1st Edition 1st state 1860. The Woman in White is the novel for which Collins is best known. A Haycraft-Queen mystery fiction cornerstone, and one of the great Victorian novels in any genre, The Woman in White established Collins's hold as "practically the first English novelist who dealt with the detection of crime"It is also one of the earliest and most influential examples of modern detective fiction, with the sleuth, Walter Hartright, employing many of the techniques used by Sherlock Holmes and subsequent fictional detectives. Listed at no. 23 by The Observer in 2003, amongst "the top 100 greatest novels of all time". Complies with all the requirements for the 1st edition 1st state. Includes the original cloth boards and spines. Originally part of a Victorian circulating library with label remains to the boards. Overall the books have had extensive restoration work to pages and binding. They are now a stable readable set of this rare triple decker. In August 1860, Collins asserted that 'the whole of the first impression sold out on the day of publication. It subsequently went into seven editions of the triple decker before the one volume edition was printed in 1861. Books are about fair to good. Books have been re cased retaining the original boards, spine and endpapers. Contents fair to average. Pages are complete with usage marks, extensive repairs to some page edges, loss to edges on a few pages but complete text. Not a perfect set but very very collectible.