Title: The Midnight Bell
Publisher: Boston. Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: 1930
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Edition: 1st
[vi], 307 printed pages. First edition, second or third reprint - printed in February 1930 (first printing was in January 1930). First American Edition. Publisher's original blue/green cloth with orange lettering and dark blue decorations., top edge orange. Spine very slightly faded & lacking dust jacket. First book in Hamilton's "20,000 Streets Under the Sky" trilogy. The Midnight Bell (the name of a London pub) tells the story of Bob, a sailor turned bar waiter who falls in love with Jenny, a prostitute who visits the pub. Ella, the barmaid at the pub, is secretly in love with Bob. Eventually, Jenny loses interest once Bob has spent all his savings on her. The Siege of Pleasure relates Jenny's early life as a servant, and her descent into prostitution. Bob and Ella do not feature at all in this novel. The Plains of Cement focuses on Ella, and is set during the events in The Midnight Bell, although from a different perspective. Ella, still nursing an untold affection for Bob, has to deal with the increasingly unwelcome advances of Ernest Eccles, an elderly customer of the pub. The narrative concludes one day after the final scene of The Midnight Bell. Owner's signature on front pastedown endpaper of John W Biringer, believed born 1869, lived in New Jersey. Early printings of this title are not especially common. Bookseller Inventory # 4234