Sam Spade's debut, BLACK MASK, 1929

Sam Spade's debut
Black Mask, 1929
HAMMETT, Dashiell (1894-1961), SHAW, Joseph, editor (1874-1952). "The Maltese Falcon." In Black Mask. New York: Pro-Distributors Publishing, September 1929-February 1930.

The first appearance in print of The Maltese Falcon. Black Mask, the monthly pulp magazine devoted to Western, detective, and adventure stories, was founded in April 1920 by H.L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan, the pair behind the literary journal The Smart Set. Joseph Shaw edited Black Mask from 1926-1936, and it was under his auspices that the magazine published writers including Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner (Hammett dedicated his first novel, The Red Harvest, to Shaw). The Maltese Falcon ran across five issues of Black Mask from September 1929 to January 1930 before appearing in book form in February. February's Black Mask issue also includes Hammett's "The Farewell Murder." Layman C109 and C114.

Octavo (155 x 238mm). Six issues in original wrappers trimmed and bound together (brittle paper stock with some chipping at extremities; trimming affecting some cover text); modern cloth (rebacked, preserving portions of original spine); custom box.

Pre-Lot Text
THE SCOTT GREENBAUM COLLECTION OF LITERARY FIRST EDITIONS