The Karla Trilogy] Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley’s People.

"There are moments which are made up of too much stuff for them to be lived at the time they occur": First Editions of Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People; Each Signed by John Le Carre

The Karla Trilogy] Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley’s People.

LE CARRE, John.

Item Number: 83422

London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1974-1979.

First editions of each title in the author’s acclaimed Karla Trilogy. Octavo, original cloth. 3 volumes. Each volume is signed by John le Carre on the title page. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is signed “David Cornwell aka John le Carre.” Each is near fine in near fine dust jackets, with The Honourable Schoolboy is price-clipped as usual. An exceptional set, uncommon in this condition and signed.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy garnered instant praise for Le Carre as "[t]he premier spy novelist of his time. Perhaps of all time" (Time). "Le Carre is simply the world's greatest fictional spymaster" (Newsweek). Le Carre’s inspiration drew from his experience of the revealing of the Cambridge Five traitors in the 1950s and ‘60s (Anthony, 2009), and the novel’s popularity can be seen in relation to those shocking events. In 2011, the novel was adapted into a successful film, starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth, and it received three nominations at the 84th Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Actor. This successful production is but one of Le Carre’s numerous accolades in espionage fiction. He was awarded both the Helmerich Award and the Goethe Medal, and, in 2008, The Times ranked Le Carré 22nd on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945."

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