first edition Hardcover in Dust Jacket
1934 · New York
by APPEL, Benjamin
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1934. First Edition. Hardcover in Dust Jacket. Near Fine/Very Good+. 12mo. Pp. 355. Gray cloth, titles and illustration stamped in red on the cover and spine, top edge dyed red: spine ends rubbed, board edges lightly discolored. In the illustrated dust jacket printed black on silver foil, price $2.50 intact on front flap: edges rubbed, small chips to spine head, mellowed creases to rear panel and flaps, silver bright and reflective. A New York rent collector rises to gangster leader. This was the first of Appel's crime novels, set in Hell's Kitchen where he was raised. When published, the NYT review lauded its "honest naturalism (truncated)