Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Ambler, Eric. Epitaph for a Spy. Hodder and Stoughton Limited, London, 1938.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression. 287, [1] pp. Bound in publisher's light blue cloth with black lettering. A Very Good+, solid copy, lacking the dust jacket. Light wear, small scuff near foot, slight lean to spine. A British pre-WWII spy novel, filmed as Hotel Reserve in 1944.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
AMBLER, Eric.. Epitaph for a Spy.. Hodder and Stoughton Limited, London, 1938.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Description: 287 [1] pp. 8vo, publisher's cloth (lacking dust jacket). First edition. The half-title was formerly securely glued to the front free endpaper, presumably to disguise a 1941 ownership signature at the top edge of the half-title (the signature is also lined out in ink); the two leaves have been separated, but the "pour-pattern" of the adhesive remains, along with some slight damage to the half title. The inscription by Ambler on the title page is unaffected. Cloth sunned, with slight rubbing and use. Inscribed by Eric Ambler on the title page.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
AMBLER, Eric.. Epitaph for a Spy.. London: Hodder & Stoughton Limited, 1938, 1938.
Price: US$3208.16 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression. The author's third novel was written whilst Ambler was living in France; "his money went further there, but also it was a more stimulating environment. 'France was full of emigrés, some living on their wits, others with the most lurid of pasts. These were the sort of people I wanted to write about'" (ODNB). Octavo. Original blue cloth, title to spine and front cover in black, blue endpapers. With dust jacket. With the ownership inscription of Welsh opera singer Geraint Evans, dated 1971, to the front free endpaper. Spine gently rolled, light fading to spine, slight rubbing to extremities, foxing and a little light scratching to top edge; a very good copy in the jacket with nicks to extremities, tape repair to verso, tiny closed chip to join of spine and rear panel, slight creasing to front panel.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
AMBLER, Eric.. Epitaph for a Spy.. London: Hodder & Stoughton Limited, 1938, 1938.
Price: US$3208.16 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression, of the author's third novel, scarce in the dust jacket. This copy is offered together with a menu, signed by Ambler, for a luncheon celebrating the novel's publication. The book was written whilst Ambler was living in France. "His money went further there, but also it was a more stimulating environment. 'France was full of emigrés, some living on their wits, others with the most lurid of pasts. These were the sort of people I wanted to write about'" (ODNB). The novel was adapted into the 1944 film Hotel Reserve, starring James Mason. Provenance: from the collection of the Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (1941-2021), with his posthumous bookplate. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine and front cover lettered in black, blue endpapers. With dust jacket. Spine slightly cocked and sunned, gutter cracked between a few gatherings but firm, contents clean; jacket lightly rubbed and creased, a few small chips and short closed tears to extremities, flaps without price as issued: a very good copy in very good jacket.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
AMBLER, Eric (1909-1998). Epitaph For A Spy. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938, 1938.
Price: US$6095.51 + shipping
Description: [Haycraft-Queen cornerstone novel] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.287 [1]. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to title page: 'To Tom with very / best wishes and all / the best - / Eric Ambler'. Publisher's grey cloth titled in black to spine and upper, with light blue endpapers. With the pictorial jacket priced at 7/6 to spine. Book slightly toned to extremities else fine, jacket lightly worn, minor wear to crown. Housed in a leather-spined clamshell box. Howard Haycraft; Murder For Pleasure. Cooper and Pike; Detective Fiction, see also Haining; Crime Fiction p.201. Gilbert; Ian Fleming The Bibliography, p.634.
Seller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB, Royal Tunbridge Wells, KENT, United Kingdom