First impression
1945At a glance
Points of issue
- Dust jacket, front flapPrinted price on the front flap: 8s. 6d.→ first issue jacket
Sparkling CyanideCollins
Hardback
Sparkling Cyanide (1945)
Publisher Collins
Year 1945
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 Nov 2026.
Market value
What decides the price
- It is the first UK edition; the true first was published elsewhere.
- The first printing is told from later ones by 1 point of issue listed below.
- The original dust jacket carries much of the price for a book of this age; its condition matters as much as the book's.
- Condition is graded separately for book and jacket, from Fine down to Poor.
- Recorded sales
- 6
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Price history
6 recorded sales
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Quick answer
- How do I identify a Sparkling Cyanide 1945 hardback?
- Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: 8s. 6d. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
- Who published the Sparkling Cyanide 1945 hardback?
- Collins, London, in 1945, in hardback.
How to identify this edition
Dodd, Mead first published the novel in New York in February 1945 as Remembered Death, so the Collins Crime Club edition of December 1945 is the first UK edition and the first under the title Sparkling Cyanide. It runs to 160 pages and was priced at 8s. 6d. Look for red cloth with the spine lettered in black, in a pictorial dust jacket. One auction house described a presentation copy as orange cloth, which may be fading or a different shade. Both auction copies we saw had price-clipped jackets, so check the front flap. The Dodd, Mead edition is the true first and carries the other title.
How Collins marked its first editions
Collins did not mark first editions or first impressions in any special way, so a Collins first, Crime Club titles included, carries no edition statement and is recognised by the absence of any later date and by the points for that title.
- Collins told H. S. Boutell that it used no special method of designating first editions or first impressions, and the Ahearns' publisher list for ILAB likewise records no statement on Collins first editions. Crime Club books in the UK were a Collins imprint and follow the same rule.
Read the full guide to Collins first editions, decade by decade, and check your copy's copyright page against it. Our number line decoder reads the printing from the row of numbers.
Printing by printing
Printings and states
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a Sparkling Cyanide 1945 hardback?
Check these points. Dust jacket, front flap: Printed price on the front flap: 8s. 6d. Each point is confirmed by at least two independent sources.
Who published the Sparkling Cyanide 1945 hardback?
Collins, London, in 1945, in hardback.
Where these facts come from
- Sparkling Cyanide, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Remembered Death 1945 Agatha Christie first edition identification guide, nocloo (nocloo.com)
- Agatha Christie, Sparkling Cyanide, first edition, Sotheby's (sothebys.com)
- CHRISTIE, Agatha, Sparkling Cyanide, Jonkers Rare Books (jonkers.co.uk)
- Sparkling Cyanide, Charlie Watts Literature and Jazz Part II, Christie's (onlineonly.christies.com.cn)
- Whodunit exhibition item, Grolier Club (grolierclub.omeka.net)
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 10 November 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
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