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Third Man, The
New York: The Viking Press, 1950. Item #06491
Greene’s Cinematic Masterpiece—Written for the Screen First
The Classic Tale Behind The Third Man
GREENE, Graham. The Third Man. New York: The Viking Press, 1950.
First American edition. Small octavo (7 3/8 x 5 inches; 187 x 127 mm.). 157, [3, blank] pp. Publisher's quarter red cloth over gray cloth boards, sine lettered in black, original price-clipped dust jacket with a few short marginal tears, spine faded. A very good copy in a good dust jacket.
The Third Man was conceived not as a novel but as a film treatment, written by Graham Greene for the celebrated 1949 film directed by Carol Reed and starring Orson Welles as Harry Lime. Greene subsequently shaped the material into this novella form for publication.
Set in postwar Vienna, the story captures Greene at his most atmospheric - combining espionage, moral ambiguity, and a haunting sense of place. The work is inseparable from its cinematic counterpart, widely regarded as one of the greatest films of the twentieth century, and the novella retains the same stark, shadowed vision.
The American edition followed the U.K. issue (Heinemann, 1950).
Price: $200.00