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Raymond Chandler
Details
The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler
CHANDLER, Raymond (1888-1959). The Big Sleep. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1939.
The first appearance of private detective Philip Marlowe and a landmark of the genre: first edition of Chandler's first book, the publisher’s office file copy. An accidental writer (he turned to writing when he lost his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression), Chandler was a distinctive and influential stylist credited as one of the founders of hardboiled detective fiction. The Big Sleep has twice been filmed, first in 1946 starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall directed by Howard Hawks and with a screenplay co-authored by William Faulkner, and again in 1978 starring Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles and directed by Michael Winner. Its title comes from detective Philip Marlowe's musing at the end: ‘What did it matter where you lay once you are dead? In a dirty dump or in a marble tower on top a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep...’ Bruccoli A.1.1.a; a Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.
Octavo. Original orange cloth lettered in blue, blue top edges (spot on top edges, minor rubbing at extremities); original pictorial dust-jacket designed by Hans J. Barschel (a little expert restoration at edges and folds); modern red morocco-backed box. Provenance: Knopf file copy (stamped ‘Office File Copy’ on back dust-jacket panel).
Raymond Chandler
CHANDLER, Raymond (1888-1959). The Big Sleep. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1939.
The first appearance of private detective Philip Marlowe and a landmark of the genre: first edition of Chandler's first book, the publisher’s office file copy. An accidental writer (he turned to writing when he lost his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression), Chandler was a distinctive and influential stylist credited as one of the founders of hardboiled detective fiction. The Big Sleep has twice been filmed, first in 1946 starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall directed by Howard Hawks and with a screenplay co-authored by William Faulkner, and again in 1978 starring Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles and directed by Michael Winner. Its title comes from detective Philip Marlowe's musing at the end: ‘What did it matter where you lay once you are dead? In a dirty dump or in a marble tower on top a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep...’ Bruccoli A.1.1.a; a Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.
Octavo. Original orange cloth lettered in blue, blue top edges (spot on top edges, minor rubbing at extremities); original pictorial dust-jacket designed by Hans J. Barschel (a little expert restoration at edges and folds); modern red morocco-backed box. Provenance: Knopf file copy (stamped ‘Office File Copy’ on back dust-jacket panel).
