THE THIN MAN
First printing of Hammett's final novel, an unusually nice copy of a book difficult to find in collectible condition.
Near fine in near-fine jacket.
Price: $10,000.00
THE THIN MAN
"[W]hat is it about? It is about personal style. About living life as a kind of artwork." – Roger Ebert, on the 1934 film
Hammett first began THE THIN MAN in 1930, writing in his comfortable wheelhouse of a San Francisco hard-boiled detective navigating a dark plot, but soon set the book aside. When he returned to it, Hammett moved the setting to New York and made his hero a famous but retired sleuth who is pulled reluctantly into intrigue. The added comedy and style in this revision translated surprisingly well on screen, with the 1934 film adaptation garnering four Oscar nominations and, today, legendary status.
THE THIN MAN first appeared in expurgated form in REDBOOK a month before its publication in book form here. According to Nathan Ward, "the first chapters had actually made the magazine rounds without a bite for several months – turned down by one editor after another over the book's apparent hard-drinking lewdness and amorality – before REDBOOK bought the rights." A core work by one of the founders of American noir.
Read more: Layman, Dashiell Hammett: A Bibliography, A6.1.a; Roger Ebert, Review of Film The Thin Man (1934), 22 December 2002; Ward, The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett.
The Object
First edition (stated). New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934. 7.5'' x 5''. Original green cloth stamped in blue and red. In original unclipped ($2.00) photographic dust jacket with green spine and green title. Purple topstain. [8], 259, [1] pages. Typical fading to green cloth around margins. Jacket with closed tear at front flap, touch of rubbing to extremities, and some fading to spine: topstain very dark.
The Fine Print
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