An Expensive Place to Die - Len Deighton (Jonathan Cape, First Edition 1967)
An Expensive Place to Die - Len Deighton (Jonathan Cape, First Edition 1967)
This Jonathan Cape first edition of An Expensive Place to Die (1967) is of interest to collectors of Len Deighton first editions, Jonathan Cape spy fiction, and 1960s British thriller writing.
About: A good to very good first edition in the original photomontage dust jacket - the iconic Cape design featuring spy equipment, aerogramme, gun, watch, and blood-red splashes against a dark ground. DJ price-clipped at 21s net; spine toned and with some rubbing and small wear to extremities, but the photomontage cover retains strong colour and visual impact. Boards firm and square beneath. Interior pages clean throughout. Striking black Art Nouveau floral endpapers - a distinctive and attractive feature of this edition. A collectable copy of Deighton’s fifth novel.
Details:
- Title: An Expensive Place to Die
- Author: Len Deighton
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape, London
- Publication Date: 1967
- Edition: 1st Edition
- Binding: Hardcover
- Endpapers: Black Art Nouveau floral design
- DJ Price: 21s net (price-clipped)
- Condition: Good to Very Good
- Dust Jacket Condition: Good (toned spine, light wear to extremities)
Synopsis: First Jonathan Cape edition in the original photomontage dust jacket - a desirable Deighton first edition for collectors of 1960s British spy fiction and Cape thriller imprints.
Review: An Expensive Place to Die (1967) is Len Deighton’s fifth novel and one of his most formally inventive - set in Paris, it follows an unnamed British agent drawn into a web of Cold War intrigue centred on a psychoanalyst’s clinic on the Avenue Foch. Deighton’s characteristic blend of bureaucratic realism, mordant wit, and meticulous period detail is at its sharpest here. The novel’s original Cape edition, with its striking photomontage jacket and Art Nouveau endpapers, is among the most visually distinctive of all 1960s spy fiction first editions.