Ashenden or The British Agent -
William Somerset Maugham
1928 - William Heinemann, London - First Edition
A fine copy in superb fresh example of the scarce, delicate, and striking dust jacket, without restoration, conservation, or repair.
Somerset Maugham's highly influential collection of espionage thrillers based on his own experiences in British Intelligence during the First World War.
Considered the ‘the archetype of the espionage novel’, inspiring many later writers in the genre including Ian Fleming, John Le Carré, Graham Greene, Eric Ambler, and Len Deighton among others.
A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone book. Two of the stories in Ashenden were used by Alfred Hitchcock as the basis for The Secret Agent. ‘There are echoes of Maugham in John Le Carré's focus on the manipulative side of espionage, and in Ian Fleming's accounts of James Bond's dealings with M.’
Not included were fourteen stories that were so close to the truth that, Maugham's biographer notes, he destroyed them ‘after Winston Churchill had seen the manuscripts and informed him that they violated the Official Secrets Act’. One of 10,000 copies published on 29th March 1928.
Provenance: Small label of 'The Times Book Club' lower pastedown.
References: Stott, A Bibliography of the Works of W. Somerset Maugham A37a. Ellery Queen, Queen’s Quorum, 78. Book Collector, Top 200 Crime Novels (No.272). Haining, Crime Fiction 198.
Octavo (19.1x13.5cm) pp. [8] 304. Publisher's blue linen-grain cloth spine lettered in gilt and black, front panel with author’s symbol in black and lettering in gilt, rear panel with publisher’s device in black, plain endpapers, all edges cut. Dust jacket priced 7/6 to spine. Condition: Fine, very light rubbing to outer edge of front panel, in near fine dust jacket, very little of the usual toning to spine, red and different shades of blue vibrant, slight wear to head of spine, short closed tear to lower edge of front panel. Ref: 112052 Price: HK$ 60,000
Somerset Maugham's highly influential collection of espionage thrillers based on his own experiences in British Intelligence during the First World War.
Considered the ‘the archetype of the espionage novel’, inspiring many later writers in the genre including Ian Fleming, John Le Carré, Graham Greene, Eric Ambler, and Len Deighton among others.
A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone book. Two of the stories in Ashenden were used by Alfred Hitchcock as the basis for The Secret Agent. ‘There are echoes of Maugham in John Le Carré's focus on the manipulative side of espionage, and in Ian Fleming's accounts of James Bond's dealings with M.’
Not included were fourteen stories that were so close to the truth that, Maugham's biographer notes, he destroyed them ‘after Winston Churchill had seen the manuscripts and informed him that they violated the Official Secrets Act’. One of 10,000 copies published on 29th March 1928.
Provenance: Small label of 'The Times Book Club' lower pastedown.
References: Stott, A Bibliography of the Works of W. Somerset Maugham A37a. Ellery Queen, Queen’s Quorum, 78. Book Collector, Top 200 Crime Novels (No.272). Haining, Crime Fiction 198.
Octavo (19.1x13.5cm) pp. [8] 304. Publisher's blue linen-grain cloth spine lettered in gilt and black, front panel with author’s symbol in black and lettering in gilt, rear panel with publisher’s device in black, plain endpapers, all edges cut. Dust jacket priced 7/6 to spine. Condition: Fine, very light rubbing to outer edge of front panel, in near fine dust jacket, very little of the usual toning to spine, red and different shades of blue vibrant, slight wear to head of spine, short closed tear to lower edge of front panel. Ref: 112052 Price: HK$ 60,000