The Dain Curse
Lot 78

The Dain Curse

Dashiell Hammett

Closed28 September 2023

Estimate

GBP 25,000–35,000

More Information

Conditions of Sale
How to sell

The Dain Curse
Dashiell Hammett
HAMMETT, Dashiell (1894-1961). The Dain Curse. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929.

A classic of the hardboiled detective genre: first edition, first printing, of the author's second book in the rare dust-jacket. Narrated by the Continental Op, the private investigator protagonist of The Red Harvest and numerous short stories, The Dain Curse first appeared as a 4-part serialization in Black Mask. The attractive dust-jacket is a noted rarity. It was designed by Hungarian-born artist F.H. Horvath, who would also provide the iconic artwork for The Maltese Falcon. Layman A2.1.a.

Octavo. Original yellow cloth stamped with red skull and cross-bones within brown single-rule frame, titles and decoration to spine in red and brown (a couple of marks to cloth, upper joint just faintly rubbed); original pictorial dust-jacket by F.H. Horvath (spine a little faded, extremities lightly rubbed, restoration to spine panel with a few letters in facsimile, a few repairs to small chips or tears); custom cloth box. Provenance: partially removed ownership inscription to front endpaper and associated offsetting to front flap of jacket.