John Le Carré

A first edition of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, signed with the first line of the story and dated by le Carré.

• John le Carré (English).
• United Kingdom: Gollancz, 1963.
• Inscribed by the author to the title page, ‘The American handed Leamas another cup of coffee and said, ‘Why don’t you go back and sleep? We can ring you if he shows up’ – John Le Carre/New Year/2009.’
• Presented in the unclipped dust wrapper, accompanied by the wrap-around band with Graham Greene’s quote about the book.

A first edition, first printing of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

A bleak Cold War thriller about Alec Leamas, a weary British agent drawn into one last operation against East German intelligence. What begins as a spy mission becomes a study in deception, sacrifice, and moral compromise. Le Carré strips glamour from espionage, showing it as brutal, shabby, and ethically corrosive, which helped redefine the modern spy novel.

Le Carre, a reluctant inscriber, inscribed this unique copy using the opening line of the novel.