The Big Sleep x 27

1939 Knopf advanced reading copy

1939 Knopf hardcover

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

1946 World Press movie tie-in

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)

1952 Penguin UK reissue

1962 Penguin UK reissue – cover art by John Sewell

better image than previously posted

1966 Penguin reissue

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

1988 Vintage reissue

1988 Vintage reissue

1988 Knopf reissue

2000 Penguin UK reissue

2005 Penguin UK reissue

2009 Hammish Hamilton hardcover

2011 Penguin UK reissue

2014 Penguin UK reissue

2022 Vintage reissue

⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎⚙︎

note ~ there are many, many more covers for this book, both in English and foreign languages… but I had to stop somewhere

1944 Avon digest

1945 Avon digest reissue, 2nd edition

Gathers “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot,” “Goldfish,” “Guns at Cyrano’s” “Nevada Gas” and “Spanish Blood,” five mystery stories first published in Black Mask Magazine

better image than previously posted

1st printing, Feb. 3, 1944

Five Sinister Characters x 2

1945 Avon Murder Mystery Monthly digest

cover art by Paul Stahr

Avon Book Company, [1946]. Small octavo, pictorial wrappers. Second paperback edition. Avon #88. Published earlier by Avon in 1945 as part of their “Murder Mystery Monthly” series. Collects five stories; “I’ll Be Waiting,” “The King in Yellow,” “Pearls Are a Nuisance,” ” Red Wind,” and “Trouble is My Business.” Light crease to front cover, light stress creases to spine, a near fine copy.

Jealous Woman x 3

1950 Avon Monthly Novel digest original – first appearance

cover art by Mike Doyle

1951 Avon paperback – first mass market

cover art attributed to Barye Phillips

better image than previously posted

1959 UK Ace release

cover art by John Vernon

better image than previously posted

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.”

December 1951 issue ~ cover art by Ann Cantor

December 1951

cover art by Ann Cantor

Art taken from paperback Murder Mystery Monthly #47 (1949), titled “The Blonde, The Gangster and the Private Eye” by Dale Clark.

pseudonym of Ronal Kayser

1946 Messner hardcover as The Red Rods

1949 Avon release with new title