San Francisco: Arion Press. Fine with no dust jacket. 1983. First Edition. Hardcover. Black leather quarter bound over gray cloth boards with falcon in leather on front/rear cover. Silver gilt spine titling. Limited to 400 copies. Spine gilt has small rubbed spot else fine condition. Laid in invitation to publication party for this book. Housed in rubbed publisher's slipcase. ; 4to 11" - 13" tall .

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: curtis paul books inc. (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 17704
Title: The Maltese Falcon
Author: Hammett, Dashiell
Format/Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Used - Fine with no dust jacket
Quantity Available: 1
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Arion Press
Place of Publication: San Francisco
Date Published: 1983

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Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Gilt: The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
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...
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....
Cloth: "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Fine: A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Jacket: Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...