James Bond First Editions

Horse Under Water. Secret File No.2.

DEIGHTON, Len (born 1929).

London: Jonathan Cape, 1963. [Cold War spy thriller] UNCORRECTED PROOF COPY. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.255; [1]. Publisher's lime green softcovers with 'greek urn' device repeated in white, titles printed in black, with PROOF-ONLY dust-wrapper designed by Raymond Hawkey. The jacket is considerably different to the published version; the photograph of the Royal Navy frogmen was later omitted and the still-life artwork was much simplified for publication, with several shells and Nazi insignia removed, resulting in a less cluttered image. A near fine copy of the book with a slight lean in a very good jacket, slightly toned to extremities and oversized portions, rubs to joints, a little creased. The author's second novel, being the first of his many books for publisher Jonathan Cape. Deighton's [Harry Palmer] spy series was considered by many as the perfect antidote to Ian Fleming's James Bond. Spy writers Fleming and Graham Greene are mentioned on the flyleaf blurb. Item #71716

Milward-Oliver; Len Deighton Annotated Bibliography p.28. See also Gilbert.

Price: £275.00