Fine Books & Manuscripts

CHANDLER, Raymond (1888–1959). Six Issues of The Atlantic Monthly Magazine Featuring Raymond Chandler Stories and Reviews by the Author. 1944–1958. 4tos. Publisher’s pictorial wrappers (Dec. 1944 water damaged). Stories and reviews include: “Simple Art of Murder” (Dec. 1944) –– “Writers in Hollywood” (Nov. 1945). –– “Oscar Night in Hollywood” (Mar. 1948). –– “Studies in Extinction” (Apr. 1948). –– “Ten Percent of Your Life” (Feb. 1952). –– and a book review of Chandler’s “Playback” (1958 Anniversary Issue). In 1944, Raymond Chandler wrote an essay for The Atlantic titled “The Simple Art of Murder”. In it, the author critiqued and defended the hard-boiled genre as literature. Most famously, he wrote that Hammett “gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not hand-wrought dueling pistols, curare and tropical fish.” Concluding that the “art” of crime fiction requires emotional and intellectual honesty and integrity.