8vo. Original light blue cloth stamped in gilt and blind. Original illustrated dust jacket; spine panel browned with loss.

Bruccoli A1.5.d

presentation copy of the black widow edition of the author's first book: "Joe Messick from Raymond Chandler La Jolla Calif Oct 3, 1950." Joe Messick was the husband of Juanita Messick, the author's longtime secretary and handler. Juanita was a firm favorite of Chandler's, somehow surviving his penchant for running through assistants and staff at a remarkable pace. She become virtually a member of the family and a calming presence in the author's life as his wife's health declined.  Juanita  prevented at least one major tragedy when she heard Chandler talk drunkenly of suicide and saw him retreat into a bedroom with a loaded revolver.  She arrived just in time as a shot rang out.

The🎶 beginning of the landmark "Philip Marlowe" series of crime novels.ﷺ "Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since" (Paul Auster).

Inscribed exam💞ples of Chandler's first book are very rarely encountered.