IX-1  Spanish Blood  Cleveland & New York:  World, [1946].  The first hardcover appearance of the five short stories contained herein?

X-1  The Little Sister, London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1949].  Red cloth, printed in gold on spine; front and rear coves blank.  Issued in a pictorial dust wrapper.  Note:  The first printing was published June 24, 1949.  the copyright page states, "First published in Great Britain, 1949 / by Hamish Hamilton, Ltd" with the printer's slug.  The second printing is so stated on the copyright page.  

The Little Sister was published in abridged form in Cosmopolitan magazine in April 1949.

X-2  Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949.  Reprinted twice 1949.

The first American edition of 12,500 copies was published on September 26, 1949.  The first edition must have the date on the title page.  It was Houghton Mifflin's practice to drop the date from subsequent printings of the same edition.

The Little Sister also turns up in a yellow cloth binding, which is a later state than the orange.

X-3  New York:  Pocket, [1950].  #750

X-4 Harmondsworth:  Penguin, [1955].  #1096.  Reprinted 1957, 1959, 1961.

X-5  New York:  Pocket, [1957].  Reprinted 1963 (4001),

X-6  London:  Hamish Hamilton, [     ].  Copyright page:...Issued by Star Editions Ltd. London for sale on the Continent of Europe only...

X-7  The Second Chandler Omnibus.  London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1962].  Also includes "The Simple Art of Murder," The Long Good-Bye, Playback.

XI-1   The Simple Art of Murder, Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950.  Gray cloth, printed in orange and yellow on front cover and spine; rear cover blank.  Issued in pictorial dust wrapper.  Note:  The first printing of 8,000 copies was published September 19, 1950.  

Twelve stories and the revised version of "The Simple Art of Murder"--no first book material except for "Introduction."

XI-2  London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1950].  Dark red cloth, stamped in gold on spine; front and rear covers blank.  Issued in a pictorial dust wrapper.  The first English edition was published November 24, 1950.  Seven stories.  

XI-3  New York:  Pocket, [1953].  #916.  Four stories.  Reprinted twice 1953-1964 (#50086).

XI-4  Norton, [1968]?.  Seagull Library of Mystery and Suspense.  With a new introduction by James Nelson.

XI-5 New York: Ballantine, 1980.  #28860.

XII-1  Trouble is My Business,  New York:  Pocket [1951].  #823.  Reprinted twice 1951-1957 (#2823).  No first book material.

XII-2 Harmondworth:  Penguin, [1950].  #741.  Reprinted 1951, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964 (#C741).  Contents vary from Pocket edition.

XIII-1  Pick-Up on Noon Street,  New York:  Pocket, [1952].  #846.  Reprinted six times 1952-1965 (#2846, #50178).  No first book material.

XIII-2  London:  Harborough, [1960],  Ace #H308.  Contents vary from Pocket edition.

XIV--1 Smart-Aleck Kill, London:  Hamish Hamilton [1953].  No first book material.

XIV-2  London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1958].  Reprinted 1959, 1962.

XIV-3  Harmondsworth:  Penguin, [1964].  #C2198

XV-1  Pearls Are a Nuisance, London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1953].  No first book material.

XV-2  London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1958].  Reprinted 1959, 1962.

XV-3  Harmondsworth:  Penguin, [1964]. #C2136.

XVI-1a  The Long Good-Bye, London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1953].  Dark red cloth, spine stamped in silver; front and rear covers blank.  Issued in a pictorial dust wrapper.  Note: English publication precedes American.  The first edition was published November 27, 1953.  The second printing is so stated on the copyright page.  Copyright page:  First published in Great Britain, 1953.

XVI-1b  London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1953].  Copyright page:  Second Impression...

XVI-2  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1954.  Three-piece binding, with spine and half of each cover blue, the other halves of each cover green, printed in dark green on front cover and spine; rear cover blank.  Issued in a pictorial dust wrapper.  Note:  The first American edition of 10,000 copies was published March 1, 1954.  The date must appear on the title page, else it is a late printing.

XVI-3  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, [     ].  "Book Club Edition" specified on dust jacket only.

XVI-4  New York:  Pocket, [1955].  #1044.  Reprinted three times 1955-1964 (#45010).

XVI-5  Harmondsworth:  Penguin, [1959].  #1400.  Reprinted 1961, 1963 (#C1400), 1966.

XVI-6  The Second Chandler Omnibus--see X-7.

XVII-1  Playback, London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1958].  Bright red-orange cloth, spine stamped in silver; front and rear covers blank.  Issued in a printed dust wrapper.  Copyright page:  First published in Great Britain, 1958.  Note:  The first edition was published July 10, 1958.  A not uncommon binding variant is stamped in bright yellow.  English publication precedes American.  Also proof copies in printed wrappers.

XVII-2a  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1958.  Tan cloth, printed in brown on front cover and spine; rear cover blank.  Issued in pictorial dust wrapper.  Copyright page:  First Printing.  Reprinted twice by Houghton Mifflin.  Note:  The first American edition of 6,000 copies was published October 16, 1958.  The date must appear on the title page, else it is not a first printing.

XVII-2b  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, [     ].  Doubleday Book Club reprint--specified on dust jacket.

XVII-3  New York:  Pocket, [1960].  #C375.

XVII-4  Harmondsworth:  Penguin, [1961].  #1608.  Reprinted 1963, 1965 (#C1608).

XVII-5  The Second Chandler Omnibus--see X-7.

XVIII-1  Raymond Chandler on Writing  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, 1962.  White wrappers, printed in black to serve as a title page.  A small number of copies of this 28-page pamphlet was published before April 1962 as a promotional brochure for Raymond Chandler Speaking, and it is comprised of material from that book.

XIX-1a  Raymond Chandler Speaking, edited by Dorothy Gardiner and Kathrine Sorley Walker, London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1962].  Purple-red boards (with blue and red dots close together), stamped in gold on spine; front and rear covers blank.  Issued in a printed dust wrapper.  First publication of "A Couple of Writers" and "The Poodle Springs Story"--also letters.  Note:  The first edition was published on March 15, 1962.  English publication precedes American.

XIX-1b  London:  Hamish Hamilton, 1962.

XIX-2a  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, 1962.  Copyright page:  First Printing.  Blue cloth, printed in red on front cover and spine; rear cover blank.  Issued in a printed dust wrapper.  Note:  The first American edition of 7,500 copies was published April 24, 1962.  The date must appear on the title page, else it is not a first printing.

XIX-2b  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, [     ].  Second Printing.

XIX-3  London:  Four Square, 1967.

XX-1  Chandler on Proof Reading, (London, privately printed by the Merrian Press), January 1963.  One page, folded in half to make four pages.  Note:  The first edition of Chandler's letter (written on January 18, 1948) to Edward Weeks was printed by Penguin Books as a keepsake.  The size of the printing is unknown but appears to have been 36 copies, of which (probably) six were printed on a red-orange sheet and (probably) 30 were printed on a yellowish-gray sheet.  Both states are exceedingly rare.

XXI-1a  Killer in the Rain, with an introduction by Philip Durham.  London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1964].  Copyright page:  First published in Great Britain 1964...  Dark red boards, stamped in gold on the spine; front and rear covers blank.  Issued in a pictorial dust wrapper.  First book appearance for "Killer in the Rain," "The Curtain," "Try the Girl," "Mandarin's Jade," "Bay City Blues," "The Lady in the Lake." Note:  The first edition was published March 26, 1964.  English publication precedes American.

XXI-1b  London:  Hamish Hamilton, 1964.

XXI-1c  London:  Quality Book Club, [1964].

XXI-2  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1964.  Copyright page:  First Printing.  Blue cloth, printed in white on front cover and spine; rear cover blank.  Issued in a pictorial dust wrapper.  Note:  The first American edition of 5,000 copies was published September 9, 1964.

XXI-3  New York:  Pocket, [1965]. #75138.

XXI-4 Harmondsworth:  Penguin, [1966]. #C2445

XXII-1a  The Smell of Fear, London:  Hamish Hamilton, [1965].  First book appearance for "The Pencil."

XXII-1b  Geneva:  Heron Books, 1981.  Illustrated by Paul J. Crompton.

XXIII-1a  Chandler Before Marlowe, Columbia, S.C.:  University of South Carolina Press, [1973].  Vellum colored boards, simulated red leather spine with matching slipcase.  book printed in gold on front and rear covers and spine; also blind-stamped on front cover.  The slipcase is not printed.  Note:  the first edition was limited to 499 copies, of which numbers 1-400 were for sale and numbers 401-499 were for presentation.  It was published July 2, 1973/

XXIII-1b  Columbia, S.C.:  University of South Carolina Press, [1973].  In a less elaborate format, a second printing of the above book, so stated on the copyright page.  Published in a printed dust wrapper later in the same month.

XXIV-1a  The Blue Dahlia, Carbondale and Edwardsville, Ill.:  Southern Illinois University Press, [1976].  Blue cloth, printed in dark blue on front cover, stamped in silver on spine; rear cover blank.  Issued in a pictorial dust jacket (a reproduction of the movie poster of The Blue Dahlia).  The first edition was published June 14, 1976, with 1,000 copies.

XXIV-1b  Carbondale and Edwardsville, Ill.:  Southern Illinois University Press, [1976].  Published simultaneously as the above cloth edition, in paperbound format, the front cover having the same illustration as the dust wrapper of the cloth state, in an edition of 3,000 copies.

XXIV-2  London:  Elm Tree Books, [1976].  Published September 16, 1976.

XXV-1  The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler, edited by Frank MacShane.  New York:  The Ecco Press, 1976.  Plum-colored cloth, stamped in gold on spine; front and rear covers blank.  Illustrated by Edward Gorey.  Also includes Chandler's Gothic Romance English Summer.  Note:  The first edition of 6,108 copies was published December 1, 1976.  Proof copies were issued in brown printed wrappers.

XXV-2  London:  Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1977.  Identical contents as the American edition, published October 14, 1977.

XXVI-1  Letters:  Raymond Chandler and James M. Fox, Santa Barbara, CA, 1978.  Blue cloth, stamped in silver on front cover and spine; rear cover blank.  Issued in an unprinted acetate dust wrapper.  Note:  The volume is comprised of correspondence between Chandler and mystery writer James M. Fox, edited by James Pepper.  The trade edition was 350 numbered copies; 30 copies were printed for presentations and were not for sale; 26 copies were lettered and bound in full leather.  All copies were signed by Fox.

XXVII-1  Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler, edited by Frank MacShane.  New York:  Columbia University Press, 1981.  Black cloth, stamped in silver on spine; front and rear covers blank.  Issued in a light blue pictorial dust wrapper.  Note:  Review copies were issued in blue printed wrappers.

Chandler, Raymond, and Robert B. Parker,
--Poodle Springs, 1962/1989.

Screenplays

Chandler, Raymond,
--Double Indemnity, 1944. (with Billy Wilder)
--The Blue Dahlia, 1946. Edgar
--Playback, 1948.

Chandler, Raymond, with C. Ormonde,
--Strangers on a Train, 1951.

Short Magazine Fiction

Chandler, Raymond,
Black Mask

--Black Mailers Don't Shoot, December, 1933. (author's first publication) --Smart-Aleck Kill, 1934. --Finger Man, October, 1934. --Killer in the Rain, January,1935. --Nevada Gas, June, 1935. --Spanish Blood, November, 1935. --Guns at Cyrano's, January, 1936. --The Man Who Liked Dogs, March, 1936. --Goldfish, June, 1936. --The Curtain, September, 1936. --Try the Girl, January, 1937.

Dime Detective

Mandarin's Jade, November, 1937. --Red Wind, January, 1938. --The King in Yellow, March, 1938. --Bay City Blues, June, 1938. --The Lady in the Lake, January, 1939. --Pearls Are a Nuisance, April, 1939. --Trouble Is My Business, August, 1939.
--Unknown

The Bronze Door, November, 1939

Sources of Biographical and Bibliographical Information

Chandler, Raymond, Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels, edited by Frank MacShane, Library of America, New York, 1995. ISBN: 1-883011-07-8

Chandler, Raymond, Raymond Chandler: Later Novels and Other Writings, edited by Frank MacShane, Library of America, New York, 1995. ISBN: 1-883011-08-6

Penzler, Otto, Collecting Mystery Fiction: Raymond Chandler, in The Armchair Detective, Spring, 1996.

Woodman, Tom, King's Gambit: Playing Chess and Playing Detective in Raymond Chandler's Work, in The Armchair Detective, Winter, 1997. * (article)