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THE MALTESE FALCON
by Hammett, Dashiell
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Rockville, Maryland, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Octavo, 267 pages. In Good plus condition, and lacking issued dust jacket. Bound in gray cloth with black and blue decoration, with white lettering. Moderate shelf wear. Soiling to covers and spine. Fraying to cloth around edges. Flaps from previous jacket glued to pastedowns, and back panel of jacket glued to front free endpaper. Age toning and scattered soiling throughout text block. Some separation of text block from spine, visible on verso of front free endpaper with webbing exposed. Shelved in Case 6. 1372796. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.
Synopsis
The Maltese Falcon , author Dashiell Hammett’s third novel, set the standard by which all subsequent detective fiction would be judged. Set in San Francisco in the late 1920s, the novel introduces us to private detective Sam Spade, who characterizes the archetype of the hard-boiled detective in his dead-pan pursuit of the recovery of a black figurine. Having worked for a time for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in San Francisco, Hammett reportedly drew upon his years as a detective in creating Spade and many of the other characters for The Maltese Falcon . The Maltese Falcon was originally serialized in HL Mencken’s “pulp” magazine, Black Mask, beginning with the September 1929 issue. For publication of the book form, editor Blanche Knopf tried to tone down the overt sexuality of the magazine version, fearing the references would alienate readers, but Hammett prevailed. However, the 1941 film adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor (the best known of the novel’s three film versions) excised the homosexual subtext of the novel due to Production Code restraints. Today, the movie is considered a film noir classic and the novel is ranked 56th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century as well as 54th on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best novels. -
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Details
- Bookseller
- Second Story Books, ABAA
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1372796
- Title
- THE MALTESE FALCON
- Author
- Hammett, Dashiell
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, First Printing
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1930
- Keywords
- American Literature
Terms of Sale
Second Story Books, ABAA
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged. Trade discounts only on items not identified on inventory with special discounts
International customers are responsible for all Duties/Taxes/VATs/etc. For domestic orders, anything valued $300 or more will be shipped signature required. Returns/Refunds will be handled per Biblio's return policy. Please contact us directly, via email, before sending anything back so that we can make the necessary arrangements. Refunds occur when the book is received and the errors/issues/damages have been confirmed.
About the Seller
Second Story Books, ABAA
Biblio member since 2010
Rockville, Maryland
About Second Story Books, ABAA
DC's Oldest Rare and Used Bookstore, Second Story Books operates two open shops in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. We have a large internet presence including this website, Amazon, and Ebay, accredited appraisals member ASA, and an in house book binder. For more information go to www.secondstorybooks.com
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Flap(s)
- The portion of a book cover or cover jacket that folds into the book from front to back. The flap can contain biographical...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Verso
- The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
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