PHILBY - The Spy who Betrayed a Generation. [Introduction by John Le Carre.]

UK,8vo HB minus dw/dj,1st edn.VG+.No owner inscrptn and minus issued dw/dj.Publisher's original, dark brown cloth boards with minor marks and capitalised red-lettered part title (PHILBY) at head of spine,lightly dulled gilt-lettered authors' names and Le Carre's too - each within a double underlined faux boxes,publisher's colphon to foot of same with negligible shelf-wear,bumping and creasing to edges and corners and iimaculate plain maroon endpapers. Corner tip slightly bumped with some miniscule rubbing and reciprocal loss,head+foot of spine gently pushed,and front's bottom edge with a small crush indent.Top edges coloured salmon pink with sporadic but minimal faint,colour bleaching spots,fore-edges lightly aged/toned and with light foxing/spotting; contents surprisingly bright and clean - especially the text body - tight,solid and sound - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips - appears unread other than my own collation.UK,8vo HB minus dw/dj,1st edn,9-296pp [paginated] includes a 16pp Introduction by John Le Carre,4 sections: Beginnings, Penetration, Exploitation, Downfall; a single chapter after the Introduction and then 6.3,4 and 7 chapters respectively,16pp contemporary b/w biographical photographs in 8 blocks of 2pp apiece interspersed throughout the text and the book,and an Index; plus [unpaginated] lightly foxed half-title with an epigram (Rudyard Kipling -,Kim) with author's and Le Carre names to reverse,a less foxed title page,author's Preface,contents list/table with a handwritten blue ink,double-headed arrow notation to chapters 13/14, with illustrations list/table to its reverse. Visually the exterior appearance is acceptable,and particularly internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation for a book of its 55 year-old age.It is only the exterior faults that prevents a slightly higher grading for the book. Despite them,it really is still an exceptional acceptable copy for its cleanliness,brightness and shelf display. The true story of Kim Philby is so fantastic that a spy-novelist would scarcely dare to invent it. A Soviet agent from his early twenties,his penetration of the British secret service was so effective that in 1944 he became the director of its counter-Soviet department - a feat of duplicity unequalled in the annals of espionage.He then became the link-man between the British service and the American Central Intellegence Agency,from which position he was able to betray every important secret of Western intelligence. This book tells for the first time in detail how Philby penetrated the British secret service and rose to be its favourite son; of the operations he betrayed and the agents he sent to their deaths; how his cover was broken when he had to protect Donald Maclean - whose atomic espionage is here exposed for the first time in detail - and the amazing sequel in which Philby was secretly 'tried',cleared, and re-employed by the secret service. Not until 1961,ten years after the vital evidence came into their hands,did the men at the head of the secret world finally acknowledge the bitter facts of Philby's treachery. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded, after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence, then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.**