The Maltese Falcon

San Francisco: The Arion Press. Fine. 1983. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. (quarter-bound black leather over blue-gray cloth-covered boards, with the Falcon in black leather (with silver trim and red eye) on both front and rear covers; silver lettering on spine; in slipcase, with no dust jacket, as issued) [a beautiful copy, with both book and slipcase utterly unblemished]. (B&W photographs, endpaper maps) The best edition of Hammett's hard-boiled classic, issued in a printing of 400 copies, each signed on the limitation page by the director of the Arion Press (whose 11th book this was), Andrew Hoyem. Beautifully printed and bound, with the red-eyed Black Bird in leather on both covers, the book is illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs (44 in all, a mixture of vintage and contemporary shots) of the many San Francisco locations that were the setting for the novel, plus a tipped-in frontispiece portrait photo of Hammett and a double fold-out panoramic photo, captioned "Sam Spade's San Francisco: Panoramic view of the city from the bay." All in all a beautiful production -- truly the, uh, stuff that dreams are made of. And what can I say about the book itself, which is as much of an exciting read today as it was when it was originally serialized in the pages of "Black Mask" in late 1929? Let's also give posthumous thanks to John Huston, who just knew -- even though the book had already been the basis for a couple of mediocre movies (in 1931 and 1936, the latter under the ridiculous title SATAN MET A LADY) -- that there was a great film still to be made from it. (And note for the record that nobody has (yet) been stupid enough to try and remake it -- because you can't improve on perfection.) ****NOTE that additional postage charges will be assessed for international shipping of this moderately heavy book; the purchaser will be contacted prior to shipping for confirmation of these charges.**** Signed by Contributor .