Nineteen Stories by Graham Greene

New York: The Viking Press. Very Good in Very Good dj. 1949. 2nd printing before publication. Hardcover. [solid copy, corners lightly bumped, a couple of tiny dents in top edge of front cover; jacket is edgeworn, small closed tear at bottom of front panel, a bit of paper loss at top of spine, small tears at rear corners]. "Here is [Greene's] concern for the essential tragedy of man, his characteristic brilliance in describing the scene, his genius for suspense, his sympathetic treatment of his characters -- whether they be saints or sinners." (Greene himself, in a brief introduction, is less high-falutin', asserting that he's presenting these short stories (in a form that he had "never properly practised") "merely as the by-product's of a novelist's career." The first story in the volume, "The Basement Room," was the basis for the 1948 film THE FALLEN IDOL (identified in the book jacket blurb as "The Eyewitness," possibly an intended American release title?); another, "Across the Bridge," was filmed under that title in 1957 and again in 2001 as DOUBLE TAKE. . (Inventory #: 24775)