The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain. Alfred A. Knopf, 1934. First edition stated. WIth first state dust jacket. DUST JACKET with unclipped $2.00 price has lots of little edge wear, tears and chips - mostly along the top edge, nothing longer than 1/2". Heaviest on the top of the spine. Otherwise, there are no unusual folds to the dj. Wrapped in mylar protector. BOOK has some darkening of the bottom edge of the cover, possibly from wear, or from shelving. There is tanning to the endpages on the areas not covered by the dj. There are also a few smudges and specks inside the both end papers. The page edges appear to have foxing or perhaps that is soiling. Free of previous owner marking except for inside the back cover, the book was previous owned by a rental library. Their stamp is inside the back cover with 13 due dates stamped on the rear flyleaf. The latest stamp is from July 20, 1934 (the year of publication). These are the only library markings, no catalogue stamps , no envelopes, no classification stamps on the spine. There are some flaws in the pages and I may have missed some, On page there is a small blotch on line 8 that appears to have been an ant pressed into the book, but it doesn't scrape off, and there is no corresponding impression on the facing pace, pages 164 and 165 there are a number of black smudges the cause of which I can't determine. There are a few of these spots , but much lighter, on the following few pages and on page 132, 133. All of these have brushed (except on page 163) off to some extent, so they must be some sort of powder. I do find some light spots of smudging the same color as that on the edges of the pages, but much lighter, on some of the pages in the same area. The binding is tight with no looseness to the pages. The book is slightly cocked. There is some sort of creasing inside the front cover, possibly from publication, as I don't see how it could have happened otherwise. And the bottom corner of the title page has a tip folded. Not Facsimile, Not Print on Demand. THIS HAS THE ORIGINAL DUST JACKET.

'The Postman Always Rings Twice' was Cain's first novel, although he had ben published otherwise, "an earlier book, 'Our Government' and of numerous articles, sketches, and short stories which have attracted more than usual attention andd provoked more than usual discussion". (From the rear flap of the dust jacket) The novel was quite successful and notorious upon publication, and is regarded as one of the more important crime novels of the 20th century.

The Postman Always Rings Twice has been adapted numerous times, into a film seven times- including the film in 1946 starring Lana Turner and John Garfield and the 1981 remake from a screenplay by David Mamet directed by Bob Rafelson and featuring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange, an opera, and two (Wikipedia) AI06a