As James points out, New Black Mask did morph to Matter of
Crime.
I spoke to Layman at the time about the change and he told me
that there was a dispute about ownership to the rights of the
name "Black Mask." And, indeed, there was a gentleman on this
list who posted about his ownership of the name and several
battles to defend what he took to be infringements. (I
believe he was responsible for the single 1974 or 1975
revival issue that came out?)
Layman also told me that the trade paperback size was not
popular with bookstores because it didn't fit well on their
shelves, so he switched to standard size paperback for Matter
of Crime.
BTW, I understand that Layman is editing a book of Hammett's
letters that will be published soon. I'm a little sketchy on
this, but I believe a Hammett family member recently came
across a long-lost cache of letters and they are the basis
for the book. Very exciting!
--Mark
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