First American edition of Raymond Chandler’s fifth Philip Marlowe detective novel, concerning a case of blackmail involving a Hollywood starlet and a Cleveland/LA hoodlum. Published in 1949 by Houghton Mifflin. 8vo, 249 pages, in publisher’s orange cloth with blue titles. With original pictorial dust jacket. Jacket art by surrealist Russian/American illustrator Boris Artzybasheff. Slight lean to spine. Damp staining to spine and rear cover of dj (more visible on verso), affecting cloth spine, rear board and fly leaves only. Creasing to lightly rubbed and edge-chipped dj, with a few open and closed tears, especially at spine ends. Front cover detached, full dj preserved in mylar cover. Content clean and bright.
First American edition of Raymond Chandler’s fifth Philip Marlowe detective novel, concerning a case of blackmail involving a Hollywood starlet and a Cleveland/LA hoodlum. Published in 1949 by Houghton Mifflin. 8vo, 249 pages, in publisher’s orange cloth with blue titles. With original pictorial dust jacket. Jacket art by surrealist Russian/American illustrator Boris Artzybasheff. Slight lean to spine. Damp staining to spine and rear cover of dj (more visible on verso), affecting cloth spine, rear board and fly leaves only. Creasing to lightly rubbed and edge-chipped dj, with a few open and closed tears, especially at spine ends. Front cover detached, full dj preserved in mylar cover. Content clean and bright.
