DEIGHTON, Len. [The Harry Palmer Quartet]: The IPCRESS File; Horse Under Water; Funeral in Berlin; Billion Dollar Brain.

Complete set of first editions

DEIGHTON, Len [The Harry Palmer Quartet]: The IPCRESS File; Horse Under Water; Funeral in Berlin; Billion Dollar Brain London: Hodder & Stoughton/Jonathan Cape, 1962-6.

8vo. 4 vols. Vol I in orange linson boards, lettered in gilt to spine with publisher's device gilt to foot; Vol II in red linson boards, lettered in gilt to spine with publisher's device gilt to foot, embossed in black and blind with a 'stamp' device to upper board; Vol III black boards, gilt to spine with publisher's device gilt to foot, 'stamp' embossed in blue and blind to upper board; Vol IV in blue linson boards, white 'brail' strip to upper board, lettered in gilt to spine with publisher's device gilt to foot; all in the original unclipped pictorial dustwrappers designed by Raymond Hawkey, the final in silver; Vols II-IV with decorative endpapers, very good copies all, light rubbing and marking, the odd stain to dust jackets; flaps to Vol II a little creased, and jacket a touch toned; previous ownership name in coloured pencil to ffep of Vol III; the jacket of the final volume a little rubbed and scratched, as is common. A lovely bright set.

First editions, first impressions all. Complete with the original crossword slip in Vol II as issued.

Deighton's debut spy novel, The IPCRESS File was first published in 1962. The author had been inspired to write the book after conversing with his real-life neighbour Anna Wolkoff, a White Russian émigrée who collaborated with a cipher clerk from the American embassy to spy for Germany in World War II. Deighton's mother used to cook for the family, and Deighton later recalled the moment when MI5 officers came to arrest her: "The experience was a major factor in my decision to write a spy story at my first attempt at fiction." The book was quickly followed by Horse Under Water the following year, Funeral in Berlin in 1964, and Billion Dollar Brain in 1967. Funeral in Berlin became subject of a legal case in the year of publication when they named a real-life firework manufacturer as the provider of dangerous goods. The 1972 Penguin edition subsequently changed the dialogue.

When the books were first adapted into film in 1965, another key change had to be made. Formerly, the protagonist remained anonymous and unnamed, but this proved difficult to translate to film. It was when lead actor Michael Caine sat down to lunch with James Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman that 'Harry Palmer' was born, and henceforth how the novels came to be known as the 'Harry Palmer' series.

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