1930 Longman, Green hardcover – cover art by Edna Reindel

Burnett, W[illiam] R[iley]. IRON MAN. New York: Lincoln Mac Veagh The Dial Press … Toronto: Longman, Green & Co., 1930. Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-2] 3-312, original blue cloth, spine panel stamped in gold, publisher’s monogram stamped in blind on front panel, top edge stained red, other edges rough trimmed. First edition. Burnett’s second novel, preceded by his well-received gangster novel, LITTLE CAESAR (1929). The story of a mechanic’s helper who becomes a prize fighter and finally middleweight champion. Hanna 527. A fine copy in fine pictorial dust jacket (with art deco illustration by Edna Reindel) with light wear at upper spine end and corner tips and tiny, narrow chip at lower spine end.

1949 Avon reissue

better image than previously posted

a non-mystery, it was his second novel, published the year after Little Caesar

[post updated with paperback 9/27/25]

6 x Give ‘Em the Ax


1944 Morrow hardcover

9th with private eye team Bertha Cool and Donald Lam

1950 Dell mapback

August 1950 issue ~ cover art by Rudolph Belarski

published in 1951 by Heinemann in London as An Axe to Grind. this the 1960 Australian edition by Horowitz

1958 Dell reissue

1962 Dell reissue

cover art by Harry Bennett

better image than previously posted

The Golden Spiders x 6

1953 Viking hardcover

22nd Nero Wolfe book

1955 Bantam reissue

cover art by Barye Phillips

better image than previously posted

1964 Bantam reissue

1964 UK edition from Fontana

cover art by Renato Fratini

1972 French edition

1989 Bantam reissue

4 x The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink

April 1952 Morrow hardcover

41st Perry Mason novel

1957 Pocket reissue

cover photo of Ellen Burstyn by Silver Studios

1961 Great Pan edition from the UK – cover art by Sam Peffer

November 1962 Pocket reissue, 5th printing

cover art Robert McGinnis

better image than previously posted

Headed for a Hearse x 8

1936 Double Day hardcover

A Crime Club selection

3rd with drunken private eye Bill Crane from 1936

1950 Century paperback

  • – cover art by Duur

1956 Jonathan Press digest, #84

cover art by ED Emshwiller

1960 Great Pan reissue

better image than previously posted

1964 McFadden paperback reissue

better image than previously posted

1990 International Polygonics – cover by Jennifer Place

2022 American Mystery Classics

The Bride Wore Black x 11

WOOLRICH, Cornell (1903-68). The Bride wore Black. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1940.

8o. Original cloth (slight lean); pictorial dust jacket by Charles Coleman (price-clipped, tiny chip to back panel, slight rubbing to joints and folds). Provenance: Nina Kelly Bruce (bookplate, signatures on front and back endpapers).

FIRST EDITION of Woolrich’s first mystery and a landmark of noir. “There are no suspects, no clues, yet the reader is tensely aware of mystery. There is only the woman, her victims, and the relentless drama of her life–a pale shadow that comes gradually into focus and is seen at last in brilliant outline” (dust jacket). The basis for François Truffaut’s film starring Jeanne Moreau. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.

1941 Philadelphia Enquirer Newspaper Supplement

better image than previously posted

Summer 1941 issue – cover art by Wilson Scruggs

better image than previously posted

1945 Pocket reprint

cover art by H. Lawrence Hoffman

better image than previously posted

1952 Winter issue – cover art by George Gross

1953 Pyramid reissue with new title

1957 Dell reissue

1958 Dutch edition from Kroonder,Bussum

better image than previously posted

1968 Ace reissue

1984 Ballantine reissue

cover art by Laurence Schwinger

2021 American Mystery Classics trade paperback

Black Alibi x 8

July/August 1939 issue

included Cornell Woolrich’s “Street of Jungle Death”, the basis for his classic novel Black Alibi

1942 Simon & Schuster hardcover, an Inner Sanctum mystery

his 3rd novel as by Woolrich

better image than previously posted

1943 Handi-Book digest

1943 RKO adaptation

1946 American Mercury/Jonathan Press digest – cover art by George Salter

(previous owner’s intrusive signature on cover)

1956 Mercury digest – cover art by George Salter

1965 Collier Mystery reissue – cover accredited to Dick Cuffari

1982 Ballantine reissue – cover art by Laurence Schwinger

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

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.