agatha Christie; presentation inscription by the author on front free endpaper, and with Fisher’s posthumous book label).