Call for the Dead
Gollancz, 1961.
First edition. Original red cloth with gilt titles on the spine in yellow and red dustwrapper. A fine copy in a fine (price clipped) dustwrapper, exceptionally clean and crisp, a virtually perfect copy.
The author's rare first book introducing the author's main series character, George Smiley. Call for the Dead is regarded as a defining work in the genre of 'prosaic' spy fiction, recalling the work of Ambler and Sapper in a modern context, as opposed to the swashbuckling flights of fancy being written by Fleming at the time. It is now one the rarest and most sought after first editions of the period.
It is not known how many copies were printed, though as an unknown author it is unlikely to be very many, a good proportion of which appear to have gone to libraries. Like many Gollancz books of the period the tissue-like consistency of the dustwrapper means that the few occasions it remains with the book it is usually torn, chipped or restored. This copy shows no such faults.
Stock ID: 46803
£19,500.00
