Day: August 1, 2025

1931 Stokes hardcover, advanced reader copy

RUNYON, Damon (1880-1946). Guys and Dolls. Introduction by Heywoud Broun. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1931.

8o. Original pictorial wrappers of the dust jacket by Arthur Hawkins (some light soiling to back cover, corner of front flap clipped); cloth folding case.

ADVANCED COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, with ink stamp “Pub’n Date Aug 20 1931” on front blank. “The great modern interpreter of The Main Stem [Broadway]… leavened his tales of passion and violence with a unique type of humor which can only be described as New York Runyonese” (Queen’s Quorum). Runyon was the archetypal tough, cynical reporter who mingled with the underworld. Queen’s Quorum 84.

christies.com

November 1943 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

November 1943 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

T.T. Flynn, “Weather Fair – – Track Bloody (Mr. Maddox)

D.L. Champion, “Aaron Had a Rod” (Inspector Allhoff)

H.H. Stinson, “Keep ‘Em Dying”

Day Keene, “A Great Whirring of Wings”

Julius Long, “The Dead Don’t Tell”

November 1927 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

November 1927 issue

better image than previously posted

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Tom Curry, “The Raiders”, 11th of 23 with Macnamara (Mac), NYPD 1st grade dick, 18th of 39 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “The Wax Wagon”, 17th of 73 Ed Jenkins stories, with Helen Chadwick & Soo Hoo Duck, 27th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Cleansing of Poisonville”, 1st of 4 Continental Op stories that will go together to make up Red Harvest (published 1929), 26th of 45 stories in BM

~ Nels Leroy Jorgensen, “Get Burton”, 8th of 32 with Stuart “Black” Burton, ‘square-shooting gambler from the Southwest, often entangled with the law’, 10th of 39 stories in BM

~ Raymond Emery Lawrence, “Riker Accomodates” [spelling in Hagemann], ‘aviator’, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ John W. McCardell, “The Return of Gun Eagen”, ‘Western’, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “With Benefit of Law”, ’boxing & crooks’, reprinted in Street Wolf (Altus Press, 2014), 9 of 67 stories in BM

~ Everett H. Tipton, “One Bad Man”, ‘Western’, 1st of 7 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “Red Pearls”, ‘police dick, Lou Kyle’, 16th of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

1941 Knopf hardcover

Babcock, Dwight V. THE GORGEOUS GHOUL. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941. Octavo, cloth. First edition. The second of Babcock’s three mystery novels, all of which featured crime journalist Hannah Van Doren. Babcock was a prolific contributor to the pulps, especially BLACK MASK, and later a Hollywood script writer. A fine copy in very good dust jacket with light wear to corners and spine ends and some age-darkening to spine panel and along flap folds.

1940 Robert Hale hardcover

Daly, Carroll John. BETTER CORPSES: A RACE WILLIAMS STORY. London: Robert Hale Limited, [1940]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 7-286 [287-288: blank], publisher’s black cloth stamped in red and silver. First edition. “When better corpses are made, Race Williams will make them” (p. 186). The last Race Williams book, a fix-up novel incorporating the three-part Morse story arc that first appeared in DIME DETECTIVE in 1935 and 1936 featuring Daly’s violent tough-guy detective, Race Williams, who “never bumped off a guy what didn’t need it” and the Flame (The Girl with the Criminal Mind), “a woman of good — a woman of evil. Take your choice.” Carroll John Daly (1889-1958), one of the fathers of the modern hard-boiled private eye and an important BLACK MASK writer, “is not known for literary niceties — his style can best be described as crude but effective … Characterization is minimal and action is everything” (Crider and Pronzini). Race Williams was Daly’s most successful creation, appearing in about 70 stories and eight novels. Lee Server (Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers, 2014) has called Race Williams “the single most popular private eye in the history of the pulps.” Cloth worn and scuffed, slight spine lean, half title leaf and final blank tanned, a sound, good copy in a pictorial 8/3 dust jacket with touch of wear at edges, mainly lower spine end, and mild tanning to spine panel and along rear flap fold. Stunning jacket. From the library of a well-known mystery writer with his library stamp on the front paste-down. Rare. There is no equivalent U.S. edition.

1929 Jonathan Cape hardcover

Burnett, W[illiam] R[iley]. LITTLE CAESAR. London: Jonathan Cape, [1929]. Octavo, pp. [1-6] 7-283 [284: blank] 285-288: glossary, publisher’s red cloth, spine panel stamped in gold, rear panel stamped in blind with publisher’s symbol. First British edition. Classic crime novel that chronicles the rise and fall of a Chicago gangster. Made into a memorable feature film (1930) starring Edward G. Robinson. Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado’s Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 101-102. A review copy sent to the DAILY HERALD, with publisher’s review slip laid in and a clipping of the review affixed to the front paste-down. The reviewer’s copy, with “A.L.B.,” in ink at the upper fore-edge corner of the front free end paper dated 29.6.29. Inked name on the front free end paper. Spine age-darkened, a very good copy in good dust jacket illustrated by Lee Elliott with overall toning to the white background, light abrasions to lower front panel and spine panel, vertical crease to the rear panel, abrasion with loss along rear flap fold. A presentable copy of the scarce UK edition. From the library of a well-known mystery writer with his library stamp on the front paste-down.