Raymond Chandler: The Novels

Raymond Chandler is one of my favourite authors and I've been meaning to put together a gallery of covers from his books for some while. I have to admit that I don't think Chandler was best served by his British publishers. The movie tie-in covers make an interesting set, but I'd would love to have seen Chandler published by Pan or one of the other companies that did painted covers; I imagine they would have been gorgeous. Pan did publish Chandler many years later, but it was in the days of photo covers. C'est la vie.

I've thrown in a couple of extra covers at the end for the Robert B. Parker's completion of Chandler's incomplete Poodle Springs and the spin-off Perchance to Dream. I'll have a second gallery finished shortly covering the short stories and a few extras.

 

The Big Sleep
Penguin 652, 1948.
----, 2nd imp., 1949; 3rd imp., 1950; 4th imp., 1951; 5th imp., 1952; 6th imp., 1953; 7th imp., 1955.
----, 8th imp., 1959, 220pp, 2/6, [green].
----, 9th imp., 1962, 200pp, 2/6. Cover by John Sewell
----, 10th imp., 1964; 11th imp., 1966; 12th imp., 1967.
----, [ISBN 14-000652-4] 13th imp., 1971, 220pp, 6/-. Cover: photo/des. James Tormey. *MTI.
Pan Books 0330-25836-2, 1979, 189pp.

 

 

 

 

Farewell, My Lovely
Penguin 701, 1949.
----, 2nd imp., 1950; 3rd imp., 1952; 4th imp., 1954
----, 5th imp., 1956., 253pp, 2/6, [green].
----, 6th imp., 1959, 253pp, 2/6, [green].
----, 7th imp., 1961, 253pp, 3/6, [green].
----, [C701] 8th imp., 1966, 253pp, 3/6. Cover: photo/Bob Brooks.
----, [ISBN 14-000701-6] 9th imp., 1971, 253pp, 6/-. Cover: photo/des. James Tormey. *MTI.
----, [ISBN 01400701-6] 11th imp., 1975, 253pp. Cover: photo/des. Michael Farrell. *MTI.

 

The High Window
Penguin 851, 1951.
----, 2nd imp., 1952; 3rd imp., 1954.
----, 4th imp., 1956, 221pp, 2/6, [green].
----, 5th imp., 1959; 6th imp., 1961; 7th imp., 1963; 8th imp., 1967.
----, [ISBN 14-000851-9] 9th imp., 1971. *MTI.
Pan Books 0330-25685-8, 1979, 192pp. Cover: photo

 

 

The Lady in the Lake
Penguin 867, 1952, 237pp, 2/-, [green].
----, 2nd imp., 1954; 3rd imp., 1955; 4th imp., 1959, 2/6; 5th imp., 1961; 6th imp., 1966.
----, [ISBN 14-000867-5] 7th imp., 1971, 237pp, 6/-. Cover: photo/des. James Tormey. *MTI.
Pan Books 0330-25837-0, 1979, 190pp.

 

The Little Sister
Penguin 1096, 1955.
----, 2nd imp., 1957.
----, 3rd imp., 1959
----, 4th imp., 1961, 247pp, 2/6, [green].
----, 5th imp., 1966, 247pp, 5/-, [photo]. *MTI.
Pan Books 0330-25686-6, 1979, 191pp. Cover: photo

 

 

The Long Good-Bye
Penguin 1400, 1959.
----, 2nd imp., 1961.
----, [C1400] 3rd imp., 1963, 320pp, 3/6. Cover by unknown
----, [C1400] 4th imp., 1966, 320pp, 4/6. Cover: photo/Bob Brooks.
----, [ISBN 14-001400-4] 5th imp., 1971, 320pp, 7/-. Cover: photo/des. James Tormey. *MTI.
Pan Books 0330-25684-X, 1979, 285pp.

 

Playback
Penguin 1608, 1961.
----2nd imp., 1963
----, 3rd imp., 1965. Cover by Alan Spain
----, [ISBN 14-001608-2] 4th imp., 1971, 158pp, 5/-. Cover: photo/des. James Tormey. *MTI.
Pan Books 0330-26019-7, 1980, 158pp. Cover: photo

Poodle Springs, with Robert B. Parker
Futura 0708-84823-0, 1991, 268pp, £3.99. Cover by unknown

Perchance to Dream by Robert B. Parker, sequel to Raymon Chandler's The Big Sleep
Warner 0708-84987-3, 1992, 271pp, £3.99. Cover by unknown