First Edition in Dust Jacket of the Author's First Book
Little Caesar.
New York: Lincoln Mac Veagh/The Dial Press, 1929.
Full description:
BURNETT, W.R.. Little Caesar. New York: Lincoln Mac Veagh/The Dial Press, 1929.
First edition. Octavo (7 7/16 x 5 1/4 inches; 187 x 130 mm). [6], 308, [2, blank] pp. In publisher's pictorial dust jacket by Politzer.
Publisher's full blue cloth. Front board and spine lettered in yellow ink. Front board with publisher's device stamped in blind as central device. Fore-edge and bottom edge uncut. Some rubbing to board edges and corners. A minimal dampstain to lower outer corner of front and back board, causing some bleed- through to first 20 pages. Some minimal foxing to a few pages. Previous owner's signature to title-page. In publisher's original dust jacket. Jacket with a small piece missing to bottom of rear flap, just touching imprint. A small dampstain to back panel. Some minimal rubbing and chipping to top and bottom edges and some darkening, mainly along creases. Overall a very good copy in an unrestored dust jacket.
Considered The world's first gangster novel. "Although an author of Westerns and a successful screenwriter, William Riley Burnett is best known as the originator of the gangster novel. The underworld icons of sleek cars, flashy clothes, bootleg liquor, and tommy guns find their origins in Burnett’s first novel, Little Caesar (1929). The popular and critical success of this novel and later novels High Sierra (1940) and The Asphalt Jungle (1949) inspired movies that became classics of film noir... This first novel contains the terse, clipped prose style that is a hallmark of any Burnett novel. A film version of Little Caesar appeared in 1930 with Edward G. Robinson in the title role." (Cleveland Public Library)
The Literary Guild, a contemporary book club, issued their own edition shortly after the first, and that issue is often mistakenly thought to be the first edition.
HBS 69685.
$2,500.
Price: $2,500.00
Item #69685