Playback x 24

1958 Hamish Hamilton, true 1st edition

1958 Houghton Mifflin hardcover

1959 Danish edition

1959 Brazilian edition in Portuguese

1960 Cardinal reissue – cover art by William Rose

better image than previously posted

1961 British edition

1961 Finnish edition

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

1968 German edition

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 French edition

1979 Pan/Macmillan reissue – cover photo by Peter Williams

1986 French edition

late 8os UK Penguin reissue

1988 French translation

1988 Vintage reissue

1990 Finnish edition

1998 Catalan edition

1999 French edition

1999 Scandinavian edition (unsure of country)

2002 Spanish edition

2004 French graphic novel edition

2011 Penguin UK reissue

[updated 3/8/26]

June 1924 issue ~ cover art by H.C. Murphy

June 1924 issue

cover art by H.C. Murphy

~ Russell Arden Bankson, “Underground”, ‘The detective-sheriff of the Kaniksu country’, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Madeline Bartlett, “The Mutilated Masterpiece”, 2nd of 2 stories in BM

~ Frank L. Benscoter, “Gilligan and Co”, ‘Introducing a new character’, 1st of 5 stories in BM

~ Carroll John Daly, “The Red Peril”, 3rd of 53 with Race Williams, reprinted in Them That Lives By Their Guns: The Collected Hard-Boiled Stories of Race Williams, Vol. 1 (Altus Press, 2015) 11th of 71 appearances in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “A Fair Trial”, ‘pub. anonymously; authorship established in Hughes, Gardner, (1978), p. 312’, 1st of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Girl with the Silver Eyes”, the Op [10th of 25], referred to in BM as ‘Hammett’s San Francisco Detective’, sequel to “The House in Turk Street” (4/15/1924), issue also includes letter about the story, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps (Vintage, 2007), reprinted in The Big Book of the Continental Op (Vintage, 2017), in The Girl with the Silver Eyes: The Complete Black Mask Cases of the Continental Op, vol.2 (Steeger, 2023),17th of 51 stories in BM

~ Frank Howard, Jr., “The Vernacular at the Night Court”, ‘No data’ [no explanation as to what that means], author’s only appearance in BM

~ Victor Shea, “Mr. Pentridge Comes Down to Breakfast”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Charles Somerville, “The Lively Corpse”, 30th of 49 articles in the ‘Manhunter’ series, 31st of 49 total articles in BM

~ Joe Taylor, “Monty’s Last Job”, last of 12 tales in ‘My Underworld’ series, last of 13 appearances in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[terrible cover but first I’ve seen since starting this project in 2013]

[cover updated 2/16/26]

May 1949 issue

May 1949 issue

cover art attributed to both Norman Saunders and Peter Stevens

~ Ed Barcelo, “Suicidal Slay Ride”, author’s only appearance in BM

~ Bruno Fischer, “Five O’Clock Menace”, ‘1st-person narrator in barber’s chair, reprinted, The Hard-Boiled Detective (1977)’, 4th of 5 stories in BM

~ John P. Foran, “Copper, Come Back to Me”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ John D. MacDonald, “Murder in One Syllable”, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 4th of 6 stories in BM

~ Robert Martin, “Death’s Glass Slipper”, 2nd of 6 stories with ‘Dr. Clint Colby, medical detective’, 4th of 8 stories in BM

~ Marian O’Hearn, “Diary of a Deadly Dame”, 1st of 2 stories in BM

~ Fergus Truslow, “Pardon My Poison Platters”, ‘the record business’, last of 6 stories in BM

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[updated 3/1/26]

January 1932 issue ~ cover art by Delos Palmer

January 1932 – debut issue of only 7 published – one of the rarest of collectable pulps

cover art by Delos Palmer

better image than previously posted

[cover updated 2/11/26]

September 1948 issue ~ cover art by Albert Drake

September 1948 issue

cover art by Albert Drake

Frederick C. Davis, “Man About Murder”

T.T. Flynn, “I’ll Bet Your Life!” (Mr. Maddox)

Robert Martin, “Doctor of Doom”

Richard Dermody, “Cupid for Cash” (Doc Pierce)

Dean Evans, “Dreams Get Blasted, Too”

Russell Branch, “A Corpse Had Cold Feet”

[updated 5/12/25]

January 1942 issue ~ cover art by Rafael DeSoto

January 1942 issue

cover art by Rafael DeSoto

better image than previously posted

Stewart Sterling, “Bull-Market for the Dying”

Francis K. Allan, “Am I the Corpse’s Keeper?“

William R. Cox, “Beware the Black Queen”  (Tom Kincaid)

Wayne Rogers, “Murder Town”

Dane Gregory, “All at Once—No Wednesday!“

Russell Gray, “Death Hitch-Hikes South”

[cover updated 2/3/26]