THE CLASSIC ERA OF CRIME FICTION                                     by Peter Haining                                                                           Chicago Review Press, First U.S. Edition, 2002                           Condition: About Fine in Near Fine dust jacket                                                                                                                                    This large, lavishly illustrated book covers crime fiction from about 1850 into the 1970s, with an emphasis on vintage paperbacks.  It contains rare cover reproductions and classic illlustrations, revealing how crucial the artists were to establishing the identity and popularily of the genre and its most famous characters.  Some shelf wear on bottom corners, else like new.  The jacket has a short edge tear and adjacent slight spine head wear.