Richard Temple

New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. A Fine unmarked copy with Fine dustjacket which is not price clipped. The author (1914-2000) born Richard Patrick Russ, who later legally changed his name, was famous for his Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin novels. This novel, first published in 1962 but never published before in America, is of a prisoner of war in France, held captive by the Germans, who conducts a minute examination of his life to keep sane. Escaping from a blighted childhood and his widowed, alcoholic mother thanks to an artistic gift, his life as a painter in the 1930's is cruelly deprived and in order to eat, squanders his asset by becoming a forger, particularly of Utrillo. He is rescued by the love of a beautiful and wealthy woman, and it is the failure of this relationship, coupled with the outbreak of war, that propels him into the world of espionage. An unforgettable tale of art and espionage in World War II. **** NOT EX LIB **** L. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.