And Then There Were None

This article is about the novel. For other uses, see And Then There Were None (disambiguation).

And Then There Were None
Cover of first US 1940 edition with current title for all English-language versions
AuthorAgatha Christie
Original titleTen Little Niggers
LanguageEnglish
Genre
PublisherCollins Crime Club
Publication date
6 November 1939
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages272[1]
Preceded byMurder Is Easy 
Followed bySad Cypress 
WebsiteAnd Then There Were None

And Then There Were None is a mystery novel by the English writer Agatha Christie, who described it as the most difficult of her books to write.[2] It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939, as Ten Little Niggers,[3] after an 1869 minstrel song that serves as a major plot element.[4][5] The US edition was released in January 1940 with the title And Then There Were None, taken from the last five words of the song.[6] Successive American reprints and adaptations use that title, though American Pocket Books paperbacks used the title Ten Little Indians between 1964 and 1986. UK editions continued to use the original title until 1985.[7]

The book is the world's best-selling mystery, and with over 100 million copies sold is one of the best-selling books of all time. The novel has been listed as the sixth best-selling title (any language, including reference works).[8]

  1. ^ "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ChristieLimited was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Review of Ten Little Niggers". The Observer. 5 November 1939. p. 6.
  4. ^ Peers, Chris; Spurrier, Ralph; Sturgeon, Jamie (1999). Collins Crime Club: a checklist of the first editions (2nd ed.). London, UK: Dragonby Press. p. 15. ISBN 1-871122-13-9.
  5. ^ Pendergast, Bruce (2004). Everyman's Guide to the Mysteries of Agatha Christie. Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford Publishing. p. 393. ISBN 1-4120-2304-1.
  6. ^ "American Tribute to Agatha Christie: The Classic Years 1940–1944". J S Marcum. May 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference BNB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Davies, Helen; Dorfman, Marjorie; Fons, Mary; Hawkins, Deborah; Hintz, Martin; Lundgren, Linnea; Priess, David; Clark Robinson, Julia; Seaburn, Paul; Stevens, Heidi; Theunissen, Steve (14 September 2007). "21 Best-Selling Books of All Time". Editors of Publications International, Ltd. Archived from the original on 7 April 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2009.