GEORGIE MAY

New York: Lancer Books. Vintage Paperback. Lancer Books 606: Bodenheim's novel of a young prostitute in Mississippi in the 1920s was an immediate bestseller when issued in hardcover in 1927, one of several well-received 1920s novels by the writer and poet. After moving from Chicago to New York City, Bodenheim became known as the "King" of Greenwich Village during the Prohibition Era but alcoholism and deteriorating health reduced him to panhandling and vagrancy in the 1940s and his third wife, Ruth, sometimes prostituted herself. In 1954, the couple was murdered by a 25-year-old dishwasher who invited them to his flophouse room where, after an argument with Bodenheim and sex with his wife, shot the author twice and stabbed Ruth four times. First Printing, First Lancer Books edition. Mass market paperback, 160 pages in pictorial wrappers showing scantily-clad young woman and blue and red lettering against a white background. Wrappers show a slight spine lean and minimal creasing, minor wear along edges and at corners. Text is moderately age-toned but complete and wholly legible; it is unmarked, with no creasing or dogearing. A collectable copy. . Good Plus to Very Good. Mass Market Paperback. 1956.