Following up on my previous post about “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold,” in the next few posts I’ll be highlighting some of the odd or rare versions of the book I have.

First is a compilation of le Carré’s third, fourth, and fifth novels – The Spy Who, A Small town in Germany and The Looking Glass War.

This edition was released as a Random House Value edition in 1988. My particular copy is the second impression, which would typically make it even less collectible than it already is.

However, this one has been signed by le Carré.

Signed Omnibus

But that’s not what makes it truly unique. In addition to the main title page signature, it’s also signed on the title page for the start of TSWCIFTC.

And the title page of A Small Town in Germany.

And the title page at the start of The Looking Glass War.

Making it a quadruple signed copy, something I haven’t ever seen elsewhere. Honestly, I don’t know that it makes it worth anything in terms of money, but it’s a neat oddity. The fact that I didn’t know I was getting it when I bought a lot of three other signed le Carré books for a total of $10? Makes it even better.

The next is a signed psuedo-recreation of the UK first edition released in honor of the 50th anniversary.

Although it looks very much like what the true first edition looked like, when compared side by side some differences become apparent.

I’m not sure if they went with the larger size to avoid people pawning these off as the really thing or some other reason. It’s still a pretty sharp recreation and I believe all copies came signed by le Carré.

The final copy I’ll showcase today is a 25th anniversary book club recreation of the first printing, first impression of the US edition.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it is an exact replica in every way but one, it is missing “TSWCIFTC $4.50” on the front dust jacket flap. It really is a nice copy that they obviously went to great lengths to match to the original.

This copy also came with a nice pamphlet that discusses how The Spy Who came to be printed by the head of the US publishing house. But more on that in a future post.

Stay tuned for part two of “The Spy Who” oddities next week. This next post has some really fun trivia so do come back and check it out.

Do you have an odd or rare copy of TSWCIFTC? Share it in the comments below!