HAMMETT, DASHIELL. The Glass Key.

FIRST APPEARANCE AT AUCTION. HAMMETT, DASHIELL. The Glass Key. 8vo, publisher's bright blue cloth, first state, stamped in red and white with Knopf printed at foot of spine; top edge stained blue, upper outer corners gently creased in two signatures (possibly printer's flaw); original dust jacket designed by J. W. Schlaikjer, light overall soiling and rubbing, two clean tears on bottom of front panel, spine panel a bit faded, some mild creasing. London and New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931

first english edition, first binding, in the rare original dust jacket. Soon after The Glass Key was published, Knopf closed their London office and transferred the British publishing rights for Hammett and other authors to Cassell. Hammett expert Mark Sutcliffe estimates that of the 3000 sets of sheets printed from the first impression, roughly 1000 copies were bound by Knopf before the turnover. Cassell then issued the remainder of the sheets in their own binding. The dust jacket, which features an image of main character Ned Beaumont, was created for the cover of the March 1930 issue of Black Mask magazine where the story first appeared in four serial installments. Only two other examples in this primary Knopf binding in dust jacket are known to have survived and we know of no other copy that has appeared at auction.
Hammett considered The Glass Key his best work. It became a Haycraft-Queen cornerstone title and the basis for films in 1935, 1942, and 1986. Layman A 4.1.

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