"THEY DON'T, AS THEY SAY, WRITE THEM LIKE THIS ANYMORE": FIRST EDITION OF AN EXPENSIVE PLACE TO DIE, 1967, INSCRIBED BY LEN DEIGHTON

DEIGHTON, Len. An Expensive Place to Die. London: Jonathan Cape, 1967. Octavo, original black paper boards, patterned endpapers, original dust jacket. $1500.

First edition of Deighton's fifth Harry Palmer thriller, inscribed on the title page by the author, "To V— best wishes Len Deighton," with publisher's original accompanying "Top Secret, In Transit Docket," in original dust jacket.

"Deighton reinvented the spy thriller, bringing in a new air of authenticity and playing with its form… They don't, as they say, write them like this anymore… Long may he, and his creations, live on" (Guardian). Expensive Place to Die features the same anonymous English spy who was first given the name Harry Palmer in the 1965 film adaptation of Ipcress File (1962), which starred Michael Caine. With "First Published 1967" on copyright page.

Text fresh with scant trace of tape removal to book and flaps of bright dust jacket. A scarce inscribed about-fine copy.