Solomon's Vineyard (AUTHENTIC FIRST HARDCOVER PRINTING OF THE HARD-TO-FIND HARDBOILED DETECTIVE ENTRY, IN A LOVELY FAKE DUST JACKET)

Latimer, Jonathan

Published by Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1941

About this Item

Very-good-minus hardcover in blue cloth with two one-inch dark stains to top outside corner of front board. Book smells slightly musty to us, as do most volumes that come to us from the British Isles. States "First published in Great Britain in 1941." (The first American edition was a paperback, was reportedly bowdlerized to get rid of the sex scenes -- some involving women who like to be hit -- and STILL didn't come out till 1951.) The book begins "From the way her buttocks looked under the black silk dress, I knew she'd be good in bed." By page three our hero has arrived at his hotel, where the cabbie tries to double the fare to a dollar. "I got out a fifty-cent piece and flipped it in his face. 'Give the nig my bags,' I said. He snarled and I got ready to hit him, but then his face fell apart. He gave the bags to the nigger." When the black bellhop gets him to his room, he makes it clear he can find our noble protagonist a lady of the evening if desired. / 'How young?' / 'Most any age.' / 'I like 'em around fourteen.' / His eyes spread out. "Mister, that's jail bait in this state.' / "Well, I'll let you know," I said." Sixth (but hardest-to-find) novel by Latimer, who went on to become a screen writer in Hollywood, adapting Hammett's "The Glass Key" (1942) and "The Big Clock" (1948), among others, and eventually moving on to write either 26 or 32 (tallies differ) episodes of television's "Perry Mason." "Blurb" from original jacket front panel has been clipped out and glued to the rear pastedown. Otherwise, the original jacket is long gone. We're generally reluctant to introduce "facsimile" dust jackets into the market, since they can dupe the unwary, but this thing came to us in a handsome, virtually new, black blue and green jacket clearly labeled "Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC" to ITS front flap, so we have left said modern, photo-reproduced jacket in place. Jacket is a modern fake; the hardcover book is the real thing. 218 pp. Reduced from $1,350.

Seller Inventory # 009237

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Solomon's Vineyard (AUTHENTIC FIRST HARDCOVER PRINTING OF THE HARD-TO-FIND HARDBOILED DETECTIVE ENTRY, IN A LOVELY FAKE DUST JACKET)
• Publisher: Methuen & Co. Ltd., London
• Publication Date: 1941
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Show Biz
  • Mysteries
  • Rare Books