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O'BRIEN, Flann

The Third Policeman

The Third Policeman

London: Macgibbon & Kee, 1967

Illustrated by

Regular price £121.00
Regular price Sale price £121.00
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The Third Policeman, by Flann O'Brien.

London: Macgibbon & Kee, 1967. First edition, second impression from the same year of publication. Publisher's brown binding, gilt lettering to spine, plain endpapers; with unclipped dust wrapper showing price 25s net to front flap.

Characterised at the time as "a triumph of a book whose use of language, rich, bold and exuberant, should make the English glad they have the Irish there to exploit it", Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman is one of his masterpieces and an allegory of the absurd. A mystery story concerning the disappearance of a policeman and the strange presence of strange bicycles. 

Bumping to corners and spine tips, text block slightly cocked, shallow tear to foot of spine, netting slightly exposed between title and half-title pages. Edges and prelims show a little foxing, with some further light staining throughout (mostly contained to extremities and none affecting legibility), particularly to pages 28-31, 50-51, 126-127, 134-145, as pictured, and a few small ear marks to a handful of pages. A good example overall. In like dust wrapper that is grubby towards extremities, a little chipped and peeled to edges with minimal loss (primarily to spine tips), and a lightly tanned spine, as pictured; now placed in a removable, protective sleeve of archival quality.

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