Description: First UK Edition, First State / First Impression. Consisting of the correct 11 stories (omitting 'The Adventure of the Cardboard Box') and concluding on page 279. Octavo, original dark blue pictorial cloth with bevelled edges, black stamped vignette to front board, gilt titles to spine. All edges gilt. Provenance: A highly compelling contemporary Lancashire association copy. Features a small, neat bookseller's blindstamp for E.W.B. Smith of Bury on the front free endpaper. The rear board features an elegant presentation inscription beautifully stamped in bright gold gilt, noting the volume as an 1895 prize from the Heywood Technical School, presented by George Kemp, Esq., MP (newly elected as the Member of Parliament for the Heywood division in July 1895). Condition: Very Good. The front cover vignette remains sharp, and the gilt lettering on the spine is bright and highly readable. Light fraying to the cloth at the head and foot of the spine. The book exhibits a slight lean (cock) to the spine. Internally clean with only minimal, trace foxing confined strictly to the preliminary and final leaves; the text block and Sidney Paget illustration plates remain excellent. The original patterned endpapers are cracked along the internal hinges as is common with this heavy volume, leaving the hinges slightly loose but holding safely. Crucially, this copy is entirely unrestored, un-recased, and in its original state. A handsome, bright, and completely honest copy of a cornerstone of detective fiction, enriched by genuine local political and academic history.