The Quiet Canadian. The Secret Service Story of Sir William Stephenson.
London: Hamish Hamilton, 1962. [History] FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY SIR WILLIAM STEPHENSON 'The real James Bond'. Octavo (22 x 15cm), pp.255. Hardback in dust-wrapper, with photographic illustrations. With signed presentation note to flyleaf; "For our friend / Steve Dwork / To remind him of his / brief but hardworking / sojourn here / with greetings and / good wishes / Wm Stephenson // Bermuda / Aug 10/72". A crisp, fine copy in a fine dust-jacket. This is the story of British Espionage in New York during World War II, in which Hyde (as an MI6 agent) was directly involved. Sir William [aka 'Little' Bill or Intrepid] Stephenson is the best known agent in the history of the British Secret Service. A former Great War ace fighter pilot, he was chief of the British Security Coordination [BSC] during WWII. The BSC office in New York became an umbrella organisation which, by the end of the war represented the British intelligence agencies MI5, MI6 (SIS or Secret Intelligence Service), SOE (Special Operations Executive) and PWE (Political Warfare Executive). Stephenson was one of the few people in the hemisphere authorised to view raw 'Ultra' codebreaking transcripts of the German Enigma ciphers from Bletchley Park (aka Station X), which contributed greatly to the Allied success in defeating the U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic. After Pearl Harbour and the American entry into war, Stephenson formed the covert operations Camp X in Whitby, Ontario, where, from 1941-1945, Allied agents from the SOE, OSS and FBI were trained to be dropped behind enemy lines as saboteurs and spies. Graduates of Camp X included five future directors of the CIA, and reputedly, Ian Fleming. The area is known today as Intrepid Park. There's so much more, but we'll leave the last word about Stephenson to the creator of 007: "James Bond is a highly romanticised version of a true spy. The real thing is... William Stephenson" -Ian Fleming, The Times, October 21, 1962. Item #65792
Gilbert, p.519.
Price: £975.00
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