JOURNEY INTO FEAR

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940. First printing. Very good in very good jacket.. First US edition of Ambler's classic spy novel, set at the beginning of the Second World War and published just after the author's own enlistment in the British Army. Like many later thrillers that followed Ambler's template, JOURNEY INTO FEAR stars a civilian involuntarily drawn into violence and intrigue abroad, who proves himself less helpless and naive than his enemies first suppose. Set against the contemporary background of a neutral Turkey during the "phoney war" period before the fall of France, the story's geopolitical particulars were updated by Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles for the 1943 film adaptation — the protagonist was also changed to be American, although the existence of Englishmen was not, strictly speaking, a historical anachronism even three years later. A handsome copy in the striking dust jacket. 7.5'' x 5''. Original blue-stamped orange cloth. In original unclipped ($2.00) dust jacket. 275, [1] pages. Blue topstain. Light wear to boards, slight spine lean. Some chipping and small closed tears to jacket edges, spot of dampstain at top of front flap fold.