Beschreibung:

A group of 13 volumes, comprising: O’HARA, John (1905-1970). Appointment in Samarra. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1934. First edition of the author’s first novel, one of the greatest works of American fiction, rare in the first-issue dust-jacket. Octavo. Printed slip before dedication leaf explaining title quotation, as issued. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt (slightly cocked, some minor marks to cloth); original dust-jacket designed by Maurer (somewhat tanned, some creasing, a few small chips and closed tears with some tape reinforcement on verso). — Pal Joey. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1940. First edition of a fine epistolary novel. Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt (ends of spine lightly rubbed); original dust-jacket (spine tanned, a few closed tears and tiny nicks to top edge). JOHNSON, James Weldon (1871-1938). The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Boston: Sherman, French & Company, 1912. First edition of Weldon’s influential novel about a biracial man who decides to 'pass' as white in order to escape the racial prejudices of his society. Octavo. (Very light occasional finger-soiling, pp. 83-86 with some staining.) Original brown cloth, spine and upper cover lettered and decorated in gilt (slightly cocked, spine lightly sunned, headcap bruised). Provenance: William E. Baugh (ownership inscription to front free endpaper). HEYWARD, DuBose (1885-1940). Porgy. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1925. First edition of the author’s most famous novel. It was later adapted for the stage by his wife, playwright Dorothy Heyward and was developed, with George and Ira Gershwin, into ‘Porgy and Bess’. Octavo. 5 full-page illustrations by Theodore Nadejen, leaves untrimmed (tiny nick to one leaf). Original black cloth, titles and author’s device stamped to upper cover, spine lettered, all in gilt, top edge stained brown (extremities lightly rubbed, spine faded); original price-clipped dust-jacket designed by Nadejen, publisher’s ads on verso (top edge lightly frayed, upper panel and backstrip faded). HAMMETT, Dashiell (1894-1961). New York: Lawrence E. Spivak, [1943-1951] and Joseph W. Ferman, 1962. Rare set of short stories and novellas previously unpublished in book form. ‘All the Hammett books of short stories are important, but without question the cornerstone is The Adventures of Sam Spade’ (Queen’s Quorum). 10 volumes, octavo, comprising: $106,000 Bloody Money; The Adventures of Sam Spade; The Continental Op; The Return of the Continental Op; Hammett Homicides; Dead Yellow Woman; The Creeping Siamese; Woman in the Dark; Nightmare Town; A Man Named Thin. (Pages brittle, some corners dog-eared, few chips and water stains). Printed card wrappers (lightly rubbed); housed in custom green half morocco case. — Autograph collection of participants in the 1941 film The Maltese Falcon, including signatures of Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook Jr, Gladys George, Lee Patrick, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane and John Huston, on a collection of separate leaves, mostly from autograph books; and a cheque made out to Dashiell Hammett. 11 items, in a custom black morocco backed box. HIMES, Chester (1909-1984). Lonely Crusade. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947. First edition, presentation copy. Octavo. Original brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt, upper cover with Himes’s device, lower cover with publisher’s, both blindstamped (extremities lightly rubbed, spine sunned); original dust-jacket (lightly browned, a few small nicks and tears, spine with nick repaired on verso with tape). Provenance: Catherine Davis Bela (authorial presentation inscription to front free endpaper, dated Sept. 19, 1949). LEE, George W. (1903-1955). Beale Street Sundown. New York: House of Field Inc., 1942. First edition of a collection of stories about the African-American community of Memphis; presentation copy to journalist George Morris Octavo. (A few minor stains.) Original blue cloth,