JOHN LE CARRE - COLLECTION - HFSID 90847

JOHN le CARRÉ
English spy novelist: The Smiley Trilogy.
Comprises: (1) Typescript signed: "John le Carré," 1p, 8½x11. The beginning of the English novelist's work, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, signed at the conclusion. Fine condition. (2) AQS: "John le Carré/29 Jan 90", 5x2¼ card. In full: "my best wishes - 'and like everyone who's got enough, he wants more', said Control of Percy Alleline, in 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'- ". John le Carré wrote this quote and signed this typescript from his spy novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974), the first book in a trilogy featuring the fictional character George Smiley, a retired spy who worked for England's Circus, a department of the British Intelligence Service. Whereas Ian Fleming introduced the larger-than-life, indestructible James Bond, le Carré has created real-life characters with typically human failings. Bond may be young, virile and exciting, but Smiley is middle-aged, out-of-shape and separated from his wife, Ann. In each of these spy stories, Smiley resumes his personal fight against his arch-rival, Karla, a spy for Moscow Centre. At the beginning of this novel, Smiley rejoins Circus in order to discover Karla's mole - a hard-to-detect undercover agent - who has infiltrated the Circus. Control, the former leader of Circus, had narrowed down the possibilities for the mole to one of five high-ranking officials; he used the various terms from a children's nursery rhyme to denote each of these men: Percy Alleline was Tinker, Bill Haydon was Tailor and Smiley was Beggerman. As he investigates this Soviet secret agent, Smiley learns how the mole, Haydon, has deceived and betrayed those closest to him - Smiley, Control, Alleline and Jim Prideaux - by using their human failings against them. In the end of this adventure, Smiley captures Haydon. Prideaux seeks revenge on the Soviet agent by killing him and Alleline is dismissed as head of the Circus. The subsequent novels in the trilogy are The Honorable Schoolboy (1977) and Smiley's People (1979). John le Carré is the pseudonym of David J.M. Cornwell, who served as an intelligence officer for the British Army after World War II; two decades later, he joined the Foreign Service (1960-1964), doing work for the Secret Service. He uses these experiences to create and enhance his world of spies, lamplighters (agents who perform eavesdropping and trailing procedures), scalphunters (overseas agents who complete dangerous acts such as murder and kidnapping) and assassins. le Carré first introduced Smiley in Call from the Dead (1962). His other novels include The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1963), Little Drummer Girl (1983), The Perfect Spy (1986) and The Russia House (1989). Framed in Gallery of History style: 31¼x22.