
Category: finest kind
March 1939 issue
September 9, 1933 issue ~ cover art by C. Calvert

September 9, 1933
cover art by C. Calvert (C.C. Beall)
Playback x 24

1958 Hamish Hamilton, true 1st edition

1958 Houghton Mifflin hardcover


1959 Brazilian edition in Portuguese

1960 Cardinal reissue – cover art by William Rose
better image than previously posted




1961 Australian edition from Horwitz – cover art by Theo Batten

1965 British edition – cover design by Alan Spain

1968 Pyramid reissue – cover art by Joseph Lombardero



1975 Penguin edition – cover design by James Tormey

1977 Ballantine reissue, 1st print (owner’s copy) – cover art by Richard Waldrep

later 1977 Ballantine reissue – cover art by Richard Waldrep


1979 Pan/Macmillan reissue – cover photo by Peter Williams


late 8os UK Penguin reissue






1999 Scandinavian edition (unsure of country)


2004 French graphic novel edition

[updated 3/8/26]
The Big Sleep x 27

1939 Knopf advanced reading copy


1939 Hammish Hamilton UK hardcover

1942 Avon digest, Murder Mystery Monthly No.7, first softcover release of this American classic/ cover art by William Frost

1943 Avon paperback – cover art by Paul Stahr

1945 Knopf hardcover reissue – inscribed to director John Houseman



1948 Pocket reissue – cover art by Darcy (Ernest Chiriacka)
better image than previously posted

1950 Pocket reissue, 3rd print – cover art by Harvey Kidder (owner’s copy)


1962 Penguin UK reissue – cover art by John Sewell
better image than previously posted


1971 Penguin UK reissue – cover designed by James Tormey

1973 Ballantine reissue – cover art by Tom Adams (owner’s copy)

1976 Ballantine reissue – cover art by Richard Amsel

watercolor cover art by Richard Waldrep, 13.75″ x 9.50″

1976 Vintage reissue (owner’s copy)

1976 Vintage trace paperback reissue

1979 Pan Macmillan reissue – cover photo by Peter Williams






2009 Hammish Hamilton hardcover



⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎
note ~ there are many, many more covers for this book, both in English and foreign languages… but I had to stop somewhere
October 1935 issue ~ cover art by Wynne W. Davies
1978, The Eiger Sanction
1946 Columbia Pictures

Gilda (Columbia, 1946). Fine+ on Linen. Six Sheet (78.5″ X 80.25″).
August 1, 1923 issue

cover art by Jules Erbit?
better image than previously posted
~ John Baer, “A Wholesaler in Crime”, ‘compete mystery novelette’, his last of 24 stories in BM
~ Edwin Baird, “This Way Out”, short-short, 1st of 3 stories in BM
~ Peter Chance, “The Scarlet Scalpel”, only appearance in BM
~ Ray(mond King) Cummings, “T. McGuirk – Detective”, ‘5th of 14 McGuirk stories, billed as “the quaintest character in the Underworld” & honest, more of less’, 5th of 15 stories in BM
~ Arthur Fetter, “The Treachery of Spike McGuire”, ‘A Queer Glimpse of the Underworld’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Henry W. Fisher, “Odd Bits”, ‘short-lived feature; not indexed past this point’
~ Geoffrey Foster, “Bedlam”, ‘short-short’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ Kenneth Fuessle, “Superstition”, ‘Adventure in Weird Surroundings’, author’s only appearance in BM
~ K. Godwin, “Conscience”, ‘Billed as BM’s “first one-act play”’, author’s sole appearance in BM
~ Robert Lee Heiser, “The World’s Greatest Mystery”, ‘true account of the murder of Clare Stone, a child, in Baltimore; would occupy readers for some time; not indexed beyond this point’
~ William Rollins, Jr., “A Song of India”, ‘billed as an ‘Oriental adventure in a small town’, 3rd of 23 stories in BM
~ Charles Somerville, “The Camp Dix Mystery”, 12th of 47 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 13th of 49 total articles in BM
~ Merlin Moore Taylor, “One of Five”, part 1 of 2, 2nd of 8 appearances in BM
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