"Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book"
— Stephan Mallarme

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.
New York, NY: The Mysterious Press, 1987. [True Crime] SIGNED LIMITED EDITION. Octavo (23 x 15cm), pp.[2] xxii; 214 [2]. Letter I of 26 lettered copies, SIGNED by the author in black ink to limitation page. Publisher's deep red cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the matching cloth-covered slipcase..... More
New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937. [Intrigue] FIRST U.S. EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.280; [1], blank; [1], advertisements; [2], blank. Publisher's orange cloth lettered in burgundy, pictorial jacket priced at $2.00. Edges of text block toned, ink ownership to flyleaf, jacket with a few chips and tears, clipped..... More
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938. [Haycraft-Queen cornerstone novel] INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.287 [1]. INSCRIBED by the author in black ink to title page: 'To Tom with very / best wishes and all / the best - / Eric Ambler'. Publisher's grey cloth titled in black to..... More
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
London: Heinemann, 1959. [Gun-running thriller] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.250. Publisher's hardback black cloth binding in pictorial dust-jacket priced at 16s. Contents clean, no inscriptions, a few small marks and some splashing to edges of text block, lightly used jacket with a couple of short edge tears. A...... More
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1937. [Intrigue] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.314; [6], advertisements. Publisher's pale blue cloth lettered in black, mid-blue endpapers, pictorial jacket by Gibbs, priced 7/6. Trivial toning to edge of text block, jacket with very light rubbing/wear to extremities. Overall a lovely fine copy of..... More
London: The Bodley Head, 1964. [Anthology] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.224. Publisher's brown cloth, gilt titles to spine, dust-jacket designed by Michael Harvey, priced at 16s. Contents and edge of text block clean. Book is lacking free endpaper else fine, in a near fine, price-clipped jacket with a...... More