War, Invasion & Spy

Showing 1–36 of 92 results

£1,750


Comprising: The IPCRESS File; Horse Under Water [with original crossword slip]; Funeral in Berlin; Billion-Dollar Brain
London, Hodder & Stoughton; Jonathan Cape, 1962-66.

First editions, first impressions. 4 vol. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jackets, all correctly priced.

An unusually good set of the first quartet of Deighton's "Harry Palmer" novels (although the character is never actually named in the books); increasingly difficult to find as a set and in comparable condition, here with the original crossword slip in the second book as called for. The stories' popularity received an additional bolstering from the three film versions made starring Michael Caine, and have enjoyed ongoing success for fans of spy fiction, not least as a counterpoint to Fleming's James Bond novels.

£150



London, Jonathan Cape, 1963.

First edition. 8vo. Original red boards with black 'rubber stamp' to upper cover. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

A very good first edition of the second 'Harry Palmer' spy novel (although the character is never named in the books), that began with The IPCRESS File (1962).

War, Invasion & Spy

Fleming (Ian) Casino Royale

£125



London, Pan Books, 1955.

First reprint of the first paperback edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers.

The first paperback edition of Fleming's first James Bond book, the blonde Bond adorning the cover seemingly anticipating Daniel Craig's eventual adoption of the role...

£275

London, Jonathan Cape, 1965. First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original plain black boards. Dust-jacket, priced 18s. A very decent first edition of the last full-length James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, in the plain second state boards. Under the heat of the Caribbean sun, Bond faces a seemingly impossible task: win a duel against Scaramanga, the Man with the Golden Gun, and regain M's trust.

£50



London, Pan, 1967.

First Pan edition. 8vo. Original pictorial wrappers, priced 3/6.

Set apart from the other books in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, The Spy Who Loved Me is told from the perspective of a femme fatale in the making, Vivienne Michel.

War, Invasion & Spy

Fleming (Ian) Thrilling Cities

£195



London, Jonathan Cape, 1963.

First edition. Small 4to. Original cloth-backed boards. Dust-jacket, priced 30s.

An attractive first edition of Bond-creator Fleming's adventure-charged visit to the world's most exciting, exotic and sinful cities. Includes snapshots of Hong Kong, Tokyo, Honolulu, Las Vegas, New York and Monte Carlo.

War, Invasion & Spy

Fleming (Ian) Thunderball

£50



London, Pan Books, 1963.

First paperback edition. 8vo. Original wrappers.

The first paperback edition of Fleming's ninth James Bond book.

War, Invasion & Spy

Heller (Joseph) Catch-22

£195



London, Jonathan Cape, 1962.

First UK edition. 8vo. Original red boards. Dust-jacket, priced 21s.

First UK edition of Heller's famous satirical war novel, the title referring to an inherent vicious circle that ensures the story's airmen cannot escape their duty even if they are mentally unfit to fly.

£250



London, Jonathan Cape, 1935.

First trade edition. Small 4to. Original brown buckram. Dust-jacket.

The first trade edition of Lawrence's famous account of the Arab Revolt against the Turks during the First World War alongside general Middle Eastern and military history, politics, adventure and drama. A unique portrait of this extraordinary man and an insight into the birth of the Arab nation.

War, Invasion & Spy

Maugham (W. Somerset) Ashenden,

£2,500


or, The British Agent
London, Heinemann, 1928.

First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth lettered in gilt and with publisher's and author's device in black. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6 to spine.

A great copy, benefitting from some professional conservational work to the jacket, of the author's spy stories, based largely on his own undercover experiences in Europe & Russia. It is believed that initially there were 31 stories but 14 had to be destroyed on Churchill's orders as they were in breach of the Official Secrets Act. Many authors of spy fiction have acknowledged the importance and merit of this work over the years, including John Le Carré, Graham Greene, Eric Ambler, Julian Symons and Raymond Chandler.

£175



London, Hutchinson, 1933.

First edition. 8vo. Publisher's advertisements dated 'Autumn 1933' at end. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

Following the misfortunes of an aristocratic German family after the first World War. Uncommon.

£225



London, Victor Gollancz, 1970.

First edition. Publisher's review slip loosely inserted. 8vo. Original boards. Dust-jacket, priced £1.40/28s.

The first published book by espionage author Price. Uncommon.

£550



London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1917.

First edition. 8vo. Original pale red cloth stamped in black. Dust-jacket, priced 5/-.

An early collection of war tales by the original 'Sapper', extremely uncommon in the original jacket.

£195



London, Gifford, 1938.

First edition. 8vo. Original brown cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

An uncommon first edition, recounting one British woman's bravery in the face of the Spanish Civil War.

£550



London, Hutchinson, 1940.

First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

Inscribed by the author on the title-page, "For J.W. Hughes With very best wishes from his friend Dennis Wheatley".

£595



London, Hutchinson, 1937.

First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Publisher's advertisements. Original red cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

Inscribed by the author on the title-page, "To Mr W. Green with the best of good wishes from Dennis Wheatley".

£325



London, Hutchinson, 1942.

First edition. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Original black cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 10/6.

A signed & inscribed first edition of Wheatley's wartime espionage classic, set against the background of Vichy France and the occupied territories in 1940.

£295



London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.

First edition. 8vo. Original light blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.

Ronald Standish of the Secret Service steps up to assist Bulldog Drummond in this attractive first edition.

£295



London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1933.

First edition. 8vo. Original blue cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.

The first collection of stories focused on Ronald Standish of the Secret Service, by the creator of Bulldog Drummond.

£375


A chronicle, serious and humorous, of the Battalion while serving with the British Expeditionary Force
Gloucester, John Jennings, 1915-1919 [1923].

First edition in book form. Small folio (345 x 220 mm). Original pictorial brown cloth blocked and lettered in black.

The first edition in book form of this important trench newspaper created by the 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, reissuing all twenty-five of the original 'gazettes' printed between 1915 & 1919. The issues, which regularly attained a circulation of over 1500 copies, drew on the wealth of talent which existed amongst the ranks of the Battalion, including the well-known poet F.W. Harvey, who contributed over seventy poems and verses.

£350


Prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and the War Office
[London], Admiralty War Staff Intelligence Division, 1916.

8vo. Original wallet-style blue cloth with fold-over section, lettered in gilt.

A great copy of this handbook issued during the First World War on behalf of the Admiralty and the War Office for official, intelligence purposes.

£120

Chatto & Windus, London, 1929 first edition  

£250


First edition.
London, Harrap, 1943.

The authors imagine the consequences of a Nazi invasion ultimately defeated. A rare title listed in Bleiler but not in Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy.

£250



London, Ernest Benn, 1929.

First edition. 8vo. Original black cloth stamped in orange. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

A spy thriller, previously serialised in The Daily Mail, "with the publication of the book Mr. Baxter will join the small and distinguished order of Shockers Extraordinary to the British Empire." (jacket blurb)

£125


First edition.
London, Paladin Press, 1951.

A novel set in the ruins of post war Berlin in which a war weary population live in cellars beneath the rubble of their devastated homes. Featuring the Wesen family, it provides a vivid depiction of the struggle between the Communists and the Free Democracy of the West for the possession of a bewildered people. Rare in jacket. No copies online at time of listing.

£395



London, Herbert Jenkins, [1942].

First edition. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 7/6.

The first of fourteen 'Tiger Lester' titles, written under the pseudonym "Don Betteridge", in an attractive dust-jacket.

£395



London, Collins Crime Club, [1939].

First UK edition. Ex-Library. 8vo. Original burgundy cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7s6d.

Cool jacket artwork, depicting a man with a red briefcase hastening up some steps with the number '9', but not the story of a Chancellor of the Exchequer in panic, instead a departure from the crime fiction Blochman was more well-known for, into the murky world of espionage.

War, Invasion & Spy

Blochman (Lawrence) Blow-Down

£425



London, Collins, 1940.

First UK edition. 8vo. 3pp. advertisements. Original mauve cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/3.

Attractive jacket artwork for this surprisingly uncommon and highly collectable British edition, combining international intrigue of German & American spies in Central America, with exotic backgrounds, humour and romance.

£180

(A Detective-Inspector McCarthy Yarn). First Edition. Wright & Brown, n.d. [c.1941].

War, Invasion & Spy

Cable (Boyd) Between the Lines.

£275


First edition.
London, Grant Richards, 1915.

Accounts of trench warfare on the Western Front during WW1. Uncommon in the dust jacket especially one as good as this.

War, Invasion & Spy

Cheyney (Peter) Dark Duet

£250



London, Collins Crime Club, 1942.

First edition. 8vo. Original yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, price-clipped.

A lovely first edition of this spy thriller novel by Cheyney. Two British counter-intelligence officers track a network of German agents which they learn is based out of Dublin.

£75



London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1949.

First edition. 8vo. Original pale yellow cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 8/6.

'The scene...Brussels. The time...after the war. And the characters? Why, Tommy Hambledon, of course!' (jacket blurb). Espionage thriller.

£300



London, Herbert Jenkins, 1935.

First edition, first impression. 8vo. 8pp. advertisements. Original orange cloth. Dust-jacket, correctly priced 7/6.

A very good first edition, first impression of this uncommon spy novel by G.Davison, part of a series that began in 1931 with The Man with the Twisted Face.

£95



London, Michael Joseph, 1968.

First edition. 8vo. Original dark orange boards. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.

The third of Diment's spy novels featuring Philip McAlpine, whom critic Anthony Boucher described as "an agent who smokes hashish, leads a highly active sex life, kills vividly, uses (or even coins) the latest London slang and still seems a perfectly real (and even oddly likeable) young man rather than a reflected Bond image. The suitably sixties' jacket artwork is by Bill Botten, known for his J.G. Ballard jackets.

£75



New York, Dutton, 1967.

First US edition. 8vo. Original cloth-backed boards. Dust-jacket, priced $3.95.

The first US edition of the first of Diment's spy novels featuring Philip McAlpine, whom critic Anthony Boucher described as "an agent who smokes hashish, leads a highly active sex life, kills vividly, uses (or even coins) the latest London slang and still seems a perfectly real (and even oddly likeable) young man rather than a reflected Bond image.

£95



London, Michael Joseph, 1968.

First edition. 8vo. Original blue boards. Dust-jacket, priced 25s.

The second of Diment's spy novels featuring Philip McAlpine, whom critic Anthony Boucher described as "an agent who smokes hashish, leads a highly active sex life, kills vividly, uses (or even coins) the latest London slang and still seems a perfectly real (and even oddly likeable) young man rather than a reflected Bond image. The jacket artwork seemingly takes inspiration from Richard Chopping's James Bond jackets.