Nightmare Alley by Gresham, First Edition (32 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Spain Rodriguez (illustrator). 1st Edition. Softcover without dust jacket. Ex-Library book with appropriate stamps, stickers and markings. Book tape to spine. Mild wear noted to edges and corners. Front bottom corner with creasing. Pages clean and unmarked. Renowned underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez captures the brooding, unforgiving atmosphere of carny life in Gresham's cult classic Nightmare Alley, and renders an unforgettable` portrait of the amoral Stanton Carlisle's rise to bogus spiritualist and fortune-teller and ultimate descent into degradation and "geekdom.".

Hardcover. Condition: Very Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Fine. First Edition Thus. Very fine in VF dustjacket (in LOA protective cardboard slipcase). 990 p. First printing of the LOA edition.

Soft cover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. First paperbound edition. Cover artwork by James Avati. Cover corner crease, ownership stamp to inside cover and title page, pages edge tanned but supple with no flaking. GOOD-VERY GOOD. Pics on request.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First American Edition. Very nice copy in its first printing. Bergundy cloth with gold lettering and black rule on spine. High quality paper. 990 pages. Six classic novels all of which have been made into films. Issued in price intact jacket with black background. In mylar. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Very Good. First Thus. First Edition Thus, Second Printing (December 1949). Published by Signet/New American, 1949. 12mo. Paperback. Code of 738 on cover and spine. Faded red stained page ends. Book is very good with marker on inside front cover, bleeding onto cover. Covers have some light shelf wear. A nice copy of this vintage novel from Gresham. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. Please email with any questions. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Sag Harbor, New York.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First Carroll & Graf edition, first printing; and first film tie-in paperback. "First Carroll & Graf edition 1986" statement to the copyright page, $3.50 to the front cover. Each chapter head is illustrated with a different Tarot card. Adapted to the 1947 Edmund Goulding directed film starring Tyrone Power, and to the 2022 Guillermo del Toro film starring Bradley Cooper. Film tie-in books from the 1947 movie were produced in hardcover only, until this, now elusive, 1986 Carroll & Graf mass-market paperback edition. Gresham drew on knowledge gained from numerous conversations with a former carnival worker as the basis for this deep noir, featuring an ambitious carnival man who continually moved up the ladder of con games, for wealth. Very tight and nicely preserved collectible. Faint line crease to the spine, some intermittent rubs to the spine folds and corner tips, upper page edges slightly foxed, else very tight and very good plus in glossy stiff-card wraps with front cover illustration that copies the original film poster depicting Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, transposed here from color into blues and blacks, rear cover blurb for the 1947 movie. Mass-market paperback.

Paperback. Condition: Good For Age. No Jacket. 1st Edition. This book is in good condition for its age. The pages are yellowed and the covers are slightly curved. This is a first edition copy. Size: Mass Market. 1st Edition.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Good to very good first Triangle Books edition and first photoplay edition. Binding square and tight. Pages clean and unmarked. Slight bumping and wear to spine. Very slight residue to bottom of front cover. Slight rubbing to covers. Very small area of discolouration to back cover. Very minor wear to corners of covers. Minor discolouration to textblock. Slight separation from half title and title page. The complete book from which 20th-Century Fox made the outstanding hit movie. A story about the dark side of the American Dream.

William Heinemann. London. 1947. First edition. Hardback, no DW. Original blue cloth with silver lettering to spine. Lean to spine with extremities worn and rubbed. Pages slightly browned otherwise a good clean copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Arnold, A. F. (illustrator). First Edition, 2nd Printing. Author's first book states right out that "this is not a nice book, but a fine & courageous one,'' which tells the horrific tale of Stanton Carlisle, circus performer, mentalist, & eventually geek, who "worked his way down his own private road to hell." Basis for the terrifying 1947 movie starring Tyrone Power (as well as the 2021 remake starring Bradley Cooper in the title role. A FIRST EDITION, second printing, from1946, this hardcover octavo has green cloth-covered boards with a black title box lettered & decorated in gilt to spine. Condition is Good: internally very clean, pages heavily tanned, but completely unmarked. Brittle with age, & a few have short tears descending from the top edge. Binding is strong & straight, hinges secure, Exterior shows light soil & heavy rubbing to all corners/both ends of spine, with mild fraying. The price-clipped DJ (designed by A. F. Arnold) is also Good: bright green with modest rubbing, light soil, minor chipping & tearing all around, missing 1/4" section at head of spine; nicely protected in new clear mylar cover free! Our photos depict the exact book you will receive, never "stock" images of books we don't actually have! Same day shipping on all orders received by 2 pm Weekdays (Pacific time); later orders, Weekends, & holidays ship very next business day.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 1st Edition. VG+ in VG DJ. Professor and writer Jay A. Gertzman's ("Pulp According to David Goodis") copy with his notes throughout.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Gresham was the first husband of Joy Davidman Lewis. This was his first book. This carnival thriller was made into a movie in 1947 starring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell and then again in 2021 starring Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett. Black cloth boards with a green section on the spine made to look like a label. Gilt text on the spine. 275 pp. Dust wrapper is green with art and white text.The cloth on the front cover has a curva-linear bubble. Neat gift inscription inside front cover. Wrapper has a couple closed tears of .75" or less plus other edge wear. A nice copy of an important noir book. Shelley and Son Books specializes in C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien & the Inklings. Full refund if not satisfied.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. A VERY GOOD FIRST PRINTING IN LIGHTLY CHIPPED DUST JACKET. SCARCE NOT EX LIB.

Hardcover. First Paperback Edition, First Printing. Small Octavo, 221 pages. In Very Good minus condition, housed in a plastic sleeve. Yellow, beige, and white color blocked spine with black lettering. Mild general shelf wear, including rubbing to covers, age-toning to text block and less so to interior (text clear and legible). Shelved under Front Counter. 1387563. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.

Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Avati, James (illustrator). First Paperback Edition. First US paperback edition. Originally published by Rinehart & Company in 1946. The spine has some light reading creasing and slight chipping at the bottom. Light surface and edge wear to the covers with a little peeling to the laminate at the top left corner of the rear cover. Page edges browned and the pages are browned but otherwise unmarked. Cover illustration by James Avati. First printing. Postage charge will be reduced by £1.50 when the order is processed.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. First Triangle Books edition, and first photoplay edition. Pictorial boards illustrated with stills from the film featuring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell, presumably as issued, and without dust jacket (again, likely as issued). Cheap paper toned as always, rubbing mostly at the crown, a very good or better copy. The author's first book, the story of a latter-day Elmer Gantry. Tyrone Power was fascinated by the character of sideshow hustler Stanton Carlisle and got Fox studios to buy the rights for him; 1947's *Nightmare Alley* became one of his best films. Remade in 2021 by director Guillermo del Toro, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Paul Anderson, as the geek.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Poor. 1st Edition. Looks to be a first, no additional printings,2.50 price, no book club markings. Dust jacket in rough shape, tears taped heavy edge wear and back cover heavy soil. Internally clean and sound.

Couverture souple. Condition: Très bon. Edition originale. Julliard, 1948, in-8, broché, jaquette photographique. 396 pages. Traduction de Denise NAST. Édition Originale (pas de grand papier) de la traduction de ce chef d'oeuvre du roman noir. Bien complet de sa rarissime jaquette illustrée de photos du film d'Edmund GOULDING de 1947.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. VERY GOOD condition DUST JACKET: Chipping to top and bottom of spine and all outside corners w/several closed tears to spine. Closed tears to top edge of front panel; top outside corner of same, and top edge of back panel. Minor sunning to top edge, both flaps. Stressing/abrasions to spine hinges and flap folds. Tears mended on reverse with archival tape, as well as a couple of old tape repairs. BOARDS: Minor scuffs to all outside corners w/bumps to bottom of same. A couple of very small bumps to outside edge, front. BOOK: Nice topstain. Very minor offsetting to endpapers, front and back. Ditto half-title and title page. Please inspect photos and read description closely for condition details. ******************************************* Here on offer is a very nice copy of American author William Lindsay Gresham's first novel: "Nightmare Alley", a 1946 crime noir novel and the basis for the 1947 and 2021 films of the same name starring, respectively, Tyrone Power and Cate Blanchett. This is a true 1st trade edition, 1st printing of the work published by Rinehart and Company in 1946. The dust jacket is protected from further wear by a Mylar sleeve. **************************************************** ". . . Nightmare Alley begins with an extraordinary description of a carnival-show geek alcoholic and abject and the object of the voyeuristic crowd s gleeful disgust and derision going about his work at a county fair. Young Stan Carlisle is working as a carny, and he wonders how a man could fall so low. There s no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him. ***** And since Stan is clever and ambitious and not without a useful streak of ruthlessness, soon enough he s going places. Onstage he plays the mentalist with a cute assistant (before long his harried wife), then he graduates to full-blown spiritualist, catering to the needs of the rich and gullible in their well-upholstered homes. It looks like the world is Stan s for the taking. At least for now. " ////////////////////////////////////////////// William Lindsay Gresham (August 20, 1909 September 14, 1962) was an American novelist and non-fiction author particularly well-regarded among readers of noir. His best-known work is Nightmare Alley (1946), which was adapted to film in 1947 and 2021. ///// . . . In 1937, Gresham had served as a volunteer medic for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade forces during the Spanish Civil War. There, he befriended a former sideshow employee, Joseph Daniel "Doc" Halliday, and their long conversations inspired much of his work, particularly Gresham's two books about the American carnival, the nonfiction Monster Midway and the fictional Nightmare Alley. . . . ///// . . . In 1946 he published Nightmare Alley, his first and most successful novel. It was purchased by Hollywood for $60,000 and made into a film of the same name starring Tyrone Power in 1947. . . . ///// . . . Twenty-four of his articles and stories on fairgrounds, spook shows, and hucksters were republished in 2013 as Grindshow: the Selected Writings of William Lindsay Gresham. . . " ********** The above text was taken from, respectively, New York Review Books (via Google Books) and Wikipedia.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair. 1st Edition. Dj very worn and torn and moderately chipped. Small annotation on rear. Cover very slightly worn with slightly bumped corners and slight shelf-wear. Underlining in tp. 8vo. 275 p. English.

First edition. Octavo, original black cloth, spine stamped in gold and green, fore edge untrimmed, bottom edge trimmed, top edge stained green. The author's first book. "Grotesque thriller in which a carnival huckster tries to exploit the tricks of his trade in carving out a career as a high society occultist. Its deployment of carnival bizarrerie links it to THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO (1935) and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (1962)." - Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror 4-58. Basis for the 1947 film noir (the film was directed by Edmund Goulding and starred Coleen Gray and Joan Blondell). Recently remade. [Reference: Hubin, p. 352. Johnson, The Dark Page, p. 122]. Damp (?) stain to front cover, a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with light wear, rubbing and several minor closed tears to corner tips and edges, small chip at upper left front corner, tiny chips to spine ends and age toning to the rear panel. (31074).

Hardcover. Condition: Near fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. Two books: a new edition of Nightmare Alley plus a collection of 24 stories, many never reprinted since their original magazine appearances. Nightmare is limited to 200 copies and Grindshow is limited to 300, signed by the editor, Bret Wood, and the artist, David Ho. Nightmare Alley was filmed in 2021 by Guillermo del Toro. 464 + 400 pages plus the limitation leaves. First edition (first printing of Grindshow). Nightmare Alley (first printing from Centipede Press) is fine in a very near fine dust jacket. The page block of Grindshow is beginning to separate from the spine at the top; it is otherwise fine in a very near fine dust jacket. The jackets have minute wear to the corners. This is a matched set, with both volumes numbered 23. Both books have CP thank you cards laid in.

Softcover. Second Printing. Octavo, 275 pages. In Very Good condition with Very Good dust jacket. Spine with white lettering on green background. Dust jacket is in a mylar sleeve, small tear at top of front at the spine with a small tear at bottom front, bottom of spine slightly creased, rear of jacket soiled. Bound in green cloth with gold on dark green lettering. Some slight discoloration to boards. Text block moderately age toned; ink ownership inscription to front free endpaper. MA Consignment. Shelved in Room B. 1391892. Special Collections.

Hardcover. First edition (& 1st printing). Two volumes: both edited by Brett Wood and both illustrated by David Ho. NIGHTMARE ALLEY collects the title novel (recently made into a film by Guillermo Del Toro) plus four more stories, with a 26 page introduction by Brett Wood: GRINDSHOW collects 24 stories, with a 30 page introduction by Wood. LIMITED EDITION: 300 numbered copies signed by Wood and Ho. Each volume is no 92. The first volume fine in a fine dustjacket, the second volume a fine copy in an almost fine dustjacket (just a little light edge wear at several points).

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Two volumes, each numbered (91 and 185) and signed by Bret Wood (editor/introduction) and David Ho (illustrator). Bound in cloth with dust jacket. Edges lightly rubbed. Signed by Author(s).

First edition. Octavo, cloth. The author's first book. "Grotesque thriller in which a carnival huckster tries to exploit the tricks of his trade in carving out a career as a high society occultist. Its deployment of carnival bizarrerie links it to THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO (1935) and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (1962)." - Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror 4-58. Basis for the 1947 film noir (the film was directed by Edmund Goulding and starred Coleen Gray and Joan Blondell). Recently remade. [Reference: Hubin, p. 352. Johnson, The Dark Page, p. 122]. Some toning to end papers, a fine copy with bright green top stain not faded in a nearly fine dust jacket with a touch of rubbing to corner tips and spine ends, two small rub marks to front panel, toning to the white title lettering of the spine panel and to the rear panel, a small closed tear to the lower rear panel. An attractive copy. (28925).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition.

First edition. Octavo, original black cloth, spine stamped in gold and green, fore edge untrimmed, bottom edge trimmed, top edge stained green. The author's first book. "Grotesque thriller in which a carnival huckster tries to exploit the tricks of his trade in carving out a career as a high society occultist. Its deployment of carnival bizarrerie links it to THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO (1935) and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (1962)." - Barron (ed), Fantasy and Horror 4-58. Basis for the 1947 film noir (the film was directed by Edmund Goulding and starred Coleen Gray and Joan Blondell). Recently remade. Johnson, The Dark Page, p. 122. Some darkening to interior gutter margins, neat inked gift inscription to front paste down (hidden by front flap), some bubbling to cloth of front cover, a very good copy in a very good dust jacket with rubbing to the edges and folds, a 15 mm closed tear and crease at lower left front cover, light wear with tiny chips to spine ends, rear panel is age darkened with several tiny edge tears. (30494).

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: very good. First Edition. 1st edition. Endpapers foxed, one small and faint smudge, else fine in a very good dustjacket marred only by a 3/8" chip to the spine's upper corner and light wear to its base. Seldom seen in a jacket this nice, but the chip stifles our price ambitions, or maybe $2,000 is already too ambitious. You will let us know. An acclaimed model for postmodern noir, but if you like books with happy endings, don't bother. 2 films (1947 and 2021) were also good but also not cheery. It is set at the lowest level of shady carnival life with the corrupt hustlers and schemers that are its seedy inhabitants, their crimes, cons, torments, treacheries, exploitations, deceits, and betrayals, driving a downward spiraling plotline with a more hopeless ending than an eternity spent feeling around in a dark cave for a black flashlight that isn't there.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Classic noir novel Nightmare Alley (just made into a film by Guillermo Del Toro) and a new collection of shorter works, Grindshow : The Selected Writings. Matching set of two limited editions - #89/300 copies SIGNED by editor/intro Bret Wood and artist David Ho. Each books is Fine in jacket. Extremely scarce. Signed by Illustrator(s).