TUCKER'S PEOPLE
New York: L.B. Fischer Publishing Corp. 1943. First Edition. Item #8663
First Printing. Octavo (21.75cm); rust-colored cloth, with titles and leaf decorations stamped in ivory on spine and front cover; dustjacket; [xii],[2],3-496,[4]pp. Spine ends gently nudged, upper edge of textblock lightly dusty, else internally clean and Near Fine. In the second issue dustjacket, designed by Arthur Hawkins, Jr.; unclipped (priced $1.49), edgeworn, lightly dust-soiled, with a few tiny nicks and small tears (a handful of them tape mended on verso); Very Good.
A dark novel, centered around the titular racketeer and those within his circle – "a terrible, blinding vision of the whole of modern society mirrored in the microcosm of the New York underworld. It is a tragic picture, one of the slow, relentless destruction of man's natural self by economic insecurity of a world in which men are dehumanized and demoralized by the steady pressure of economic necessity" (The New York Times, April 25, 1943). Basis for Abraham Polonsky's 1948 film noir Force of Evil, starring John Garfield, Beatrice Pearson, and Thomas Gomez. The Dark Page, Vol.1, pp.326-327.
Price: $300.00