THE ADVENTURES OF DICK TRACY, DETECTIVE (Big Little Book No. 707, December 1932)

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Filed under: a very very very very very good mail day: the first (in spite of the spine number) Big Little Book ever produced, December 1932, the product of a single print run testing out a new type of narrative delivery system amidst the throes of the Great Depression, featuring the object of my second obsession, the titular detective, is now in my hands (minus ten opening pages and a spine, but I don’t care: it’s lived a well-loved life and now I can give it a home):

To put its place in history into perspective: the titular character was only a year old; FDR had been elected in a landslide but had yet to be inaugurated (for the first time); and both of my grandfathers – whose influences sent me on the lifelong obsessions represented in this tiny package – were eight, quite possibly the same age I was when they collectively triggered this obsession.

I'll be writing more about this treasure, both its history and its creative (and personal) significance to me, in Sunday's newsletter but I wanted to record its date of arrival here.

Oh, this is a good day.