The Maltese Falcon
Dashiell Hammett, 1930
HAMMETT, Dashiell (1894-1961). The Maltese Falcon. New York: Knopf, 1930.

First edition of one of the most influential detective novels ever written, in a superlative copy of the iconic dust jacket. First serialized in Black Mask beginning in September 1929, The Maltese Falcon introduced the world to Sam Spade, the archetypal hardboiled detective. In his investigation into the murder of his partner Archer, Spade became the personification of the American private eye. John Huston's Maltese Falcon (1941) is the most famous film adaptation, staring Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, Mary Astor and Peter Lorre. Layman A3.1a.

Octavo. Original pictorial cloth, top edge stained blue; pictorial dust jacket (mild toning, light edgewear including small loss at bottom corner of lower flap fold, price-clipped); custom box.