The Crusader by Mary Jane Hammett, pseudonym for Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) - 1980

Sherman Oaks, CA:: D'Ambrosio,, 1980. Second Edition. Hardcover. Like New. Signed. LIMITED EDITION of 85 copies, this is number 64. Set in 10 point Baskerville and printed on a No. 3 Vandercook proof press on Mohawk Superfine paper. Designed by Joseph D'Ambrosio and printed by Elmore H. Mundell. Miniature Book. 3 x 2 7/16 inches. [vi], (28) pp. Half-title, 7 linoleum cuts (2 double-page, 2 2-color), each signed, numbered, and dated in pencil by D'Ambrosio, printer's device of The Compulsive Printer at the rear; text clean, unmarked. White cloth, window cut out of front and rear covers with clear plastic coverings to reveal the linoleum cut of a shield with a cross printed on the free end-papers below, decorative end-papers, spine titled in black; binding square and tight. Housed in a black-paper-covered slip case. SIGNED by D'AMBROSIO and MUNDELL on the colophon. Fine. This is the second appearance in print of Hammett's "The Crusader." "Except for one printing in a miniature book published only in a collector's edition limited to eighty-five copies, this is the story’s first inclusion in a book." Emery. The story that appears in this book originally appeared in the August 1923 issue of The Smart Set, the Aristocrat Among Magazines. The author's name is the same as credited in the magazine. Mary Jane Hammett (1921-1992) was the daughter of Josephine Anna Dolan ("Jose") Hammett by a man other than Dashiell Hammett. Dashiell Hammett began writing fiction on spec to supplement his income in early 1922. His work was published in pulp magazines, which paid a penny or two a word, but at the time, was an important source of income for Hammett. He soon became a favorite of the pulp magazines "for his tough stories that had the ring of truth." Layman and Rivett, Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, Part One. Joseph D'Ambrosio (1934-2009 ) worked as a book artist since 1969. He wrote, set type, printed designs and the artwork, and bound books by hand. D'Ambrosio's books are a total work of art combining many spectrums of fine art mediums. REFERENCES: Bradbury, 20th Century US Miniature Books, No. 1291; Emery, ed., Dashiell Hammett: Lost Stories, p. 117.