LE CARRÉ, John. The Karla Trilogy: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy, and Smiley's People. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1974, 1977, 1979.
8vo. Three volumes. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: original black cloth lettered in gilt to spine with Smiley monogram in gilt to upper board, top edge of text block purple (fresh and unfaded); The Honourable Schoolboy: original blue cloth lettered in gilt to spine, this copy the variant with illustrated map endpapers; Smiley’s People: original blue cloth lettered in gilt to spine; all in the original illustrated dust-jackets; pp. 349, [1]; pp. 532; pp. 327, [1]; wrappers with occasional rubs and nicks to edges and extremities, Tinker Tailor and Smiley a touch faded to the spine, discreetly reapaired closed tear (c. 3cm) to upper front edge of Smiley wrapper; overall, a crisp, sharp near fine set. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy inscribed in black ink, "John Le Carré / a.k.a David Cornwell / 19th November 2019 / Cornwall".
A bright sharp set of first editions and printings of the author's great trilogy, the first volume signed and dated by the author as both David Cornwell and John Le Carré.
Le Carré’s magnum opus, the trilogy constitutes one of the most significant achievements of postwar British fiction. Through George Smiley’s extended struggles with his Soviet counterpart and nemesis, Karla, the sequence as a whole recasts the spy novel as a study of institutional failure, moral compromise, and the long erosion of Cold War certainties.
SKU: 2124281