Scarce Anti-Fascist Mystery
The Smiler with the Knife
Publication: New York: Harper and Brothers, 1939. First US edition.
Notes: The first Nigel Strangeways spy thriller, centering on the character's wife Georgia's discovery of a fascist plot to overthrow the British government. Uncommon in any edition.
Orson Welles stopped work on an adaptation of Heart of Darkness to produce a film version of The Smiler with the Knife (the title comes from Chaucer) but the project never went anywhere. For more, see Louella Parsons' newspaper column, Letter from Hollywood, December 13, 1939.
The poet (later Poet Laureate) C. Day Lewis wrote mysteries under the Nicholas Blake pseudonym. The novel was first published in England by Collins.
[x], 303, [7:blank] pages.
Edition + Condition: First US edition (stated). A good copy (previous owner's name on the front pastedown) in a good dust jacket. There is a stain on the front panel and some discoloration to the spine. The jacket has fading to the red ink on the spine and tears and light chipping to the edges, with tan tape reinforcement to the back (verso) at the spine ends.
This copy comes from the library of the Lovecraft collector James Strand and has his estate bookplate.
Item No: #366036
Price: $300