SPYCATCHER (Scarce Irish / Australian true first impression with variant red boards)

First impression of the true first edition - the scarce original Australian/Irish printing, with 'William Heinemann: Australia' printed on the title-page and with 'Printed by Future Print Ltd., Dublin' on the printer's page. This is the true first edition, printed in Ireland for Heinemann, Australia in order to circumvent the United Kingdom's legal injunction. The front panel of the dustwrapper also has the correct publisher's advert banner in red with the words: "At Last! The Spy Book Of The Century". The book was banned by the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher because of the court case against Peter Wright. This rare true first edition was on sale in England only, for one day, on the Sunday - the day prior to the injunction taking effect. As the printing was extremely rushed, there are no photographs printed in this first state, as called for. Later impressions of the first edition include the photographs at the back of the book, and later printings still have the photographs printed in the middle of the book. Interestingly, this rare first printing also had variant bindings, and this copy has a red cloth binding - presumably as printers did not have enough stock of one colour of cloth for the rushed print-run to beat the injunction and used whatever stock they had to hand. ***Very good in red cloth-covered boards with silver titles to the spine. The boards are clean and unmarked. Head and tail of spine slightly creased. No reading lean to the binding. Spine tight. Page block edges slightly foxed. Internally near fine with no inscriptions. Pages clean. Thin paper used - no creases or tears. ***In a very good dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of IR£14.95 net. Head and tail of spine and edges of dustwrapper slightly creased and rubbed. No creases, chips or tears. No fading - just some light foxing to the top edges of the inner flaps. Dustwrapper clean and bright. ***240mm x 156mm. 392 pages including Index at the back of the book. ***'No book this century has attracted more attention before publication than "Spycatcher". It made front page headlines around the world as the British government tried desperately to suppress Peter Wright's explosive revelations. ***'Every page of this remarkable book startles with its frankness. Here for the first time is the full, insider's story of how Peter Wright and is MI5 colleagues bugged and burgled their way through friendly and unfriendly embassies across London; of the MI5 plot to destabilize Harold Wilson's government; of the suspicion that the head of MI5 himself was a Soviet agent. "Spycatcher" tells with extraordinary honesty and detail the devastating story of a government agency which operated outside property and the law, where the only rule was the 11th commandment - "Thou shalt not get caught." It is written with the full authority of a man who rose to be an assistant Director of MI5 and was acknowledged to be its most brilliant and innovative technical officer.' (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper) ***First impression of the true first edition, complete in its original dustwrapper. All issue-points of the true first edition are present, as called for; no photographs; printed in Ireland; published in Australia; and the red banner: "At Last! The Spy Book of the Century" on front panel of dustwrapper. A variant first impression of the true first edition with red boards. Of interest to the collector of espionage first editions. A landmark book. Scarce in this first state. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.***.…