james avati – SMB Noir

Dewey and Miller

1944 Jefferson House hardcover – see Signet reissue below

1948 Farrar Straus hardcover – cover art by Bill English

3rd with PI Max Thursday

1949 Sampson Low hardcover from the UK – cover art by Tansley

1949 Signet reissue – cover art by James Avani

1950 Signet reissue

1955 reissue

Gouache on board, 17-1/2 x 22 inches (44.5 x 55.9 cm)
Not signed

– white lines show where the original work was re-touched for the new cover –

1957 Phantom edition from Australia

1963 Signet reissue

1993 Perennial reissue

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.”