Cloak without Dagger. With a Foreword by The Rt.Hon. Clement Attlee.
London: Cassell, 1955. [Espionage] FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY with associated material. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.xviii; 206. Illustrated with black & white plates. Publisher's red cloth lettered in gilt, typographic dust-wrapper priced at 15s. With SIGNED inscription to title page, two spy-related newsclippings tucked in, loose invitation to the Sir Percy Sillitoe exhibition, Sillotoe's change-of-address card addressed in his hand to Colonel E.L. Spencer, DSO, OBE, stamped addressed envelope to same. Light wear, engraved bookplate to pastedown; near fine. Memoirs of spymaster Sir Percy Sillitoe, the former head of MI5 who collaborated with Ian Fleming on 'The Diamond Smugglers' (1957). The highly-decorated, recipient Edward Leslie 'Joe' Spencer (1902-1976) was an SOE agent, rising to Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (British), and Chief of Counterintelligence HQ Berlin. Post-war he joined Sillitoe at MI5. From the comprehensive Bibliographical Archive assembled by Jon Gilbert, with pencilled ownership. His encyclopaedic guide to the works of Ian Fleming (2012) won the 16th Breslauer Prize for bibliography. Item #70332
Gilbert, p.648.
Price: £675.00
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