Ashenden

London: Heinemann, 1928. A first edition, first printing published by Heinemann in 1928. A good book with light staining to the boards and wear to the edges. Two names to the front endpaper. With spotting to the pages and the page edges. In a dust wrapper which has benefitted from some professional restoration to the spine and spine tips. Some chipping and rubbing and light losses to the edges and corners. Ashenden, as Maugham's inscription describes, is a collection of stories based on Maugham's experiences working for the British Intelligence during the First World War. Alfred Hitchcock's 'Secret Agent' (1936) was loosely based on 'Ashenden', starring Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, and Robert Young. Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, characterizing it as a despoilment of Maugham's Ashenden and dismissing it as "a series of small 'amusing' melodramatic situations". The book is number 78 in the Queen's Quorum and is a Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone. Both of these lists notes how Ashenden was as an important landmark leap forward in spy fiction and an important influence on the writings of Ambler, Deighton, and especially Le Carre.