The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien (Hart-Davis MacGibbon, 3rd Impression 1973)

This Hart-Davis, MacGibbon third impression (1973) of The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien, first published 1967, is of interest to collectors of Flann O’Brien, Irish modernist fiction, and 20th century British and Irish literary firsts.

About: Very good third impression in the original dust jacket. Jacket shows tanning and a small chip to the head of the spine; light rubbing to extremities; the bold cobalt blue and mint design remains bright and striking. Boards clean and tight. Interior clean and bright throughout with minimal age-toning. A very presentable copy of this desirable O’Brien title.

Details:

• Title: The Third Policeman
• Author: Flann O’Brien
• Publisher: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, London
• Publication Date: 1973 (first published 1967)
• Edition: 3rd Impression
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Synopsis: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon third impression, original cobalt blue and mint dust jacket, collectable O’Brien title, desirable for bibliophiles and collectors of Irish modernist and surrealist fiction.

Review: Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman, written in 1939–40 but rejected by publishers and left unpublished until after his death in 1966, is one of the great hidden masterpieces of 20th century literature. A darkly comic, surrealist novel set in a nightmarish rural Ireland, it follows an unnamed narrator’s increasingly bizarre encounters with a pair of eccentric policemen obsessed with bicycles and the philosophy of de Selby. Wildly inventive, philosophically playful, and deeply unsettling, it stands alongside At Swim-Two-Birds as essential O’Brien.