Red Harvest
Knopf, 1929.
First edition. Original red cloth decorated in yellow and black in rare first issue pictorial dustwrapper, with the plot summary to the rear panel. A fine copy in a fine dustwrapper, which is crisp and vibrant with just the most trivial wear to the head of the spine and a couple of short closed tears. An exceptional copy.
The author's landmark first book, with the earliest issue of the dust jacket with the plot summary on the rear panel. The earliest issue is so rare that Richard Layman describes only a later issue with reviews from The Bookman, The Outlook, and The Chicago Post.
Red Harvest, which was originally published in four issues of Black Mask from November 1927 to February 1928, is acclaimed as the foundational text in the hardboiled detective genre, giving a darker cynical twist to the classic great detective figure exemplified by Sherlock Holmes. Drawing from his personal experiences as an operative with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, Hammett portrayed a seedy, violent milieu inhabited by gangsters, corrupt cops, and flawed detectives hired to clean up the place. André Gide called Red Harvest "a remarkable achievement, the last word in atrocity, cynicism, and horror."
Stock ID: 41791
£97,500.00
