Agatha Christie

Quite scarce Autograph Letter Signed, 5″ x 7″, Winterbrook House stationery, Wallingford, England, May 31, 1974. A lovely reply to a woman inquiring into all books written by the famed author, including her comforting assurance that there are no spiders in her book “Passenger to Frankfurt: An Extravaganza,” the last of her spy novels (and possibly a reference to her 1954 play Spider’s Web). Very fine condition, in blue ballpoint on both sides of a single page, accompanied by original envelope also in Christie’s hand. In full:

Dear Mrs. C. Howie:

I am glad you have enjoyed my books—
I’m afraid I don’t keep lists of my books —
But there is a book by a certain Mr. Ramsay — I think entitled Mistress of Mysteries which lists them all in alphabetical order & giving dates of publication. It is published in America by Dodd Mead & Co — and in London by Mssrs. Collins of 14 St. James St. London. Don’t worry about spiders any more — There are no spiders in Passenger to Frankfurt —

Yours sincerely,
Agatha Christie

Fully handwritten letters by Christie are extremely scarce, most of her correspondence having been typewritten — and letters discussing specific books are also quite uncommon.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, Lady Mallowan, DBE (1890-1976), commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Her works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the ‘Queen of Crime’ and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre.

Christie has been called—by the Guinness Book of World Records, among others—the best-selling writer of books of all time and the best-selling writer of any kind, along with William Shakespeare. Only the Bible is known to have outsold her collected sales of roughly four billion copies of novels.

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