GREENE, Graham

Third Man, The

London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1950. Item #06497

Greene’s Two Great Film Stories
Including The Third Man - One of the Defining Works of Postwar Cinema

GREENE, Graham. The Third Man and The Fallen Idol. London: William Heinemann Ltd., [1950].

First edition. Octavo (7 1/8 x 4 7/8 inches; 181 x 124 mm.). [vi], [1–2], 3–188, [2, blank] pp.

Publisher’s black cloth over boards, spine lettered in silver, light toning to endpapers. Original pictorial dust jacket with the top 1/4 inch of spine chipped, some light wear to extremities. A near fine copy in an excellent, unrestored dust jacket.

A desirable combined first edition of two of Greene’s most celebrated film-related works. The Third Man, conceived originally as a film treatment, was written for the classic 1949 production directed by Carol Reed and featuring Orson Welles as the unforgettable Harry Lime. The story’s atmosphere of moral ambiguity and postwar dislocation helped secure its place among the greatest films ever made.

The Fallen Idol, based on Greene’s short story “The Basement Room,” likewise achieved distinction in its film adaptation (1948), further cementing Greene’s reputation as a writer uniquely suited to the screen.

The dust jacket, notoriously fragile and prone to chipping at the spine (as here), is the principal determinant of value; the present example remains bright, unrestored, and highly presentable despite the small loss.

A cornerstone Greene title in its preferred British first edition, uniting two of his most enduring cinematic achievements.

Price: $2,000.00