LITTLE CAESAR - INSCRIBED TO WILLIAM COLLIER, JR.
New York: Lincoln Mac Veagh / The Dial Press, 1929. First Edition. Item #8671
First Printing. Octavo (19.5cm); navy blue cloth, with titling and publisher's logo stamped in yellow and in blind to spine and front cover; [viii],[2],3-308pp. Inscribed by the author in an early hand on the half-title page: "For Mr. Wm Collier Jr / a perfect Tony / Sincere best wishes / W.R. Burnett." William Collier, Jr. (1902-1987) was an American stage and film actor who played the role of Antonio "Tony" Passa (the Vettori gang's driver) in Mervyn Le Roy's 1931 pre-Code film adaptation of the novel. Gentle sunning to spine, moderate external wear, with minute board exposure to corners, and a vintage bookseller's ticket at lower rear pastedown; Very Good and sound, lacking the dustjacket.
Burnett's first novel, a hard-boiled classic charting the rise and fall of a Chicago gangster against a backdrop of political and social turmoil. The title character, Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello, was based, in part, after real-life Chicago gangster Al Capone, who experienced a similar rise and fall. The novel was released in 1929, the same year that Knopf published Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest; while Hammett's tough-guy legacy was cemented by introducing readers to the Continental Op, an argument can be made for Burnett's novel having a more enduring cultural relevance. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone with a meaningful association. Hubin, p.58; Pronzini & Muller, pp.101-102. 8671.
Price: $1,750.00