British Crime Fiction and Hollywood Film Noir, Graham Greene’s This Gun for Hire, RKO Studio Library Copy, 1936

Graham Greene

First Edition

Greene, Graham, This Gun for Hire, 1936, is the first American edition of Greene’s crime novel later adapted by Paramount into one of the formative films of early American noir. Published in Britain as A Gun for Sale and in the United States under the title This Gun for Hire, the novel belongs to the cultural sphere of interwar crime fiction, political suspense, and screen adaptation history. This copy’s RKO Studio Library provenance gives it particular research value, linking Greene’s fiction to the Hollywood studio reading and acquisition culture that shaped the movement of British crime writing into American cinema. The 1942 film version was directed by Frank Tuttle, starred Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, and Alan Ladd, and was released by Paramount Pictures.

Greene, Graham. This Gun for Hire. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1936. First American edition. One volume. 215 pages. Beige cloth covers with forest green spine labels, no dust jacket. Duodecimo. The copy bears RKO Studio Library stamps on both pastedowns and a call number inked on the spine, showing its use within a Hollywood studio reference library during a period when studios actively tracked fiction for possible adaptation. Greene’s plot, centered on Raven, a hired killer drawn into betrayal and pursuit, gave filmmakers a hard-edged narrative of violence, alienation, and moral pressure; later screenwriters transposed the story from its European and British setting into an American wartime crime framework. The American Film Institute identifies the film as a Paramount production based on Greene’s novel, with screenplay work by Albert Maltz and W.R. Burnett.

The copy is especially strong as an adaptation artifact because RKO, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount were among the studios reported to have considered the property before Paramount ultimately acquired the rights, making the RKO library markings meaningful evidence of studio-level attention to the book before its screen life. The 1942 film helped establish Alan Ladd’s screen persona and is widely discussed within the early film noir cycle, tying this first American edition to the visual and narrative development of wartime Hollywood crime cinema. No dust jacket; RKO Studio Library stamps to both pastedowns; call number inked on spine; light wear consistent with studio library use; overall very good. A compelling studio-provenance copy of Greene’s American edition, connecting interwar British crime fiction with Hollywood’s emerging noir vocabulary.

Item #15937

Price: $450.00