High Sierra
by Burnett, W. R
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Fine (Facsimilie Dust jacket)
- Seller
-
SANTA BARBARA, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1940. First edition stated. Burnt orange boards have two lightly bumped tips, slight cock to spine. Spine ends just starting to fray a little bit. Bookplate on front pastedown as well as gift insription dated 1941. Textblock still pretty tight and no other markings or color fading. Dust jacket is a professionally done facsimilie of the first edition jacket and is bright and fresh and protected by mylar. Basis for film which catapulted Humphrey Bogart to fame. . First American Edition. Cloth. Very Good/Fine (Facsimilie Dust jacket). 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
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
- Timothy Norlen Bookseller
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 008112
- Title
- High Sierra
- Author
- Burnett, W. R
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Fine (Facsimilie Dust jacket)
- Edition
- First American Edition
- Publisher
- Alfred A Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1940
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾" - 9&f
- Bookseller catalogs
- Modern First Editions; Film;
Terms of Sale
Timothy Norlen Bookseller
Books sent out within 24 - 48 hours upon receipt of order. Return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 15 days after delivery if an item arrives that is not as described.
About the Seller
Timothy Norlen Bookseller
Biblio member since 2019
SANTA BARBARA, California
About Timothy Norlen Bookseller
I am a internet based bookstore that specializes in Modern First Editions, film sources, Mystery and Detective fiction and Western Americana. I have approximately 10,000 books, primarily first editions with about 1300 of them signed by the author. I try and stock only books that are sound, clean and attractive.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- 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...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
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