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Cheesebox: Being the life and times of Cheesebox Callahan, King of the underworld's "wiremen
by Paul S. Meskil with Gerard M. Callahan
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- Very good, lightly soiled pastedown pages/Good jacket, chipped and worn at spine ends and edges, vertical tear to seam of front flap with mild soiling throughout front an
- ISBN 10
- 0131283979
- ISBN 13
- 9780131283978
- Seller
-
Ridgewood, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Prentice Hall, 1974. First printing. Hardcover octavo black cloth boards with gilt lettering in illustrated dust jacket, 281 pp. Very good, lightly soiled pastedown pages/Good jacket, chipped and worn at spine ends and edges, vertical tear to seam of front flap with mild soiling throughout front and rear of jacket. Jacket design by Carl Koenig with photography by Jack Pitkin. Allied with Daily News columnist Paul S. Meskil, Gerard 'Cheesebox' Callahan recounts his life story of ingenuity in the underworld during an era of criminality when government technocrats were staking the odds. Groomed in the gashouse of Tammany Hall New York City, Callahan grew into a adolescent boxer before developing a penchant for electronics while driving ambulances to and from Roosevelt Island. He developed his namesake after his invention "The Cheesebox": simple electronics housed in a wooden perishables container which, when plugged into a house phone, could scramble any potential wiretap and make the call untraceable. A holy grail for bookies across New York City -- to whom Callahan not only sold the device, but also charged a monthly 'maintenance' fee. From there, his cons got more imaginative, and as his connections to the criminal underworld grew so did threats on his life. This copy signed by author to front free endpaper.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Better Read Than Dead
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 748
- Title
- Cheesebox
- Author
- Paul S. Meskil with Gerard M. Callahan
- Illustrator
- Jacket design by Carl Koenig with photography by Jack Pitkin
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover octavo black cloth boards with gilt lettering in illustrated dust jacket, 281 pp
- Book Condition
- Used - Very good, lightly soiled pastedown pages
- Jacket Condition
- Good jacket, chipped and worn at spine ends and edges, vertical tear to seam of front flap with mild soiling throughout front an
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First printing
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0131283979
- ISBN 13
- 9780131283978
- Publisher
- Prentice Hall
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1974
- Keywords
- Crime, Cheesebox
Terms of Sale
Better Read Than Dead
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Better Read Than Dead
Biblio member since 2023
Ridgewood, New York
About Better Read Than Dead
Better Read Than Dead has been selling used books and other printed materials in Brooklyn, NY since 2012. We currently operate two open storefronts and an ever-growing online inventory.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Soiled
- Generally refers to minor discoloration or staining.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Device
- Especially for older books, a printer's device refers to an identifying mark, also sometimes called a printer's mark, on the...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
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