First edition of Maugham's collection of interrelated stories following the exploits of a writer employed as a spy during World War I by the British Intelligence Department.
Very good plus.
Price: $1,000.00
"There's just one thing I think you ought to know before you take this job... If you do well, you'll get no thanks and if you get into trouble you'll get no help."
Unlike most of the spy literature that was birthed out of 20th-century warfare, Maugham's perspective is influenced by his own experience in intelligence service, emphasizing the everyday tasks — watching, listening — that make up intelligence work, which remains a particularly important insight today. According to his biographer Selina Hastings, Maugham burned fourteen additional stories after Winston Churchill read them and insisted they would be a breach of the Official Secrets Act. Two of the stories included here — "The Traitor" and "The Hairless Mexican" — would go on to serve as inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's spy thriller, SECRET AGENT (1936). A sharp copy.
London: William Heinemann, LTD, 1928. Full title: Ashenden or The British Agent 7.25'' x 5''. Original blue cloth, stamped in black and gilt to front board and spine. Lacking jacket. 304 pages. Minor wear to boards, spine lightly toned, faint scattered foxing to textblock.
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