Category: hardcover

As nice as it gets: First American Edition of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1934), by James M. Cain.  In the iconic (and unrestored) dustjacket designed by Arthur Hawkins. 

A stunning copy of Cain’s first novel, a hard-boiled tale of love, murder, and betrayal that anticipated the trend of existentialism in fiction. While writing the novel, Cain was in dire straits financially, living with a friend and struggling to get the manuscript sold. Knopf refused to give him an advance for the novel, namely because his previous book, ‘Our Government,’ only made the publisher $250, selling something close to a few hundred copies. Cain had originally titled his novel Bar-B-Que – a title Alfred Knopf disliked nearly as much as the novel’s “rough, impromptu style.” After some persuasion, and chiefly because of his personal regard for Cain, Knopf decided to published the novel after Cain came up with a different title. In a letter to his second wife, Cain wrote “If I sell a couple of thousand copies, get my name in the papers, and pick up a little money, we’ll be all to the good and I’ll try to think up another one.”

The outcome, of course, was a furor the likes of which had yet to be seen in American publishing. Postman was an instant success, “probably the first of the big commercial books in American publishing,” becoming a best-seller in hardcover, paperback (1935), gaining syndication rights and developed into a highly successful play. Basis for the classic 1946 film noir starring John Garfield and Lana Turner, and a 1981 remake starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange.