THE MALTESE FALCON

First edition in bookform, first printing. Publisher's original grey cloth decorated and with titles in black and blue to the spine, the upper board ruled in black and with falcon illustration in blue to the centre. Without the dustwrapper. Top edge blue. An excellent near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth fresh and without fading, showing just a few light marks to the upper board. The contents are clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps.

A landmark in hard-boiled fiction, introducing the private detective Sam Spade. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. Originally serialised in Black Mask magazine under the editorship of Joseph T. Shaw, between September 1929 and January 1930, this is the first printing in book form. The basis for multiple film adaptations, most notably John Huston's directorial debut in 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Peter Lorre. (Hubin; Layman A3.1.a).