THE CONTINENTAL OP.
by HAMMETT, Dashiell (Samuel Dashiell), 1894-1961 :
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
London, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York : Dell Publishing Co., [1946]. Second edition. A collection of four stories, edited and introduced by Ellery Queen. Originally published by Lawrence E. Spivak the previous year - but here enlivened with some fine cover art by Gerald Gregg (1907-1985) in his distinctive airbrush style and the Dell "mapback" of the streets of downtown San Francisco. Dell Mapback 129. Foolscap 8vo (17cm). 192pp. Original pictorial wrappers in a design by Gerald Gregg; some minor wear and slight creasing; tiny nick to upper wrapper and opening leaves; a good copy.
Synopsis
Dashiell Samuel Hammett was born in St. Mary’s County. He grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Hammett left school at the age of fourteen and held several kinds of jobs thereafter—messenger boy, newsboy, clerk, operator, and stevedore, finally becoming an operative for Pinkerton’s Detective Agency. Sleuthing suited young Hammett, but World War I intervened, interrupting his work and injuring his health. When Sergeant Hammett was discharged from the last of several hospitals, he resumed detective work. He soon turned to writing, and in the late 1920s Hammett became the unquestioned master of detective-story fiction in America. In The Maltese Falcon (1930) he first introduced his famous private eye, Sam Spade. The Thin Man (1932) offered another immortal sleuth, Nick Charles. Red Harvest (1929), The Dain Curse (1929), and The Glass Key (1931) are among his most successful novels. During World War II, Hammett again served as sergeant in the Army, this time for more than two years, most of which he spent in the Aleutians. Hammett’s later life was marked in part by ill health, alcoholism, a period of imprisonment related to his alleged membership in the Communist Party, and by his long-time companion, the author Lillian Hellman, with whom he had a very volatile relationship. His attempt at autobiographical fiction survives in the story “Tulip,” which is contained in the posthumous collection The Big Knockover (1966, edited by Lillian Hellman). Another volume of his stories, The Continental Op (1974, edited by Stephen Marcus), introduced the final Hammett character: the “Op,” a nameless detective (or “operative”) who displays little of his personality, making him a classic tough guy in the hard-boiled mold—a bit like Hammett himself.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Ash Rare Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 30861
- Title
- THE CONTINENTAL OP.
- Author
- HAMMETT, Dashiell (Samuel Dashiell), 1894-1961 :
- Illustrator
- Gerald Gregg
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- Publisher
- New York : Dell Publishing Co., [1946].
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
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