Recent Crime Fiction Acquisitions and a Modern Library

A couple of recent acquisitions to add to my growing collection of
crime fiction:

From a reliable internet dealer first editions of two books by William
P. McGivern, Heaven Ran Last (his 2nd book) Dodd, Mead & Co., 1949,
NF/NF and The Darkest Hour, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1955, VG+/VG. Both at
very reasonable prices. I'm still on the lookout for the ever elusive
first edition of The Big Heat by the same author.

Also via the internet a 1st american edition of The Devil Take the
Blue-Tail Fly by John Franklin Bardin, PB, 1967. I've been looking for
the true first of this book for a few years now, published in London
by Gollancz in 1948, to no avail. Acquiring this would complete my
collection of Bardin's noir trilogy, of which the first two books are
The Deadly Percheron and The Last of Philip Banter. I have both of
these first editions in DJ (the american editions are the true firsts
for these, both published by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1946 and 1947
respectively)

From a used bookstore in Soho, NYC in the bargain bin for $2.00 a
first American Edition of The Glass Cage by Georges Simenon, Harcourt,
Brace, Jovanovich, 1971, NF/NF, with an owners signature. The
signature being that of the noted crime author Dorothy B. Hughes. It
exactly matches her signature in my copy of The Etruscan Bull by Frank
Gruber.

Also in the the bargain bin for only $1.00 this time, The Modern
Library edition of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, #229, 1948
VG/VG. I know almost nothing about the Modern Library editions ... is
this a find?

AL

In article <907ba44e.0411281758.29db7726.DeleteThis@posting.google.com>,
crogue123.DeleteThis@yahoo.com (Swag) wrote:

 > Also in the the bargain bin for only $1.00 this time, The Modern
 > Library edition of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, #229, 1948
 > VG/VG. I know almost nothing about the Modern Library editions ... is
 > this a find?

Not much of one - but still a bargain.

The ML "First Thus" of Wharton was in 1942.

POINTS:
(1) Copyright page states "First Modern Library Edition"
(2) Top of the inverse of the dust jacket says "Which of these 284
outstanding books do you want to read?"

Non-first retail value: about $9-
First retail value: about $21-

- Scot Kamins
Webmaster, "Collecting the Modern Library"
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