The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carré

LE CARRÉ, John. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. London, Victor Gollancz, 1963.

First edition of this best-selling Cold War spy novel.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Le Carré’s third novel, marked a significant breakthrough in his career. The story revolves around Alec Leamas, ‘an aging British intelligence agent ordered to discredit an East German official. Unlike the usual glamorous spies of fiction, Leamas is a lonely and alienated man, without a respectable career or a place in society. Immensely popular, the book was adapted into a highly successful film (1965), as were many of le Carré’s later works’ (Britannica).

Octavo, pp. 222; very good; blue cloth lettered in gilt to spine, with the original printed dust jacket (some spotting and toning, old ownership inscription washed from front flyleaf, spine and extremities a little sunned, jacket slightly stained and sunned at spine); bookseller’s ticket ‘Henry Sotheran Ltd … London’ to front pastedown.