Description
Signed first edition, first printing of A Perfect Spy by John Le Carré.
Octavo, 475pp. Black cloth, title stamped in gilt on spine. Stated “first edition” on copyright page. Light rubbing to cloth along lower edge of text block, faint dust remnant, a near fine example. In the publisher’s first state dust jacket, $18.95 on front flap, faint shelf wear, a bright example. This copy is signed by the author for The First Edition Circle at Kroch’s & Brentano’s of Chicago, with laid-in bookmark.
David Cornwell (1931-2020) was a British author who wrote under the pen name of John le Carré. In 1961, while working for British intelligence, le Carré published his first novel, Call for the Dead. With his third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), le Carré became an international best-selling author, and he soon began writing full-time. Many of le Carré’s works are spy novels set during the Cold War. Several were made into movies. In 2008, The Times of London included John le Carré on its list of “50 greatest British writers since 1945.”
