Description
First edition of Don’t Cry for Me by William Campbell Gault, inscribed by the author to Ed Gorman, editor and publisher of Mystery Scene magazine.
Octavo, 220pp. Green cloth, title in gold on spine. Stated “first edition” on copyright page. Slight lean to text block. Toning to pages 129-192, spine ends bumped, shelf wear along bottom edge of volume, tape residue along top of front free endpaper. In publisher’s dust jacket, $2.50 retail price on front flap, spine ends and corners rubbed, vertical creases on front flap and along both flap folds, shelf wear to both panels. Inscribed on the front free endpaper: “For Ed Gorman who gave me a write-up better than I deserved. William Campbell Gault” A nice example of the author’s first novel, which won the 1953 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel.
Ed Gorman (1941-2016) was a writer, editor and anthologist. He was one of the founders of Mystery Scene magazine, being editor and publisher until 2002. In 2008, Gorman wrote that William Campbell Gault “was a compelling short story writer who looked at the world honestly if sardonically and found a good deal of it to be depressingly hilarious. His various takes on the culture of Fifties Southern California hold up well today.” He found Gault’s Don’t Cry for Me to be a “remarkable crime novel.”
