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The Thin Man
by HAMMETT, Dashiell
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Wadsworth, Illinois, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934. First edition and first printing. Hardcover. Hammett's last novel which again featured Nick and Nora Charles. The basis for a classic movie with William Powell and Myrna Loy. A very good plus copy in cloth boards with a slight lean to the spine and a contemporary ownership inscription to the front free endpaper and some other minor wear. No dust jacket.
Synopsis
Dashiell Samuel Hammett was born in St. Mary’s County. He grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Hammett left school at the age of fourteen and held several kinds of jobs thereafter—messenger boy, newsboy, clerk, operator, and stevedore, finally becoming an operative for Pinkerton’s Detective Agency. Sleuthing suited young Hammett, but World War I intervened, interrupting his work and injuring his health. When Sergeant Hammett was discharged from the last of several hospitals, he resumed detective work. He soon turned to writing, and in the late 1920s Hammett became the unquestioned master of detective-story fiction in America. In The Maltese Falcon (1930) he first introduced his famous private eye, Sam Spade. The Thin Man (1932) offered another immortal sleuth, Nick Charles. Red Harvest (1929), The Dain Curse (1929), and The Glass Key (1931) are among his most successful novels. During World War II, Hammett again served as sergeant in the Army, this time for more than two years, most of which he spent in the Aleutians. Hammett’s later life was marked in part by ill health, alcoholism, a period of imprisonment related to his alleged membership in the Communist Party, and by his long-time companion, the author Lillian Hellman, with whom he had a very volatile relationship. His attempt at autobiographical fiction survives in the story “Tulip,” which is contained in the posthumous collection The Big Knockover (1966, edited by Lillian Hellman). Another volume of his stories, The Continental Op (1974, edited by Stephen Marcus), introduced the final Hammett character: the “Op,” a nameless detective (or “operative”) who displays little of his personality, making him a classic tough guy in the hard-boiled mold—a bit like Hammett himself.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 191431
- Title
- The Thin Man
- Author
- HAMMETT, Dashiell
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1934
- Keywords
- Mystery
Terms of Sale
Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA
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About the Seller
Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA
Biblio member since 2008
Wadsworth, Illinois
About Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA
We are members of ABAA, ILAB and Midwest Antiquarian Booksellers Association. We specialize in First Editions of 20th century photography, art, design, literature, drama, poetry, and signed books. We are not an open shop but always welcome inquiries.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- 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...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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...
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