Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour. 
The Dashiell Hammett Tour
1977-2022
Arkham House Ephemera
The Classic Years 1937–1973
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Essays and Reviews Selected from Fifty Years of Writing 1974–2024
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Tag Archives: pure texts
Hammett: “The Vicious Circle”
Fresh off his dive into the archives in the Library of Congress, Terry Zobeck is back with a new set of pure text corrections for one of Hammett’s earliest stories — he apologises for the cover image of the issue … Continue reading
Hammett: Only Four to Go
Terry Zobeck followed through on his plan to hit the Library of Congress in search of pure texts for Hammett stories, and cut the list of seven missing texts down to only four. Plus he copied various other items for research … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit, News
Tagged Black Mask, Book Collecting, Library of Congress, Pulps, pure texts, Raymond Chandler, Terry Zobeck, The Forum, The New York Evening Post, Western Advertising, Zobeck Series One
Hammett: On the Trail
Remember the Alamo! Meanwhile, Terry Zobeck is hot on the trail of the last few Hammett stories he wants to check, to make sure we have the best texts — the pure texts — when we slip off our gumshoes … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit, News
Tagged "This King Business", Alamo, Black Mask, Library of Congress, pure texts, Terry Zobeck, Zobeck Series One
Hammett: “Bodies Piled Up”
After a hiatus during which he obviously spent some safari time in the pulp jungle hunting down rare and elusive pulps, Terry Zobeck is back to let us know the extent of the editing done to yet another Op tale … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit
Tagged "Bodies Piled Up", "House Dick", Black Mask, Dead, EQMM, Frederic Dannay, pure texts, Terry Zobeck, Zobeck Series One
Two-Gun Bob: 106 and Counting
Birthday 106 for Robert E. Howard today. Almost 76 years since he committed suicide on June 11, 1936. And his name lives on. Not bad for a writer who plied his trade in the pulps and didn’t see a single … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit, News, REH
Tagged "Conan vs. Conantics", Al Harron, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Doc Howard, Frazetta, Glenn Lord, Howard Days, Jason Momoa, L. Sprague de Camp, Leo Grin, Lin Carter, pure texts, The Cimmerian, Tompk, Whoopi Goldberg
Hammett: “Albert Pastor at Home” and “His Brother’s Keeper”
Our frequent Guest Blogger Tenderloin Terry Zobeck returns — finishing off his examination of the first set of pure text Hammett stories he had in his files, to see what sort of blue pencil Frederic Dannay put them to as he assembled ten paperback … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged "Albert Paster at Home", "Death and Company", "His Brother's Keeper", "It", Black Mask, Collier's, Esquire, Frederic Dannay, pure texts, Terry Zobeck, Zobeck Series One
Hammett: The Sam Spade Stories
Frequent Guest Blogger Terry Zobeck returns, to survey the three short stories featuring Sam Spade that Hammett sold to the slicks in 1932. I echo his opinions on these tales — compared to the best of the Op yarns, the … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Digging Out the Dannay
I’ve never been interested in the fiction of author “Ellery Queen” — nom de guerre for the cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. The only Queen titles I ever recall reading were some of the 1960s novels ghost written … Continue reading
