First Printing, advance issue. Octavo (19cm); folded and gathered sheets, bound into the publisher's dustjacket; [xiv],[2],3-240,[10]pp. Handful of tiny stains to margins of a few preliminary pages, otherwise contents are clean; dustjacket shows moderate wear, toning, some splits to upper and lower front joint, a few splash marks visible on verso of front panel, with a few tears and small losses to rear panel; Very Good. Chandler's third novel, set largely in Pasadena, with a complex plot involving counterfeiting, blackmail, and the theft of a rare and valuable American coin. Basis for John Brahm's 1947 film noir The Brasher Doubloon, starring Nancy Guild, Conrad Janis, Roy Roberts, Fritz Kortner, and George Montgomery as Philip Marlowe. Uncommon in the advance issue, which would have represented a fraction of the 6,500 copy print run. Bruccoli A3.1.a; Barzun & Taylor 733; The Dark Page, Vol.1, pp.66-67.