The Asphalt Jungle (First Edition, MGM vault file copy)

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949. First Edition. First Edition. Likely unique copy from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM] library, with the following identification markers on the front endpaper (1) a standard 1950s-era MGM receipt label affixed to the center of the page, (2) three rubber stamps running down the center that read "VAULT COPY," (3) three rubber stamps (each marked through) also running down the center that say "FILE COPY," (4) a rubber stamp at the top right corner indicating the film's production number, "5329," and (5) a rubber stamp reading "METRO-GOLDWYN LIBRARY / CULVER CITY" at the bottom right.

Bottom margin of a few other pages also with the "METRO-GOLDWYN LIBRARY / CULVER CITY" rubber stamp, including the title page.

Jacket has a strip of off-white fabric tape affixed to the bottom half of the spine, on rubber stamped "VAULT COPY," now faded but barely visible.

Kept on file MGM during the making of the cornerstone 1950 film noir directed and adapted for the screen by John Huston and starring Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, and Marilyn Monroe.

Very Good plus in a Very Good dust jacket. Some minute rubbing and toning to the extremities of the paper covered boards (as often found with this title). Jacket has a neat split at the center of the front hinge fold, with a couple of equally neat Scotch tape reinforcements on the verso, applied at some point in the past to keep the split from worsening. A very presentable copy overall.

The Dark Page II: 1959-1965, p. 18.