Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
James M. Cain. The Postman Always Rings Twice. Alfred a Knopf Inc, New York, 1934.
Price: US$1080.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: a fine copy in the original orange and blue cloth in a facsimile dust jacket. signed letter from the author to Harry Clarke laid in, in a full bold hand in ink. Basis fo the famous film noir starring Lana Turner and John Garfield, too steamy for most critics at the time, but gritty directed by Ty Garnett and co starring the beautiful Audrey Trotter. as his second femme fatale.
Seller: Hirschfeld Galleries, Saint Louis, MO, U.S.A.
CAIN, James M.. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. New York: Alfred A. Knopf., 1934.
Price: US$3557.44 + shipping
Description: First edition, first printing. With an original black and white photo laid in, signed by the author. Publisher's original orange cloth with blue titles and borders to upper board and spine, in the Arthur Hawkins, Jr illustrated dustwrapper. Top edge blue. An excellent near fine copy, the binding firm and the cloth bright and fresh. The contents with some spotting to the prelims and closed text block edge are otherwise clean and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the lightly rubbed, price-clipped dustwrapper that has some small scuffs to the bottom edge of the front panel and some toning to the spine, folds and flap edges. Loosely laid in is a black and white photograph of the author which he has signed in black ink. The author's seminal first novel. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. (Hubin). Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
Seller: LUCIUS BOOKS (ABA, ILAB, PBFA), York, United Kingdom
Price: US$15000.00 + shipping
Description: First Printing. Octavo (19.25cm); orange cloth, blocked and titled in dark blue on spine and front cover; dark blue topstain; dustjacket; [viii],[2],3-187,[5]pp. Inscribed by the author on the front endpaper: "To Richard Lackritz / with best regards & the hope he enjoys it / James M. Cain / Hyattsville, MD / June 30, 1977." Gentle sunning to spine and upper board edges, some trivial external wear; Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $2.00), spine-sunned, lightly edgeworn, with a few tiny nicks, and a 1.5cm loss to base of spine panel; Very Good. Housed in a custom clamshell box. Cain's first novel, and one of the defining works of crime fiction to come out of the Depression. "An itinerant worker and the young wife of the Greek owner of a roadside lunchroom near Los Angeles plot her husband's murder. The first attempt fails; the second succeeds. What follows is guilt, suspicion, betrayal, their own deaths, and a novel that anticipated the trend of existentialism in fiction" (Baird 379). Cain was a generous signer of books, nearly to the end of his days, but presentation copies of Postman have always been uncommon. This copy is one of just five that have appeared in the auction record (the others were inscribed to Walter Lippman, Tatnall Brown, Samuel Marx, and Teddy LeBeau). Lackritz (1945-2009) was a bibliophile and pre-eminent Sherlockian, whose comprehensive collection of mystery and detective fiction was offered in a three-part name sale at Christie's in 2002 (a serious literary event). A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone title, basis for Tay Garnett's classic 1946 film noir starring John Garfield and Lana Turner, and a 1981 remake starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. Hubin, p.61.
Seller: Captain Ahab's Rare Books, ABAA, Stephenson, VA, U.S.A.
Cain, James M.. The Postman Always Rings Twice. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1934.
Price: US$16500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Edition, First Printing SIGNED by James M. Cain on a laid in signature. A stunning copy. This First Issue that is vibrant in color with NO chips or tears. This ORIGINAL dustjacket has the $2.00 price present on the front flap. The book is in wonderful shape. The binding is tight with light wear to the boards. The pages are clean with NO writing, marks or bookplates in the book. Overall, a beautiful copy of this TRUE FIRST EDITION Inscribed and SIGNED by the author. We buy SIGNED James M. Cain First Editons.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Cain, James M. The Postman Always Rings Twice.. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1934.
Price: US$20000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of one of the most important crime novels of the twentieth century,Âadapted as a motion picture seven times. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly Signed by James M. Cain on the front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing to the crown. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A very nice example, rare and desirable signed. "It is sometimes easy to trace a literary genre to its source, and James M. Cain's first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, is the noir novel that paved the way for all the noir fiction that followed. The famous film starring Lana Turner and John Garfield is notoriously dark, but the novel is even more full of despair and devoid of hope. It is a short book--little more than a novella--but its searing characterization and depiction of tawdry greed and lust is branded into every reader's memory" (Otto Penzler). Listed by Modern Library as one of the 100 greatest novels of the twentieth century.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.