LE CARRE, John. Single & Single. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999.
8vo. Publisher's maroon cloth, spine lettered in gilt; in the orginal dust wrapper (not price-clipped); pp. [vi], 7-336; signed by author to title; a small, unobtrusive nick to upper edge of lower panel of wrapper; minor creasing to lower edge of upper panel of wrapper, else fine.
First edition, with full number line 1-10. Signed by Le Carre to the title page.
In a later publication of Single and Single, Le Carre admitted that the plot was losely based on his own experiences with his father, who imprisoned at least once for insurance fraud, was associated with the Kray twins. Le Carre writes that: "If I look back on my novel today, that bit of history forms only the backdrop to the story of how a father-obsessed son finally sprang over his own shadow, and discovered that the monster who ruled his life was just another sad and empty little man." (foreword to the 2001 edition).
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