Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, Arion Press, 1983. Fine Limited Edition

Hammett, Dashiell, The Maltese Falcon. San Francisco: Arion Press, 1983. Fine 4to in Fine slipcase, one of 400, 8 ¼” x 10 ¼”, 291 pp. 

Gray cloth with black leather backing, silver titling, and black leather decorative falcon to front panel. Housed in a Fine slipcase. Features forty-six black-and-white photographs of San Francisco Bay Area locations that appear in the narrative, mostly taken around the same time with a few more recent photographs provided by California photographer Edmund Shea. Bound by the Schuberth Bookbindery, printed on Byron-Weston Linen Record paper using Bodoni semi-bold and Corvinus medium types. Photo-lithography by Phelps-Schaefer, 291 pp.

Originally published in 1930, Hammett’s classic Sam Spade detective novel where shady  characters pursue the illusive legend of a jewel-encrusted solid gold artifact. Based on Hammett’s experience as a private investigator, the Sam Spade character features in four other stories published as a serial in The Black Mask. A pristine, finely-bound copy of the signature San Francisco noir story that sparked a genre. Condition notes, provenance: single owner purchased directly from Arion at the time of publication, stored in private library. Fine, some mild discoloration where leather backing meets text block.