THE LADY IN THE LAKE. by CHANDLER, RAYMOND**:

UK,Demy 8vo HB,1st thus.[This the first issue of this set - a 2nd imp was also issued in the same year. A single volume of six (of originally a 7-volume slipcased set - last volume PLAYBACK and the slipcase missing) offered singly or as a 6-vol set,as is in one purchase @ £75 insured, post paid.] FINE.Bright,crisp and clean; with bright,crisp,stamped silver gilt lettering to lower edge of front bd and to spine/ backstrip,publisher's original,sharp-cornered,full grey cloth bds with a dark grey wrap-around silhouette of Philip Marlowe,by David Eccles,visible on both bds and spine/ backstrip; with negligible shelf-wear to edges and corners given the absence of issued slipcase,a red+grey striped headband,and immaculate plain dark red endpapers (eps).[This was the FIRST time the Society used the device of having a silhouette on the binding,which moves progressively backwards on each volume,so that the same silhouette is visible across the spines of the (issued 7) volumes when correctly placed in the slipcase.] Top edges with very faint,minimal,sporadic foxing/spotting and otherwise generally bright,fore-edges brighter,cleaner and without any foxing/spotting or blemishes; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - appears unread - apart from my own collation.UK, Demy 8vo HB (222 x 141 x 18-32mm - varying thickness for each individual volume.),1st thus,1-206pp [paginated] includes 41 chapters,plus [unpaginated] half-title with a b/w frontispiece drawing by Sue Bradbury,to it's reverse,a title page and 2pp blanks at the rear.Filmset in Linotron Dante (12-pt) with Univers and an adapted version of Kombie for display, type.Typeset by Profile Information,printed and bound in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome,Somerset using West One Antique Wove Paper.Author's 4th Philip Marlowe novel.
The Treloar Building was,and is,on Olive Street,near Sixth,on the west side. [First lines . . .]
Chandler's 1943 detective novel,his 4th; featuring,as do all his major works,the Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe.Notable for its removal of Marlowe from his usual Los Angeles environs for much of the book,the novel's complicated plot initially deals with the case of a missing woman - the disappearance of a wealthy businessman's estranged wife Crystal - in a small mountain town some 80 miles from the city.The investigation quickly becomes complicated when the man Crystal claimed to have run off with is also unaware of her whereabouts,and Chandler adds stolen identities,police corruption,and a shoot-out with American sentries to further twist the plot.The book was written shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbour and makes several references to America's new involvement in World War II.
Something that had been a man. [. . . last words]
As with many of his novels,Chandler based 'The Lady in the Lake's plot on various short stories he had previously written for literary magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Black Mask.
Of the issued volumes,four of his major works: 'The Big Sleep (1939),'Farewell,My Lovely' (1940),'The Lady in the Lake' (1943),and 'The Long Goodbye' (1954),all of which were made into very popular films.Basis for the 1947,MGM bizarre movie directed by George Haight of the same title,that starred Robert Montgomery as Marlowe,but because of the subjective camera method,you rarely see the actor; and also starred Audrey Totter (the femme fatale),Lloyd Nolan,Leon Ames,and Jayne Meadows in the film.
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