COLLINS WILKIE: (1824-1889) English novelist and playwright whose work The Moonstone (1868) is widely considered as the first modern detective novel. A good A.Q.S., Wilkie Collins, one page, 8vo, Gloucester Place, Portman Square, London, 17th February 1883, on his personal printed monogrammed stationery. Collins has penned a seven-line quotation which he identifies as being from The Woman in White, in full, 'Women can resist a man's love, a man's fame, a man's personal appearance, and a man's money; but they cannot resist a man's tongue when he knows how to talk to them'. Rare in this form. Very slightly irregularly trimmed to the upper edge and with a few signs of previous tears (professionally restored to a very high standard and now only very slightly affecting a few words of text) and with some minor traces of former mounting to the verso. G The mystery novel The Woman in White (1859-60) was Collins's fifth published work and can be seen as an early example of detective fiction with the protagonist, Walter Hartright, employing many of the sleuthing techniques of later private detectives.