"PUTTING HIS PERSONAL STAMP ON THE FORM AS DISTINCTIVELY AS HAD HAMMETT AND CHANDLER": FIRST EDITION OF THE ZEBRA-STRIPED HEARSE, SIGNED BY ROSS MACDONALD

MACDONALD, Ross. The Zebra-Striped Hearse. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962. Octavo, original black cloth and gold paper-covered boards, original dust jacket. $1200.

First edition of Macdonald's 10th Lew Archer novel, reshaping the genre that "Hammett invented, that Chandler elaborated, and that he himself has refined… a model of his excellence," signed by Ross Macdonald on the title page, a splendid copy in the original dust jacket.

With publication of Zebra-Striped Hearse, Macdonald's "elegantly designed and typically complex cat's cradle,… there was a growing awareness that he was reshaping the private-detective story, putting his personal stamp on the form as distinctively as had Hammett and Chandler." To New Yorker magazine, this 10th Lew Archer novel brilliantly evoked a world "that Hammett invented, that Chandler elaborated, and that he himself has refined, and it is a model of his excellence. That is to say, it has character, statement and style." The Los Angeles Times praised Macdonald "as a master of the lost art of plotting. His characterizations, even the most minor, are superb… Then, of course, there is the Macdonald style, which is enough to make writers crawl with envy" (Nolan, Ross Macdonald, 228). "First Edition" stated on copyright page. Bruccoli, Checklist, 40. Magill, 1135-40. Reilly, 987-89. Bruccoli & Layman, 243. Steinbrunner & Penzler, 262-63. Hubin II:I,527. Barzun & Taylor 2319.

A fine signed copy.