1936 Doubleday hardcover

First American Edition of THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1936), preceding the British edition by one month).

A masterpiece of genre fiction, basis for the 1942 film noir starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and Laird Cregar. The film was Ladd’s first appearance on the big screen, and the only time he ever played a villain. He became famous as a result of the film’s success, and would go on to be cast along-side Veronica Lake in ‘The Glass Key’ and ‘The Blue Dahlia.’ Copies in dustjacket are quite scarce, this being the only jacketed copy of the American edition we’ve seen offered in the trade since 2009.

September 27, 2013

Nightmare Alley x 4

Nightmare Alley. William Lindsay Gresham. New York: Rinehart and Company, Inc. 1946. First edition. Original dust jacket; art by A. F. Arnold.

Scarce macabre carnival themed thriller. “Loneliness came over him, like an avalanche of snow. He was alone. Where he had always wanted to be. You can only trust yourself. There’s a rat buried deep in everybody and they’ll rat on you if they get pushed far enough.”

1949 Signet reissue

cover art by James Avati

first film adaptation in 1947

second in 2021

Brass Cupcake x 3

John D. MacDonald’s first novel

1950 Gold Medal paperback original

cover art by Barye Phillips

better image than previously posted

1960 Gold Medal reissue

cover art by Barye Phillips

1974 UK hardcover from Robert Hale

Homicide for Hannah x 4

1941 Knopf hardcover, 1945 Avon reissue

cover art by Paul Stahr

published by Hale in the UK as Murder for Hannah

better image than previously posted

1951 Avon reissue

1943 Avon Murder Mystery Monthly digest

cover art by William Frost (William Forrest)

1941 Knopf hardcover, first edition

The second appearance of the character Hanna Van Doren, considered the first female hard-boiled detective in American literature.”