Description
Collecting
W.R. Burnett, Part I
Born into a political family, Burnett grew up in Ohio. When he dropped out of college, he took a job with the state of Ohio and in his free time, taught himself to write. When he moved to Chicago, he encountered the hard-edged big city and its racketeers, including Al Capone. Out of his experiences he wrote Little Caesar, creating the modern gangster novel and becoming world-famous virtually overnight. Its success launched the career of an American original, a great and now sadly undervalued writer.
W.R. Burnett: A Checklist
Burnett’s writing career began in 1929, with the publication of Little Caesar. He said goodbye 52 years later, in 1981, with Goodbye, Chicago. The work of that more than half-century career presents many challenges to book collectors.
Book Races for the New Millennium
The Ol’ Perfessor quite unexpectedly showed up at Firsts’ offices, exactly one year late. Waving the “results” of the “book races” he handicapped in the July 1993 issue, he demanded to see the publisher. As usual, he had a powerful thirst and was looking for a gratuity. We present his submission here with no apologies. “Never apologize. It’s a sign of weakness.”
Ten Years Ago
Davis Grubb
Books into Film
The Dark Command, a novel by W.R. Burnett, a film by Raoul Walsh.