No Letters for the Dead

New York: Random House. Very Good+ in Fair dj. (c.1936). First Edition. Hardcover. [modest shelfwear to book; includes the rare and fragile original acetate dust jacket and both dust jacket flaps; see Notes for additional details and condition information]. The author's second book, often described as an epistolary novel, although strictly speaking it's not, although it does quote quite often from letters exchanged by the principals. The story has to do with "a normal young woman who drifts into prostitution, a victim of uncontrollable circumstances." (Her married lover has been found complicit in the suicide death of his wife and the subsequent death of their child, and has been sentenced to San Quentin.) (The first paragraph of the jacket blurb refers to the author's first novel, "We Too Are Drifting," calling it a "frank and unashamed story of the love of three women" -- which probably explains why they felt compelled to then describe the heroine of this novel as "normal.") The dust jacket on this book is of unusual design, consisting of three elements: (1) a wrap-around paper band, partially printed on foil, bearing the author's name and the book title on the front and a large Random House logo on the rear, and covering about one-third of the book's exterior; (2) a clear (and quite thin) acetate overlay, covering the entire book (although now somewhat shrunken with age); and (3) two normal jacket flaps, printed on foil, the front with a blurb about the book, the rear with the author's portrait photo and a one-paragraph biography. Both flaps appear to have been attached to and covered by the acetate (the rear flap is still attached, but just barely; the front is loose, but effectively held in place by the acetate). NOTE that the acetate is rather badly torn at the rear; I have left it in place, but have also covered the entirety of the book and jacket with a NEW custom-cut protective mylar overlay. (The two flaps are shown in the second scanned image accompanying this listing.) . (Inventory #: 29564)