The Maltese Falcon Tapa dura - 2000

Name: The Maltese Falcon
Price: 20.21 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Hammet, Dashiell
ISBN: 9780848824365

de Dashiell Hammett

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Acerca de este libro

The Maltese Falcon, author Dashiell Hammett’s third novel, set the standard by which all subsequent detective fiction would be judged. Set in San Francisco in the late 1920s, the novel introduces us to private detective Sam Spade, who characterizes the archetype of the hard-boiled detective in his dead-pan pursuit of the recovery of a black figurine. Having worked for a time for the Pinkerton Detective Agency in San Francisco, Hammett reportedly drew upon his years as a detective in creating Spade and many of the other characters for The Maltese Falcon.

The Maltese Falcon was originally serialized in HL Mencken’s “pulp” magazine, Black Mask, beginning with the September 1929 issue. For publication of the book form, editor Blanche Knopf tried to tone down the overt sexuality of the magazine version, fearing the references would alienate readers, but Hammett prevailed. However, the 1941 film adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor (the best known of the novel’s three film versions) excised the homosexual subtext of the novel due to Production Code restraints. Today, the movie is considered a film noir classic and the novel is ranked 56th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century as well as 54th on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best novels.

Información de la editorial

The Maltese Falcon is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally serialized in the magazine Black Mask. The story has been adapted several times for the cinema. The main character, Sam Spade, appears only in this novel and in three lesser known short stories, yet is widely cited as the crystallizing figure in the development of the hard-boiled private detective genre - Raymond Chandler's character Philip Marlowe, for instance, was strongly influenced by Hammett's Spade. Spade was a departure from Hammett's nameless and less than glamorous detective, The Continental Op. Sam Spade combined several features of previous detectives, most notably his cold detachment, keen eye for detail, and unflinching determination to achieve his own justice. He is the man who has seen the wretched, the corrupt, the tawdry side of life but still retains his "tarnished idealism."

Identificación de primeras ediciones

Originally published in serial form in the magazine Black Mask, it was published in book form by Alfred A. Knopf in New York in 1930. Bound in grey cloth, the book is perhaps more well-known for its iconic yellow dust-jacket, with its deco typeface and stark image of a perched falcon. As is the custom for Alfred Knopf from this period, the first edition is recognizable by the absence of any statement of printing on the copyright page. The first state dust jacket has an advertisement on the rear panel for Hammett's other novels, priced at $2.00.

One of the most desirable of all modern first editions, the Maltese Falcon can fetch upwards of $100,000 in a pristine first state jacket, and easily five figures in a second state jacket.