6 Dashiell Hammett first editions are documented on this shelf, from Red Harvest (1929) to The Big Knockover (ed. Lillian Hellman) (1966) across 4 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Dashiell Hammett title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Dashiell Hammett copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Red Harvest — 1929 · Alfred A. KnopfAlfred A. Knopf, New York, 1929 first edition of Hammett's first novel, with no later-printing statement on the copyright page (early Knopf practice); the true second printing followed in March 1930. Title-page printed in orange and black with an orange skull-and-crossbones vignette. Bound in cloth stamped in yellow, the front cover carrying the skull-and-crossbones device within a black single-rule border and…. The US Knopf 1929 printing is the true first; the London Knopf issue follows. Bibliographer Richard Layman did not see the earliest plot-summary jacket and describes the later blurb jacket, so the summary-panel jacket represents the earliest issue state. No early club edition; later reprints bear their own imprints. Absence of any printing notice, combined with the 1929 Knopf imprint, the green-stained top edge and the skull-and-crossbones stamping, identifies the first.
- The Dain Curse — 1929 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst printing has the Borzoi device and no statement of a later printing on the copyright page. Bound in yellow cloth, the front board with a skull-and-crossbones ornament and the rear board stamped with the black rectangular Borzoi Books device; spine lettered in black and red. A reliable text point of the first printing is 'dopped in' for 'dropped in' at page 260, line 19. First-issue jacket carries the…. US Knopf (1929) is the true first, preceding the UK edition. Later printings are stated on the copyright page. No significant book-club edition; beware ex-library and reprint copies.
- The Maltese Falcon — 1930 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst printing has the Knopf Borzoi device with 'FIRST EDITION' / 'Published February, 1930' (no later printing statement); first-issue dust jacket with its printed price with the correct blurb and no review quotes from after publication. US Knopf 1930 is the true first; UK (Cassell, 1930) follows. Hammett-signed firsts are scarce and prized. Book-club copies are blind-stamped, lack the publication-month statement, and have unpriced jackets; later Knopf printings add printing statements.
- The Glass Key — 1931 · Alfred A. KnopfTrue first is the London Knopf imprint, published 20 January 1931 (Knopf published in Britain for only a few years, in small editions). Issued in cloth with dust jacket. Later British issues bear the Cassell imprint rather than Knopf. The London Knopf edition (20 January 1931) precedes the New York Knopf edition (April 1931) by roughly three months and is the true first; the New York printing is generally catalogued as the First American Edition and carries the Borzoi device. The novel was serialized in Black Mask in 1930 before book publication. Book-club and reprint editions (Grosset & Dunlap, Pocket, Modern Library, etc.) lack the Knopf Borzoi colophon, are on cheaper bulky paper, often have no price on the jacket flap, and carry reprint statements; no 'First Edition' indication on the copyright page.
- The Thin Man — 1934 · Alfred A. KnopfKnopf first edition; copyright page consistent with the unmarked/first-state Knopf practice of the period with no later printing indicated. Hammett's last novel. First-state dust jacket with its printed price. US Knopf 1934 is the true first, preceding the UK Arthur Barker edition. US first preferred. Grosset & Dunlap and film-tie-in reprints (for the 1934 Powell/Loy film) are obvious by imprint and jacket art; no club edition precedes the Knopf first.
- The Big Knockover (ed. Lillian Hellman) — 1966 · Random HouseUS Random House, New York, 1966 (posthumous), edited with an introduction by Lillian Hellman; selected stories and short novels including the previously uncollected 'Tulip.' First hardcover appearance of this selection. The US Random House edition is the true first of this collection. A UK Cassell edition of the same year carries the different title 'The Dashiell Hammett Story Omnibus'; the Random House edition is the primary first. A Book Club edition exists and can be distinguished by the absence of a price on the jacket flap and the usual book-club markings on the rear board.
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