Spillane (Mickey) I, the Jury

New York, Dutton, 1947.

First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced $2.50.

The first edition of Spillane’s I, the Jury, introducing the world to Mike Hammer. The book drew on the hard-boiled ‘private investigator’ tradition pioneered by Black Mask magazine in the 1930s. By 1980, seven of the top 15 all-time bestselling fiction titles in America were written by Spillane.