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HIGH SIERRA - ADVANCE COPY
by Burnett, W.R
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Stephenson, Virginia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. First Edition. Scarce advance copy of one of Burnett's best-known novels, the story of a hardened criminal just out of prison, a heist gone bad, and a stand-off with police high in the snow-capped Sierra's. Basis for two superb adaptations: the 1941 film noir directed by Raoul Walsh, with a screenplay co-written by Burnett and John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino, and the 1955 Stuart Heisler film starring Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Lon Chaney and Shelley Winters. Advance copies produced by Knopf from this period were poorly made and extremely fragile, with the wrappers prone to separation; the present example is well-preserved, the best of the two we've seen for this title. The Dark Page, Vol.1, p.38; Vol.2, p.22; Hubin, p.58. Octavo (19.25cm); yellow wrappers, with titling, publisher's synopsis and date of publication printed in navy blue on front wrapper; 292pp, [2]. "SAMPLE COPY - NOT FOR SALE" faintly rubber-stamped to top edge of text (presumed by publisher); light toning and wear to spine and extremities, faint, scattered foxing to wrappers and text edges, with a small diagonal crease to lower right corner of front wrapper; binding is sound, with text clean throughout - Very Good+.
Synopsis
The tormented and exhausted man at the center of W.R. Burnett's High Sierra is a notorious criminal whom the newspapers call "Mad Dog" Roy Earle. Earle is every bit the criminal the newspapers depict, but he is a complicated soul who is the tragic hero of the novel -- a horribly flawed man, a violent criminal who still retains a bit of a conscience but never gets a decent break.As in most of Burnett's novels, High Sierra ostensibly describes a carefully plotted crime that is undermined by human nature. More interesting and important, perhaps, is its study of Roy Earle, who hardly seems the "Mad Dog" he is made out to be in the press. Pardoned from prison, he idealizes his childhood as he wearily makes his way across the California desert to meet up with two hoods named Red and Babe. Earle is dismayed to find they have with them a tough and brazen woman named Marie, though he begins to warm to her crude charm. He has been moved by the plight of a physically impaired woman he meets, Velma Goodhue, and he resolves to help her -- imagining, somehow, that she will be his. After a holdup he plans with Red, Babe and Marie (who has now fallen in love with him), Earle takes money to Velma for an operation to repair her clubfoot. But the holdup has disastrous results. Red and Babe are killed, and Roy goes on the lam with Marie. They have nowhere to turn and even Velma deserts him. Earle sends Marie away, to meet him eventually in a mountain pass in the High Sierras -- a rendezvous high in the sky that will not take place as planned.Much happens plotwise in High Sierra but it is Roy Earle who holds our interest. As remorseless as the book is -- the concluding chapter consists a few lacerating paragraphs of post-mortem chitchat from the police -- it makes Earle a rich and deeply compelling man, without sentimentalizing him at all. Reading High Sierra is close to the experience of reading James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, a tough, bleak and unforgiving narrative that works a dark and elusive magic.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Captain Ahab's Rare Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1647
- Title
- HIGH SIERRA - ADVANCE COPY
- Author
- Burnett, W.R
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1940
- Keywords
- NOAMZ
Terms of Sale
Captain Ahab's Rare Books
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.
About the Seller
Captain Ahab's Rare Books
Biblio member since 2010
Stephenson, Virginia
About Captain Ahab's Rare Books
Founded in 2010, Captain Ahab's Rare Books specializes in first editions of literature, genre fiction, film-related books and ephemera, zines, manuscript and archival material.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- 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...
- 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....
- 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...
- Wrappers
- The paper covering on the outside of a paperback. Also see the entry for pictorial wraps, color illustrated coverings for...
- Good+
- A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.
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