Hammett, Dashiell.

8vo (189 x 129mm.), first edition, pre-publication presentation copy inscribed by the author on front endpaper ("To Raoul and Prudence | Whitfield - the | first today - | Dashiell Hammett | January 23, 1930."), original grey cloth, spine blocked in black and blue design, upper cover with falcon design in blue, lower cover with Borzoi imprint, pictorial dust-jacket, preserved in specially made grey cloth folding box with matching falcon design, minor soiling to cloth, jacket price-clipped, with some tiny edge-tears and with head and base of spine strengthened

Layman A.1.1.b

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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One of the earliest presentation copies (if not the earliest) of one of the most influential detective novels of all time, inscribed by the author three weeks before publication to his fellow pulp fiction writer Raoul Whitfield and his first wife (and Hammett's sometime lover) Prudence. Judging from Hammett's inscription, this appears to be either the first copy of The Maltese Falcon which he inscribed, or the first which he received from his publishers, on 23 January 1930. One other presentation copy inscribed on the same day (to his editor at Black Mask, Joseph T. Shaw and his wife Hana) is recorded at auction in the last 35 years, sold at Swann Galleries, New York, 25 May 2006, lot 131.

The New York writer Raoul Whitfield (1896-1944), who published over 300 stories and serials and nine books in his relatively short life, and whose best-known novel is Green Ice (also published in 1930) spent early years in the Philippines, China and Japan before spurning the family's steel-business by taking a job as a reporter on the Pittsburgh Post and beginning to write short stories for Boy's Life, War Stories and Battle Stories. He then went on to become one of the chief contributors of pulp fiction to the legendary Black Mask magazine, founded by H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan in 1920. Whitfield and Hammett enjoyed a mutual admiration of each other's craft, and a lengthy friendship, often meeting in San Francisco or New York bars, and often accompanied by Whitfield's wife Prudence. Since the publication of the Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett 1921-1960 (edited by Richard Layman, Counterpoint Press, 2001) it has been clear that Prudence and Hammett were lovers. She and Whitfield divorced in 1933. Whitfield's second wife was the socialite Emily Vanderbilt Thayer, and his third Lois Bell: both wives ended up committing suicide. Whitfield died of tuberculosis in 1944, with his first wife Prudence outliving him by 45 years, dying in New York in 1995, just short of her 95th birthday. As has often been remarked, Dashiell Hammett's and Raoul Whitfield's careers mirrored each other, both exemplifying brilliant early promise, a few years of intensive writing, then slow decline and illness, partially if not largely caused by heavy drinking.