
1962 Midwood paperback original


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.”

cover art by James Avati
first film adaptation in 1947

second in 2021


1963 Regency paperback original
adapted into the 1990 neo-noir with John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Pat Hingle, and Annette Benning
directed by Stephen Frears
Donald E. Westlake won the Academy Award for adapted screenplay

cover art by Frank Frollo