"Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon. "
— Bertolt Brecht
Eric Ambler | First Editions
1909 - 1998
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE (28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an influential British author, who contributed immensely to the thriller genre - particularly in terms of spy novels. Ambler also worked as a screenwriter, and co-wrote several books with Charles Rodda under the pseudonym 'Eliot Reed'.Born into a family of puppeteers, Ambler spent his early life in the entertainment industry helping his parents, before moving on to study engineering at Northampton Polytechnic in Islington - now known as City University, London. However, his upbringing as an entertainer proved dominant, and he soon began writing plays and other works. Ambler was staunchly anti-Fascist, and his political leanings can be highlighted in his early literature, with the sympathetic portrayal of Soviet agents. War and politics would continue to impact Ambler's fiction throughout his lifetime.
See below our stock of Eric Ambler Signed and First Editions.
Results 1 - 11 (of 11)
The Ability to Kill.....And Other Pieces.
London: The Bodley Head Ltd. 1962. FIRST EDITION, octavo, pp.222. Publisher's light red cloth in a rather chilling pictorial dust jacket, illustrated by Don Higgins. Minor handling; a near fine copy. Not exactly bed-time reading! -Ambler's examination of what kind of mentality is required to become a killer. The present... More
The Ability to Kill.....And Other Pieces.
London: The Bodley Head Ltd., 1963. [Murder/true crime] FIRST EDITION, corrected state. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.222. Publisher's light red cloth in a rather chilling pictorial dust jacket, illustrated by Don Higgins. Usual laminate shrinkage at joint else a fine copy. Not exactly bed-time reading! Ambler's examination of what kind... More
The Ability to Kill.....And Other Pieces.
London: The Bodley Head Ltd., 1963. [Murder/true crime] FIRST EDITION, corrected state. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.222. Publisher's light red cloth in a rather chilling pictorial dust-jacket, illustrated by Don Higgins. Illustrated bookplate to flyleaf. Usual laminate shrinkage at joint, some soiling, spine and extremities toned. Very good. More
The Care of Time.
New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1981. [Spy Thriller] INSCRIBED FIRST US EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.[10] 277 [1]. INSCRIBED by the author in blue ink to title page: 'With best wishes from | an ever-grateful patient | Eric Ambler | London 14 May 82'. Publisher's purple quarter cloth... More
The Dark Frontier.
London, Hodder and Stoughton. 1936. First Edition of the author's first novel. 8vo, pp.320. Association copy, belonging to a leading British Army lawyer. Bound in contemporary native red oasis over marbled sides, spine titled and ruled in gilt, with speckled edges. Bumped to lower corners. Internally very clean. Some dustiness... More
Epitaph For A Spy.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938. [Haycraft-Queen cornerstone novel]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (18 x 13cm), pp.287; [1], advertisement. Bound by the W.H. Smith and Son bindery in green cloth, titled in gilt to the spine. Some spotting and toning to page edges, cloth a little rubbed and darkened to extremities. Very... More
Journey into Fear.
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. [Modern Literature] FIRST US EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[10] 275 [3]. Publisher's peach cloth with blue titles to spine and blue decoration. Top edge blue; others untrimmed. Lightly browned; heavy pencil ownership note to front free endpaper rubbed out but still visible... More
The Mask Of Dimitrios.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1939. FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone novel. Octavo, pp.320. Publisher's cloth, lightly worn with a few small marks, spine sunned. A very good copy. With an important presentation note to the title-page; Roy Baker / from Eric Ambler / 16 August 46... More
The Mask Of Dimitrios.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1939. FIRST EDITION. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone novel. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.320. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine. Internally very clean with no ownership marks, bookplates or inscriptions. Covers are fresh but for a little sunning to spine, a few small marks and the... More
The Night-Comers.
London: William Heinemann, 1956. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp.[6]; 233. Publisher's orange cloth with gilt titles to spine, in decorative dust-jacket designed by Judith Bledsoe. Small area of toning to the bottom right corner of a few of the early pages, price clipped dust-jacket shows well with a couple of small... More
Passage of Arms.
London: Heinemann, 1959. [Gun-running thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.250. Publisher's hardback cloth binding in pictorial dust-jacket priced at 16s. Lightly toned and spotted to edges. Jacket a touch toned to spine, lightly rubbed to edges. Near fine. A modern day pirate adventure, set in the South-Seas. This... More
Results 1 - 11 (of 11)