The Postman Always Rings Twice
Cain, James M. Grosset & Dunlap ('By arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf'), 1945 (10th Printing). Hardbound. 'Cain's first novel,' writes mystery editor Otto Penzler, '. . . is the noir novel that paved the way for all the noir fiction that followed. . . . [I]ts searing characterization and depiction of tawdry greed and lust is branded into every reader's memory.' A cheeky titular doorbell to the front board of this lovey edition, with a jacket by Arthur Hawkins, Jr., whose trailblazing work is described by Steven Heller as 'highly stylized, most remarkably poster-like with a European accent, at a time when jackets were considered an extraneous yet necessary marketing encumbrance.'
Tight, square, uncreased spine. Former owner bookplate to front flyleaf, but interior is else clean and unmarked. Only very light shelf-wear to the book. Mylar-protected jacket has some areas of moderate to heavy edge-wear, as well as a one- by one-inch chip at the foot of the spine and a three-inch closed tear with a few small areas of associated creasing at the head of the front. 188 pp. Featured Rare & Collectible.
