OR BE HE DEAD (First paperback edition - Digit Book R685)

First impression of the first paperback edition. No publication date. The book was originally published in hardback by Collins Crime Club in 1959. ***Near fine in colour-illustrated card covers with striking period cover art. The covers are clean, with just light rubbing, marks and creasing, including a light crease to the top corner of the front cover. No reading lean but spine slightly curved from reading, with light reading crease to the spine. Spine tight. Internally also near fine with no inscriptions. No foxing to the interior pages. Cheap paper stock tanned. No creases or tears. ***178mm x 108mm. 190 pages plus two-page publisher's title adverts at the back of the book. ***'Paul Craven was a peculiar young man: peculiar, too, was what happened to him one night when he left the 50-50 Club after drinking heavily in an effort to rid himself of a nightmare which gave him no rest. At the outset he has no inkling that events are about to take place which will alter the course of his won life - events which will, at the same time, put an end to the lives of others. ***The greed of two people leads remorselessly to murder. It is greed which enmeshes the guilty and the innocent alike in a web from which, in the end, there can be no escape.' ***(Quote taken from the back cover). ***'Leopold Horace Ognall (20 June 1908 - 12 April 1979), known by the pen names Hartley Howard and Harry Carmichael, was a British crime novelist. Ognall was born in Montreal and worked as a journalist before starting his fiction career. He wrote over 90 novels before his death in 1979. The private eye Glenn Bowman was one of his most successful characters. As Harry Carmichael, Ognall's primary series characters were John Piper (an insurance assessor) and Quinn, a crime reporter.' (Wiki) ***First impression of the first paperback edition in very nice original condition. Of interest to collectors of crime first edition vintage paperbacks, paperback first editions, and 1960s cover-art. Uncommon in this first paperback edition. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.…