The Case of the Philosophers' Ring

New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.. Near Fine in Near Fine dj. (c.1978). First Edition. Hardcover. [no discernible shelfwear, a nice clean book except for the former owner's name, date & place of purchase, and brief editorial commentary, all in ink on the front endpaper; the jacket shows just a touch of surface-soiling]. (B&W photographs) "Amid the drugs and cult mysticism of the Edwardian Underworld, Sherlock Holmes encounters the world's most evil genius, and his plan to destroy Western civilization." The Sherlockian-pastiche adventure begins when a telegram arrives at 221B Baker Street from Bertrand Russell, begging Holmes to come to Cambridge to investigate "the theft of a uniquely precious treasure -- the mind of Ludwig Wittgenstein" who has mysteriously become lethargic and paranoid. John Maynard Keynes, G.E. Moore, and other members of the Cambridge Apostles figure into the narrative, as do Aleister Crowley, Lytton Strachey, and even Virginia Woolf. .