Ashenden or the British agent

London: William Heineman, 1928. FIRST EDITION. Blue publisher’s cloth, without the dust-jacket, some light wear to corners and extremities of spine, minor bumping to top cover; some light browning and offset to half-title. From the library of Florence and Edward Kaye, with their morocco bookplate, contemporary inscription to front paste-down. First edition. Based upon Maugham’s experience as a British secret service agent in Russia during the Russian revolution, this work is considered the forerunner of the genre of spy novels. The stories in Ashenden influenced such writers as John Le Carré, Eric Ambler, and Ian Fleming. Rothschild & Whiteman, V, 149; Stott, A37a; NCBEL, 4, 663.