Dec 6, 2024 10:00 EST

Rare Books, Autographs & Maps

 
Lot 687
 

687

Raymond Chandler's copy of the first English edition of Farewell, My Lovely

Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler

CHANDLER, RAYMOND

Farewell, My Lovely. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1940. First English edition with "Published 1940" to copyright. Publisher’s cloth, in original dust jacket with price intact. Jacket worn with small losses to tips and corners, creases, the cloth with soiled areas, spotting to edges, the blue of the jacket spine not faded as commonly encountered.

Chandler's retained copy of the first English edition of his second novel, Farewell, My Lovely, published in 1940. This is also the second novel to feature detective Philip Marlowe who in this case gets mixed up with a jewelry heist and the mob in a story where according to the jacket "Things happen with a dizzy speed - strange, tough, dramatic things. In the end you find that it all makes sense, and would have made sense all along if you had picked up the hints that were offered."

The English edition is scarce, particularly in the jacket which offers a design of a gun-wielding gangster on the spine and a fainting woman on the cover, both using a blue ink subject to fading. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone; Bruccoli A2.2a.

Sold for $4,800
Estimated at $800 - $1,200

Includes Buyer's Premium


 

Estate / Collection: The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection of Raymond Chandler

CHANDLER, RAYMOND

Farewell, My Lovely. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1940. First English edition with "Published 1940" to copyright. Publisher’s cloth, in original dust jacket with price intact. Jacket worn with small losses to tips and corners, creases, the cloth with soiled areas, spotting to edges, the blue of the jacket spine not faded as commonly encountered.

Chandler's retained copy of the first English edition of his second novel, Farewell, My Lovely, published in 1940. This is also the second novel to feature detective Philip Marlowe who in this case gets mixed up with a jewelry heist and the mob in a story where according to the jacket "Things happen with a dizzy speed - strange, tough, dramatic things. In the end you find that it all makes sense, and would have made sense all along if you had picked up the hints that were offered."

The English edition is scarce, particularly in the jacket which offers a design of a gun-wielding gangster on the spine and a fainting woman on the cover, both using a blue ink subject to fading. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone; Bruccoli A2.2a.

Auction: Rare Books, Autographs & Maps, Dec 6, 2024

  • Auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps on December 6, 2024

  • Consignments Are Currently Being Accepted for Future Auctions

  • We Invite You to Contact Us for a Complimentary Auction Evaluation of Your Books, Autographs & Maps


NEW YORK, NY -- Doyle held a successful auction of Rare Books, Autographs & Maps onDecember 6, 2024 showcased is a wonderful diversity of Americana, maps, autographs, early books and landmarks of literature and science.

Highlighting the sale was the first edition of Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus from 1670 that soared to $70,350. Spinoza’s Tractatus is his only work published during his lifetime and remains his most significant. It presents a clear theory of natural right, asserting that the love of God leads to love for others. The state exists to ensure liberty, not oppression, with justice, wisdom, and toleration as key. Influential to thinkers like Blake and Goethe, it shaped Romanticism.

The Jean Vounder-Davis Collection offered the largest trove of unpublished Raymond Chandler stories, poetry, letters, books and personal artifacts to come to market. Best known for his Philip Marlowe detective novels including The Big Sleep (1939) and Farewell, My Lovely (1940) and as screenwriter of film noir classics such as Double Indemnity (1944) and The Blue Dahlia (1946), Raymond Chandler is considered one of the top writers in the hardboiled fiction genre alongside Dashiell Hammett and James Cain. Held for decades, the archive belonged to Jean Fracasse [later Vounder-Davis] who was first hired in January 1957 as Chandler's personal secretary but quickly became his close friend, confidant, fiancé and muse to whom he dedicated his last book.


We Invite You to Auction!

Consignments are currently being accepted for future auctions. We invite you to contact us for a complimentary auction evaluation. Our Specialists are always available to discuss the sale of a single item or an entire collection.

For information, please contact Peter Costanzo at 212-427-4141 ext 248, Edward Ripley-Duggan at ext 234, or Noah Goldrach at ext 226, or email Books@Doyle.com

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