The Four Just Men, Edgar Wallace — 1st Edition, 2nd Issue

Publication: London, The Tallis Press, 1905

Formatting: 8vo, pp. 224, [1, folding frontispiece].

Condition Report Very Good. The publisher’s original yellow cloth boards, featuring the iconic inset pictorial panel to the front cover, remain remarkably vibrant, though they exhibit light rubbing to the extremities and gentle bumping to the corners and spine ends. The top edge of the text block is noticeably dust-soiled, while the remaining edges show minor, age-appropriate toning. Internally, the binding remains secure and tight. The endpapers and preliminary leaves, most notably the title page and contents pages, display scattered foxing, which gracefully diminishes as one moves into the main text block. The folding frontispiece depicting 44 Downing Street remains fully intact with only faint handling creases. While the front free endpaper bears standard bookseller's stock marks in pencil, the volume is otherwise free from modern ownership inscriptions or distracting blemishes, presenting as an attractive, unsophisticated survivor of a famously fragile edition.

Catalogue Note This is the second issue of the first edition, published later in the same year as the true first issue, containing the corrected textual points (such as 'business' altered to 'pleasure' on page 40). The volume includes the notable folding frontispiece detailing a sectional view of 44 Downing Street on the night of the murder.

The publication of this novel remains one of the most legendary, and disastrous, promotional stunts in literary history. Edgar Wallace established The Tallis Press specifically to publish the book and launched a highly publicised competition offering a £500 prize to readers who could deduce the method of the cabinet minister's murder. Crucially, Wallace failed to include a limitation clause in the rules, legally obliging him to pay the full prize amount to every single reader who submitted the correct solution. The resulting financial catastrophe forced Wallace into bankruptcy, requiring him to hastily sell the rights to Sir George Newnes.

Because of this chaotic publishing history, all 1905 Tallis Press printings are highly sought after by collectors of early crime fiction. While true first issues with the competition slip intact command premium prices, early second issues remain uncommonly encountered on the open market, particularly in their original, unrestored cloth bindings.

In this groundbreaking Edwardian thriller, four wealthy and enigmatic gentlemen, Leon Gonzalez, George Manfred, Raymond Poiccart, and Thery, form an extralegal vigilante group determined to punish wrongdoers who operate beyond the reach of the law. When they issue a deadly ultimatum to the British Foreign Secretary, threatening his assassination if he forces an unjust political bill through Parliament, Scotland Yard is plunged into a desperate race against time. A foundational text in the development of the modern thriller, Wallace's masterpiece expertly blends locked-room mystery with high-stakes political suspense.