Description

8vo., First Edition; original black buckram, gilt back, a near fine copy in unclipped, mildly age-browned dustwrapper. The novel that exposed Operation MINCEMEAT, arguably the most famous strategic deception of WWII and a closely guarded secret until the appearance of this tale. A sharp-eyed journalist, Ian Colvin, was intrigued by Cooper's unlikely plot and linked it to a footnote in a book by General Westphal, formerly Kesselring's Chief of Staff. The result of his researches was The Unknown Courier (1953), a piece of investigative journalism so close to the truth that the authorities had little choice but to allow Ewan Montagu (MINCEMEAT'S conceiver and organiser), to relate the story (almost) in full in 'The Man Who Never Was' (1953). THE ORIGINAL EDITION IS SCARCE IN THIS CONDITION.