Inspector Hanaud Investigations A. E. W. Mason 1934 Early Omnibus Edition
 
Title & Bibliographic Details
 
The A. E. W. Mason Omnibus: Inspector Hanaud’s Investigations
By A. E. W. Mason
Published by Hodder and Stoughton, London
First omnibus edition October 1931
This edition: May 1934 early reprint
Printed by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London
 
This collected volume presents the three principal Inspector Hanaud detective novels in a uniform Hodder & Stoughton omnibus binding issued during the interwar period.
 
Historical & Bibliographic Context
 
This omnibus contains:
At the Villa Rose 
The House of the Arrow 
The Prisoner in the Opal 
 
Inspector Hanaud is recognised as one of the earliest major literary detectives of the twentieth century and is widely considered a precursor to later Golden Age figures such as Hercule Poirot created by Agatha Christie.
 
Hodder & Stoughton issued omnibus detective collections such as this to preserve popular interwar mystery fiction in durable collected formats for readers and libraries, and early impressions remain attractive to collectors of classic crime fiction.
 
About the Author
 
Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (1865-1948) was an English novelist best known for The Four Feathers.
 
Binding & Exterior Description
 
Original publisher’s light cloth binding with:
black decorative borders to front board 
black lettering to front board and spine 
small publisher’s device to spine 
uniform Hodder & Stoughton omnibus styling matching contemporary Buchan collected editions 
 
Condition:
The binding remains intact and structurally sound with:
patches of tanning and discolouration to cloth 
spine tanning 
light marking to boards 
light bumping to corners 
rubbing to edges including spine edges 
several pulled threads visible on rear board 
No dust jacket present.
 
Interior Condition
 
The interior remains clean and complete.
 
Features include:
lightly toned pages throughout 
neat ownership inscription: M. W. Horrocks 
occasional small marks 
light creases or folds to a small number of pages 
extremely small edge tears to a few leaves 
light rubbing affecting a single word on page 315 (“introduction”), still fully legible 
 
The pages remain tightly bound and secure.
 
All 1037 pages are present and accounted for.
 
Physical Details
 
Pagination: 1037 pages
Dimensions: 19.7 cm x 13.9 cm x 4.8 cm
Weight: 941 g
 
Collector Notes
 
The first omnibus edition appeared in 1931. This May 1934 impression represents an early interwar collected issue in Hodder & Stoughton’s uniform detective-fiction omnibus format.
 
While later impressions exist, early collected editions of Inspector Hanaud’s investigations remain desirable to collectors of Golden Age crime fiction and early twentieth-century detective literature.
 
Copies appear periodically on the market, most often without surviving dust jackets.