Books

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1939. First Edition. First Printing, one of 5,000 copies. Octavo (19cm); orange cloth, with titling and decorations stamped in blue on spine and front cover; blue topstain; dustjacket; [viii],[2],3-277,[3]pp. Light wear to joints and extremities, some rubbing to topstain, offsetting to endpapers, with rough erasure to an old inscription on front endpaper, and old adhesive stains running the length of the gutters at endpapers; text is clean; Very Good. In a supplied dustjacket, unclipped (priced $2.00), shelfworn, gently and pretty evenly sunned, with some very shallow losses to spine ends and corner tips (none encroaching on lettering), a few small splits and tiny tears, with neat evidence of the flaps being skilfully removed after being mounted to the pastedowns of another copy; Very Good. Chandler's first book, a Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone novel, and basis for Howard Hawks's 1946 film noir, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. BRUCCOLI A1.1.a;…

The Big Sleep is a hardboiled crime novel by Raymond Chandler, the first in his acclaimed series about detective Philip Marlowe. The story is set in Los Angeles and follows Marlowe as he investigates a complex case involving blackmail, mystery, and murder, which begins with a wealthy general who is being blackmailed and needs Marlowe's help.

First editions of 'The Big Sleep' can be recognized by their distinctive dust jacket featuring droplets on a cobwebbed background, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1939. The absence of a topstain on the book edges and the $2.00 price on the dust jacket flap are also indicative of a true first edition first printing.