Flying Finish by Francis, Dick - 1966

New York: Scribners, 2001 Limited edition: special fingerprint edition: Ring finger. approximately 20% of 2500 copies printed. Signed by John Dunning, with finger print. Book and dust jacket in fine condition.

215 pages. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in publisher's original black with orange "red badge" insignia on front cover and orange lettering to spine in original pictorial jacket. First edition.To save a judge's daughter, Mike Shayne must invade the red-light district. For twenty years, Judge Nigel Lansdowne has been one of Washington's greatest progressives. The red-baiters in Congress would do anything to destroy his reputation, and they may have found the perfect weapon. Her name is Julia, but when she dances she goes by Dorinda. The judge's daughter came to Miami in search of a new life, and she found it dancing nude in the city's infamous red-light district. Mike Shayne is hired to bring Julia home before the judge's enemies learn of her new career, but his real job will be keeping her alive. Someone in Miami wants this beautiful dancer dead, and only Mike Shayne can help her. In the nightclubs of Miami Beach, music is played to a deadly beat.Dresser was born in Chicago, Illinois, but… Read More

First edition 1st printing, Good to Very Good book with light edge wear, starting at title page, spine lightly pushed top and bottom and very slight bump top front corner, in Very Good dust jacket that is price clipped, edge and corner wear with couple spots of very slight loss, several small creases along edges, mild sun fade on spine and some over write incisions front cover that do not penetrate the mylar, a classic signed by Block on the title page.

328+[5 ad] pages with diagrams and fold out plan. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's black cloth with yellow lettering to spine and cover in original jacket. (Firsts, volume 14, Number 9 page 29) First edition with the first printing "A" on copyright page, second state with the dates 1929, 1930. Wright wrote as a critic and journalist until 1923, when he became ill from what was given out as overwork, but was in reality a secret drug addiction, according to John Loughery's biography Alias S.S. Van Dine. His doctor confined him to bed (supposedly because of a heart ailment, but actually because of a cocaine addiction) for more than two years. In frustration and boredom, he began collecting and studying thousands of volumes of crime and detection. In 1926 this paid off with the publication of his first S. S. Van Dine novel, The Benson Murder Case. Wright took his pseudonym from the abbreviation of "steamship" and from Van Dine, which he claimed was an old family name. Wright… Read More

First edition 1st printing, Very Good, apparently unread, book with light bump bottom edge back board, light water stain or fade bottom edge cloth backing, and a number of light gray spots top page edges,  and some light soiling page edges; in a Very Good jacket with light edge wear, mild rubbing on both panels, and a slight sun fade on spine. The third Lloyd Hopkins mystery. This copy has been signed by Ellroy on the front end page and generically inscribed: Dear Reader – Death was a thrill on Suicide Hill.

New York: Scribners, 2001 Limited edition: special fingerprint edition: Ring finger. approximately 20% of 2500 copies printed. Signed by John Dunning, with finger print. Book and dust jacket in fine condition.

215 pages. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in publisher's original black with orange "red badge" insignia on front cover and orange lettering to spine in original pictorial jacket. First edition.To save a judge's daughter, Mike Shayne must invade the red-light district. For twenty years, Judge Nigel Lansdowne has been one of Washington's greatest progressives. The red-baiters in Congress would do anything to destroy his reputation, and they may have found the perfect weapon. Her name is Julia, but when she dances she goes by Dorinda. The judge's daughter came to Miami in search of a new life, and she found it dancing nude in the city's infamous red-light district. Mike Shayne is hired to bring Julia home before the judge's enemies learn of her new career, but his real job will be keeping her alive. Someone in Miami wants this beautiful dancer dead, and only Mike Shayne can help her. In the nightclubs of Miami Beach, music is played to a deadly beat.Dresser was born in Chicago, Illinois, but… Read More

First edition 1st printing, Good to Very Good book with light edge wear, starting at title page, spine lightly pushed top and bottom and very slight bump top front corner, in Very Good dust jacket that is price clipped, edge and corner wear with couple spots of very slight loss, several small creases along edges, mild sun fade on spine and some over write incisions front cover that do not penetrate the mylar, a classic signed by Block on the title page.

328+[5 ad] pages with diagrams and fold out plan. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's black cloth with yellow lettering to spine and cover in original jacket. (Firsts, volume 14, Number 9 page 29) First edition with the first printing "A" on copyright page, second state with the dates 1929, 1930. Wright wrote as a critic and journalist until 1923, when he became ill from what was given out as overwork, but was in reality a secret drug addiction, according to John Loughery's biography Alias S.S. Van Dine. His doctor confined him to bed (supposedly because of a heart ailment, but actually because of a cocaine addiction) for more than two years. In frustration and boredom, he began collecting and studying thousands of volumes of crime and detection. In 1926 this paid off with the publication of his first S. S. Van Dine novel, The Benson Murder Case. Wright took his pseudonym from the abbreviation of "steamship" and from Van Dine, which he claimed was an old family name. Wright… Read More

First edition 1st printing, Very Good, apparently unread, book with light bump bottom edge back board, light water stain or fade bottom edge cloth backing, and a number of light gray spots top page edges,  and some light soiling page edges; in a Very Good jacket with light edge wear, mild rubbing on both panels, and a slight sun fade on spine. The third Lloyd Hopkins mystery. This copy has been signed by Ellroy on the front end page and generically inscribed: Dear Reader – Death was a thrill on Suicide Hill.