ASHENDEN : OR THE BRITISH AGENT

London: William Heinemann, LTD, 1928. Very good plus.. First edition of Maugham's collection of interrelated stories following the exploits of a writer employed as a spy during World War I by the British Intelligence Department. Unlike most of the spy literature that was birthed out of 20th-century warfare, Maugham's perspective is influenced by his own experience in intelligence service, emphasizing the everyday tasks - watching, listening - that make up intelligence work, which remains a particularly important insight today. According to his biographer Selina Hastings, Maugham burned fourteen additional stories after Winston Churchill read them and insisted they would be a breach of the Official Secrets Act. Two of the stories included here - "The Traitor" and "The Hairless Mexican" - would go on to serve as inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's spy thriller, SECRET AGENT (1936). A sharp copy. 7.25'' x 5''. Original blue cloth, stamped in black and gilt to front board and spine. Lacking jacket. 304 pages. Minor wear to boards, spine lightly toned, faint scattered foxing to textblock.