MANNING, Olivia ~ The Spoilt City.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Heinemann, London, 1962.

8vo., turquoise boards, spine lettered in gilt; publisher's device in blind to lower board; the unclipped dustwrapper (18s net) featuring a design by John Raynes; THE BOOK very good, some evidence of water marking to the lower edge with some spotting and minor discolouration; small dark stains to upper edge of rear board; and to outer edge of text block from p. 77-90, affecting outer margin only; a little offsetting and toning; THE WRAPPER also very good, front panel and spine bright; some rubbing and minor spotting along folds, with one small brown stain to lower panel. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition, first printing. The second in Manning's trilogy of books 'The Balkan Trilogy' which, together with a second set, 'The Levant Trilogy', follow a young married couple, Harriet and Guy Pringle during the early years of the Second World War. Manning married Reggie Smith in 1939, and shortly after Smith was called to work in Europe. They arrived in Bucharest on the 3rd September 1939, coinciding with the day that Britain declared war on Germany, and this book, together with its predecessor 'The Great Fortune', explore Manning's own perplexing experiences in Romania. From there, the couple traveled extensively, to Greece, Egypt, and Palestine as the Nazi party began to expand across Eastern Europe. The third part of this trilogy, 'Friends and Heroes' (1965), chronicles their escape to Alexandria, just days ahead of the Germans. Manning did achieve some success during her lifetime, however her greatest fame was perhaps posthumous, when the series was adapted for television in 1987, starring Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle and Emma Thompson as Harriet. The writer Anthony Burgess once described the series as "the finest fictional record of the war produced by a British writer".

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good
JACKET: Very Good