Whose Body? by SAYERS, Dorothy L

Boni and Liveright, 1923. 1st edition. Hardcover. First issue without ' Inc.' on the title page. Signed by the author on a laid-in slip saying 'Yours very truly/Dorothy L Sayers'. The contents are fine, with a very occasional fox mark, some offsetting on the endpapers and a small ding to the edge of half-a-dozen leaves, while the grey-blue boards, with darker blue lettering, are very slightly rubbed, the spine slightly darkened. The US edition of the author's first Lord Peter Wimsey book preceded all other editions, and this copy is a very nice example. As well as the laid-in signed slip, there is a full-colour National Gallery postcard of Sir William Hutchinson's portrait of Miss Sayers, which is hand-signed by the great P D James, with her printed testament to the author, namely that her ' fame rests on the popularity of eleven detective novels featuring her aristocratic sleuth [which]... established her as among the most influential writers' of the genre.