THE SIMPLE ART OF MURDER.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950. Octavo, jacket art by Boris Artzybasheff, cloth. First edition. Collects twelve stories and the essay "The Simple Art of Murder." "Eleven of the twelve stories in this collection are those that Chandler considered the best of his output for the pulps..." - Pronzini and Muller, 1001 Midnights, The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, pp. 125-126. In several of the stories the original character of Johnny Dalmas is changed to Marlowe. [Reference: Bruccoli, Raymond Chandler: A Bibliography A.9.1.a. Hubin, p. 153. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone]. Inked gift inscription to front free end paper, a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with rubs to the front panel, color fade to spine panel with mild wear to the spine ends with some shallow losses (33349). Item #33349
Price: $1,000.00