THE BIG SLEEP. This item is unavailable.THE BIG SLEEP

Facsimile reprint of the First Edition originally published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1939. Octavo, 7.6 in. x 5.2 in., pp. 277, [1]. Ochre cloth boards with black framed title to front and spine. Unmarked. Dustjacket protected in mylar. Housed in gray cloth slipcase with paste-on book covers to sides. Chandler's now classic, was the hardboiled crime author's first book to feature Los Angeles detective Philip Marlowe, a story made famous in the 1946 film starring then 44-year old Humphrey Bogart and 19 year-old Lauren Bacall. By Chandler's own admission, the novel came about by a process he referred to as "cannibalizing", wherein he would take certain aspects of two main stories that form the core of the novel, in this case "Killer in the Rain" (published in 1935) and "The Curtain" (published in 1936). Although the stories were independent and shared no characters, they had some similarities that made it logical to combine them.".