LEN DEIGHTON'S ACTION COOK BOOK.

UK,landscape 12mo HB,no dw/dj,as issued,illustrated, 1st edn thus,3rd impression. [True 1st edn was (London), CAPE,1965 HB and issued with a clear cellophane dw/dj,in a print run of only 7,500 copies, and now is very scarce.Followed by a HB Cookery Book Club edn,by arrangement with CAPE in 1967.] FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price removal from cover. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,matt,colour photographic illustrated paper-covered boards front and rear respectively; with capitalised white+red lettered title and a Michael Caine white+red lettered quote about the author; black spine/backstrip with brown+red lettered title and publisher's capitalised white lettered+illustrated name+colophon to foot of same,rear board with colour photograph and same red+white lettered Michael Caine quote as the front's. Negligible shelf-wear to edges and corners - no nicks, tears or splits present,black front pastedown with white lettered synopsis and plain black front free endpaper,rear free endpaper similar,whilst rear pastedown illustrated with a behind-the-scenes b/w photograph of author and Michael Caine on set of the 1965 film The Ipcress Files,of Caine cracking an egg. Top+fore-edges bright,crisp and clean without foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,solid and sound - pristine without any dog-ear reading creases to any pages,corner tips - unread apart from my own collation.UK,landscape 12mo HB,no dw/dj,as issued, illustrated with b/w diagram strips,1st edn thus,3rd impression,7-320pp [paginated] includes an Introduction and near 80 cookstrip recipes etc. Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional and particularly internally,is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation,for a book of its 15 year-old age and nature, i.e. a recipe book.It really is an exceptional copy for its cleanliness, brightness and lack of detracting faults. 'I am going to cook you the best meal you have ever tasted in your life…' Harry Palmer to Sue Lloyd in 'The Ipcress Files'. 'Len was a great cook,a smashing cook. I learned a lot about food from playing Harry Palmer'. Michael Caine. If you look carefully at Harry Palmer's kitchen in the classic film 'The Ipcress Files' you will notice a newspaper pinned on the wall. This is one of Len Deighton's classic cookstrips, the series that ran for two years when he was the Observer food writer. Because before he became famous as the thriller writer of his generation, Len Deighton had trained as a pastry chef. He was also a brilliant graphic artist (his credits include the first ever UK cover for Kerouac's 'On The Road'). 'The Action Cookbook' is the perfect mix of these two passions, created for the hero of his third passion. The 'Action Cook Book' was once an instructional book for the bachelor male – a guide to sophisticated cooking for the would-be Harry Palmer. It now has a great following as a fabulous piece of nostalgia as well as retaining real credibility as a genuinely useful cook book. The strips were anthologised in two bestselling books, Action Cook Book (1965), and Où Est Le Garlic? (1966). Deighton designed the cookstrips – but for his own use. The strips became a newspaper phenomenon and is down to two friends of Deighton,art director and designer Raymond Hawkey and journalist Clive Irving. 'My wife and I went to Len's flat a lot to eat because the food was so good',recalls Irving.' One evening Ray and I were in Len's kitchen.We noticed his stick-up drawings of cooking preparations.Ray looked at me, and I looked at Ray,and I said: 'That could work well in a newspaper.' After a brief run in the Daily Express – it decided the strips were "too fancy" for its readers – Irving brought them to the Observer,where he had become design editor.Hawkey was appointed the newspaper's chief designer. Aimed at "an audience of men unskilled at knowing their way around the kitchen",the book has been described as a cult classic from the period and helped pave the transition from cooking being only for women,into being a sophisticated expectation of a modern man. This reissue is with original content and artwork,the 2nd edition of the cover artwork,and an additional updated introduction. Want more Len DEIGHTON books/titles? Please search my MODERN FIRSTS,MODERN FIRSTS2,NAVAL/MILITARY and GENERAL catalogues for other and similar available titles.
Please contact seller,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item, for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!
** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if item is offered P+p included or postage free.
** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware:
Standard AIR postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. between 1/2 to 2/3rds of standard US AIR quote/ rate - sometimes arriving within a week or so,and sometimes before the quoted 42 days - but not always.