BEAT THE DEVIL

Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, (1951). First edition. A REVIEW COPY with slip laid in. Helvick was the pseudonym of Claud Cockburn, a noted British radical journalist. Born in Peking, China, in 1904, he was the scion of an aristocratic family--one of his ancestors was the British commander who ordered the burning of the White House during the War of 1812 and his cousin was the novelist Evelyn Waugh. The book was made into a 1953 film directed by John Huston, with the screenplay by Huston and Truman Capote, and starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollobrigida. Huston intended it to be a tongue-in-cheek spoof of "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), also directed by Huston, and other films of Film Noir-style that Huston himself had pioneered (Wikipedia). Near fine with light rubbing to the cover, light bump to top front cover, and faint offset to the endpapers. In a dust jacket which is about an eighth-inch short. We've informed that at least one other copy with a little shorter jacket has been cataloged, so perhaps publisher produced (Graham Gateson reported cataloged by Bauman Books) Also minor edge rubbing and soiling, and a few shallow chips to the spine ends and corners. Cover art still clear and bright.