George Geygan (American, 20th Century)
Dig Me A Grave by John Spain (Bantam, 1951)
Oil on canvas, 22 x 15-1/2 inches (55.9 x 39.4 cm)
Signed lower right: geygan
pseudonym of Cleve F. Adams
1942 Dutton hardcover
first book published under this pen name
1st of two with private eye Bill Rye
1971 Knopf hardcover, first edition – cover design by Hal Seigel (owner’s copy)
London: Collins Crime Club, 1971. First UK Edition. The 16th novel in the Lew Archer series.
1979 Bantam reissue – cover art by Mitchell Hooks
1992 Warner reissue – cover art by Gary Kelley
1996 Vintage/Black Lizard reissue
Australian 2012 Penguin reissue
Australian 2024 Penguin reissue
[post updated 8/20/26]
cover art by Barye Phillips
better image than previously posted
1958 Bestseller Library edition
cover art by Edgar Hodges
1938 Heinemann hardcover in the UK, published in the US that same year by Viking. this the later Bantam softcover
murder of a stool pigeon by a penny-ante race track gang lead by a malicious teenage boy.
better image than previously posted
THE FIRST LEW ARCHER
1949 Knopf hardcover – cover illustration by Bill English
first in the long-running and deservedly respected Lew Archer series by Kenneth Millar, aka Ross Macdonald. After using his father’s name as the pen name for this novel, he was forced by John D. MacDonald to alter it for future novels, and Ross Macdonald was born.
March 1950 Pocket paperback, first printing
cover painting by Harvey Kidder
British 1951 Cassell hardcover
1954 Pan reissue – cover by Sax
better image than previously posted
1959 Pocket reissue, third printing – cover art by Jerry Allison (owner’s copy)
1966 Fontana movie tie-in edition
1977 Bantam reissue – cover art by Mitchell Hooks
1984 Bantam reissue – cover art by James Marsh
1998 Vintage/Black Lizard reissue
1990 Warner edition – cover art by Gary Kelley (owner’s copy)
[updated 9/6/25, 8/27/26]
