8vo. Title page printed in orange and black with a skull and crossbones vignette in orange. Two small library stamps on the title-page; a few leaves with marginal soiling. Original red cloth, stamped in black and yellow; “Los Angeles Public Library” stamped on top edges, a small “M” (for “mystery”) in white ink at mid-spine, a 5 x 4 mm piece cut from upper spine, wear along front outer hinge. Dust jacket; chipped at top of spine and top edge of front panel, loss at upper fore-corners.
first edition, presentation copy of Hammett’s first book, in the rare dust jacket. Inscribed on a front blank: “For Sam Marx, with the works — Dashiell Hammett.” Laid in is a 1981 typed letter signed from Marx to Maurice F. Neville giving the background of this Hammett inscription: “... I was the Story Editor of MGM [his letter is on studio stationery] in the 1930s and bought the film rights to The Thin Man. In the course of deciding to do sequels with William Powell and Myrna Loy, we engaged him on the writing staff. A lot of writers have achieved cult stature in the last quarter century or so — Dash Hammett was just another writer on the staff. I may have asked him for his autograph, or he may have brought me the copy as a voluntary gesture. It would require the detective ability of a Nick Charles to find out which one happened ...”
The four parts of Red Harvest first appeared monthly in Black Mask from November 1927 to February 1928. At the time the novel was simply called “Poisonville” by Hammett. After extensive revisions by the author, suggested by Blanche Knopf (Alfred’s wife) and the editor Harry Block, the first real “hard-boiled” detective novel was published on 1 February 1929. Hammett dedicated the book to Joseph Shaw, the editor of Black Mask and the person who had most encouraged him to write a novel. Although well received, Red Harvest was hardly a best-seller: “the first printing (probably of about 3,000 copies) lasted for all of 1929; a second printing came in March 1930, a month before The Maltese Falcon was published; and a third printing in March 1931, just before publication of The Glass Key” (Richard Layman, Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett, 1981, p. 93). By the time Red Harvest was published Hammett was already well into the writing of his third novel: The Maltese Falcon — the huge success which established his reputation.
