Snarl of the Beast (First Edition)

New York: Edward J. Clode, 1927. First Edition. First Edition. In the first state dust jacket, priced $2.00 and with a blurb for this title on the front flap and an advertisement for Richard H. Watkin's "Half a Clue" on the rear flap.

From the collection of Otto Penzler.

In the early days of the seminal pulp magazine "Black Mask," writer Carroll John Daly was the first to publish a story in the hard boiled vernacular, virtually inventing the style. He was followed months later by Dashiell Hammett, but for some time remained the magazine's number one selling author. His popularity legendarily changed the magazine's focus from traditional mystery fiction to hard boiled crime fiction.

As publishers began to pick up on Daly's popularity, he published his first novel, preceding Hammett's "Red Harvest" by two years. Also the first book to feature Daly's hard boiled private detective Race Williams. Rare in the first-state jacket, with a single auction record listed in Rare Book Hub (Swann, 2011), a much poorer example, described at the time as the only known copy.

About Fine in an about Fine dust jacket. Jacket shows a touch of rubbing at the crown and a couple of corners. A stunning copy.