Add this copy of Mostly Murder: an Autobiography to cart. $7.95, very good condition, Sold by The Warm Springs Book Company rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fremont, CA, UNITED STATES, published by New York, NY, U.S.A. : Dorset Press, 1988.
Publisher:
New York, NY, U.S.A. : Dorset Press, 1988
Alibris ID:
8367707464
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ISBN: 0880293063, Hardback 1st printing of this reprint edition, Near Fine in Near Fine DJ; trace of light wear to DJ and DJ edges, the autobiography of one of the most brilliant and pioneering professors of forensic medicine, illustrated with two photo sections, 8vo., 318 pages.,
Add this copy of Mostly Murder to cart. $9.00, good condition, Sold by Top Notch Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tolar, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1959 by David McKay Company, Inc..
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Good. No Jacket. Ex Libris. 8vo-7¾"-9¾" Tall. Black boards have minor edgewear. Pages are clean, text has no markings, binding is sound. Prior owner name on beb.
Add this copy of Mostly Murder to cart. $9.95, very good condition, Sold by Cape Cod Booksellers rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from SOUTH YARMOUTH, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1959 by David McKay.
Add this copy of Mostly Murder an Autobiography to cart. $12.95, very good condition, Sold by Gian Luigi Fine Books, Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Albany, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1959 by David McKay.
Add this copy of Mostly Murder to cart. $17.00, good condition, Sold by Shoemaker Booksellers rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gettysburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published by David McKay Company, Inc..
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Very Good- in Good+ jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. (1959) 318 pp. Original black cloth covers w/ gilt title on spine. Binding very bright and clean. Spine ends bumped. Light foxing to edges of text block. DJ lightly soiled and rubbed w/ wear to edges. Price clipped. Illust. w/ b/w plates.
Add this copy of Mostly Murder to cart. $20.00, very good condition, Sold by Grendel Books, ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Springfield, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1959 by David Mckay Company,.
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Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. Foreword by Erle Stanley Gardner. First edition. Slight spine slant, light foxing on edges, else very good in a very good dust jacket.
Add this copy of Mostly Murder to cart. $21.49, very good condition, Sold by The Guru Bookshop rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hereford, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1959 by George G Harrap & Co Ltd.
Add this copy of Mostly Murder to cart. $25.00, good condition, Sold by Ground Zero Books, Ltd. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Silver Spring, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1959 by David McKay Company, Inc.
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Good in fair dust jacket. Price clipped. DJ is worn, torn, soiled, chipped and has tape repairs. Slightly cocked. 318, [4] p. Includes: Illustrations, Index. Foreword by Erle Stanley Gardner. From Wikipedia: "Sir Sydney Alfred Smith CBE (4 August 1883 in Roxburgh, New Zealand 8 May 1969 in Edinburgh, Scotland), was a renowned forensic scientist and pathologist. From 1928 to 1953, Smith was Regius Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, a well-known forensic department of that time. Smith's popular 1959 autobiography, Mostly Murder, has run through many British and American editions, the latest in 1988. Smith was born at Roxburgh, Otago, in New Zealand and was educated at Roxburgh public school, and Victoria College, Wellington. He later won a Vans Dunlop scholarship at Edinburgh University in botany and zoology. He graduated in 1912, M.B. Ch.B., with first-class honours and a research scholarship. Following a short period in general practice, Smith became an assistant in the Edinburgh department of forensic medicine at the suggestion of Professor Harvey Littlejohn. He obtained his M.D. in 1914 with a gold medal and the Alison prize. Smith returned to New Zealand in 1914 and took up a post as Medical Officer of Health for Otago at Dunedin. During World War I, Smith served as a Major in the New Zealand Army Corps. In 1917, Smith took up a post as medico-legal advisor to the Government of Egypt and senior lecturer in forensic medicine at the School of Medicine in Cairo. Smith went on to establish himself as an authority in the field of ballistics and firearms in forensic medicine, publishing the first edition of Textbook of Forensic Medicine in 1925. In 1928, Smith was appointed to the Regius chair of forensic medicine at Edinburgh University and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, a post he held 1931 to 1953 (succeeded by Professor Thomas J Mackie. ) Smith was Rector of the University of Edinburgh from 1954 to 1957. He published an autobiography, Mostly Murder, in 1959. He died in 1969 in Edinburgh. In Queen's Birthday Honours 1944 Smith was appointed as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. In the New Year Honours 1949 Smith was appointed as a Knight Bachelor and invested on 4 March 1949. Smith's first important forensic case was the 1913 trial of Patrick Higgins for the murder of his two sons in Winchburgh, Scotland. Because of the build-up of adipocere in the bodies, a result of their being immersed in a cold flooded quarry, Littlejohn and Smith were able to provide important evidence in the trial, leading to the conviction and execution of Higgins. The two scientists' famous work gained notoriety 94 years later, when a relative of the boys asked for the return of specimens taken from their remains from Edinburgh University, for a proper burial. Research revealed that after their work on the case, Littlejohn and Smith had removed parts of the bodies from police custody to use as scientific specimens, as described in Smith's autobiography, according to Chris Paton in The Scotsman. In January 2008, the university agreed to return the remains, if the claimant could establish her relationship and the other relatives all agreed. In 1935, Smith was one of the forensic experts involved in the identification of the bodies of the victims of Buck Ruxton, using a novel technique of forensic anthropology to superimpose a photograph over the X-ray of a victim's skull."
Add this copy of Mostly Murder. Forew. , Erle Stanley Gardner. to cart. $30.00, very good condition, Sold by de Wit Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hutchinson, KS, UNITED STATES, published 1959 by David McKay.
Mostly Murder tells the history of modern detective work. This book recounts Smith's forensics work during the early part of the century. I found this book by accident in the library, checked it out on a whim, and was instantly enthralled. Sydney Smith's British expressions makes MM especially entertaining. He was one of the first to use ballistics as a means to determine murder weapons and suspects. Because he was an official in the Egyptian government, Mostly Murder also winds up being a travelogue. There's even a little Arthur Conan Doyle history in Smith's academic background. I bought the book because I just had to have it in my collection. If it were a fictional book written today, it would probably be a best seller.
orfan
Apr 5, 2007
but only mostly
One of the first foresnic memoirs, and still one of the best (and I've read my share). Smith's life and travels are utterly fascinating - born in New Zealand, schooled in the UK, worked for a while in Egypt, travelled to Sri Lanka among other places. Also, in case you ever wondered who invinted comparative ballistics - comparing striations (lines) on fired bullets, it was Sydney Smith. I could not put this down, and I had dinner plans...
