Books

First edition, first printing, inscribed by Runyon five days before publication, "To Fred Kelly, who makes good kellys, from Damon Runyon, August 15, 1931". Fred Kelly was a well-known haberdasher near Times Square. According to their shop boy Martin Rackin, Runyon bought a new hat there every Saturday, and – always a gentleman of the working class – gave the adolescent Rackin five dollars a week to stay in school rather than work full time. The kelly of the inscription is a wide-brimmed fedora, wider even than the ones preferred by Runyon, who was so galericulate that the following Runyonesque anecdote about him must be true: "About noon one spring day, Runyon kisses his showgirl sweetheart goodbye and leaves his West 57th Street apartment. He strolls toward Lindy's Broadway Deli for his breakfast-luncheon and six cups of coffee. On the way, he meets a guy who tells him he has never seen Damon Runyon without a hat. Runyon decides to return to the apartment and get one of his 50 hats. (He bought more clothes than he could ever wear.) There he finds his girlfriend playing house with a gentleman named Primo Carnera, the heavyweight champ. When Runyon, years later, tells the story to a friend, the friend asks what a gentleman does when he finds his beloved in the arms of the champ. Runyon says: 'It's all in the hat—you put it on and leave in a hurry'" (Stein). Runyon's best-known work, a collection of stories set amid the gamblers, bookies, First edition, first printing, inscribed by Runyon five days before publication, "To Fred Kelly, who makes good kellys, from Damon Runyon, August 15, 1931". Fred Kelly was a well-known haberdasher near Times Square. According to their shop boy Martin Rackin, Runyon bought a new hat there every Saturday, and – always a gentleman of the working class – gave the adolescent Rackin five dollars a week to stay in school rather than work full time. The kelly of the inscription is a wide-brimmed fedora, wider even than the ones preferred by Runyon, who was so galericulate that the following Runyonesque anecdote about him must be true: "About noon one spring day, Runyon kisses his showgirl sweetheart goodbye and leaves his West 57th Street apartment. He strolls toward Lindy's Broadway Deli for his breakfast-luncheon and six cups of coffee. On the way, he meets a guy who tells him he has never seen Damon Runyon without a hat. Runyon decides to return to the apartment and get one of his 50 hats. (He bought more clothes than he could ever wear.) There he finds his girlfriend playing house with a gentleman named Primo Carnera, the heavyweight champ. When Runyon, years later, tells the story to a friend, the friend asks what a gentleman does when he finds his beloved in the arms of the champ. Runyon says: 'It's all in the hat—you put it on and leave in a hurry'" (Stein). Runyon's best-known work, a collection of stories set amid the gamblers, bookies, showgirls, and the other denizens of the New York underworld, has formed the basis for over two dozen films in the last six decades. READ MORE Octavo. Original red cloth, spine and front cover lettered in black. With perhaps supplied dust jacket by Hawkins. Housed in a custom red morocco-backed folding box. Head and foot of slightly toned spine a little worn; creases to lightly soiled jacket, extremities worn with some minor loss, folds tender with some loss to rear fold, reverse of jacket a little damp stained, some minor repairs to folds, unclipped: a very good copy in a very good jacket. Queen's Quorum 84. Jacob Stein, "Broadway Boogie Woogie: Damon Runyon and the Making of New York City Culture", Wilson Quarterly, Autumn 2003; "Martin Rackin", Waco News Citizen, 5 August 1967.

Guys and Dolls is a collection of short stories by Damon Runyon. The stories have been the basis for stage and film adaptations, including the well-known Broadway musical and film 'Guys and Dolls'.