'one of the great rarities in Hammett collecting'
The Dain Curse (Publisher's Trial Dust Jacket for the First Edition).
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, c. 1929.
Price: $35,000.00
About the item
1 sheet, folded. 7 3/4 x 19 inches. Folded, two small tears to bottom edge, otherwise near fine with minimal rubbing to edges and much brighter than the printed copies of the jacket that have come to market. In custom clamshell box.
Item #376184
Likely Unique, and certainly the only surviving example, of the trial jacket for Hammet's second Continental Op book, which shows only the front and spine panels, leaving the rear panel and front and rear flaps blank. The colorway of the text on the front flap is reversed. In the trial, the title is written in deep yellow, and the subtext in black.
The Dain Curse was the second Hammett detective novel to feature the unnamed Continental Op, a seedy tale of deception, robbery, murder, religious cults and drug addiction among San Francisco society. It was first serialized in Black Mask, and later made into a television miniseries starring James Coburn.
The jacket is accomanpied by a letter from Hammett scholar and bibliographer, Richard Layman, who states: "I see no reason to question its authenticity, and I think you have one of the great rarities in Hammett collecting. I am not aware of another trial jacket for one of Hammett's novels having surfaced."
