Title: The Big Knockover
Author: Dashiell Hammett
Cover artist: photo cover
Yours for: $10
Best things about this cover:
- There's a '70s font if there ever was one. All puffy and whimsical and weird. Especially like the dots on the "I"s — little balls rolling back and forth in a half-pipe.
- I believe that is what they call a tidy sum.
- The Hellman intro is remarkable. Almost entirely biographical. Vivid and thoughtful and touching.
Best things about this back cover:
- I guess this is where I write my notes.
- Tulip. Hmm, I did not know that. I do not like unfinished novels. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.
- Mostly Op stories. Starts with "The Gutting of Couffignal," "Fly Paper," and "The Scorched Face." Not a bad opening gambit.
Page 123~
(from "This King Business")
We went to a much-gilded restaurant two blocks from the hotel, where a gypsy orchestra played on a little balcony stuck insecurely high on one wall. All the waiters and half the diners seemed to know the boy. He bowed and smiled to this side and that as he walked down to a table near the far end, where two men were waiting for him.
~RP
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2 comments:
I know absolutely nothing about Lillian Hellman, so thank you for bringing this to my attention - will be visiting the library tomorrow.
I particularly like the euphemistic "close friend" description of Lillian Hellman. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure how a publisher would describe their relationship today either,
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