The Springing of George Blake.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus.VG-/VG-. No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj - a Literary Guild edn,as a member's subscription book club item.Lightly age-worn,minimally grubbed,glossy, subjects' 2 thumbnail,'0WANTED' b/w portrait photographs illustrated front panel of dw/dj,with white+red lettered title,white-lettered author name and other red+black lettering beneath the portraits,black background spine/backstrip with repeated coloured lettering from front panel to same and caapitalised,white-lettered publisher name at foot,rear panel with b/w Wormwood Scrubs prison wall photograph and black-lettered text caption beneath. Some minimal shelf-wear,and further bumping,creasing,chipping,closed tears and minimal loss to edges and corner tips and to head+foot of spine/ backstrip too - but still approx. 99% present.Top+fore-edges lightly age toned with the most of the sporadic and faint foxing/spotting to the top edges than the fore-edges; contents remarkably bright,crisp and clean,solid and sound - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips - appears unread,other than my own collation. Publisher's bright,crisp and clean,sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with gently pushed head+foot of bright,crisp, blocked gilt lettered spine/backstrip and generally clean,plain white endpapers with minimal vertical strips/bands of off-setting from respective pastedowns.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus,1-355pp [paginated] includes a Prologue,Pts 1-3 comprising 8,5 and 4 chapters respectively,8pp contemporary b/w biographical photographs and facsimile b/w document reproductions in 1 block, between pp158/59,Author's Note,Publisher's Note; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,contents list/table,illustrations list/table with dedication to its reverse,author's 2pp Introduction, individual Pts separator pages and to the rear,an immaculate tipped-in gate-fold b/w Ordnance Survey map of the prison and surrounding area's boroughs. In 1950,George Blake,a British MI6 agent,was taken prisoner by the North Korean army.By the time he was returned to Britain,three years later,he had been converted to the Soviet cause and was acting as a KGB double agent.He was caught in 1961 and sentenced to forty two years in prison.He was serving his time in Wormwood Scrubs prison,in London,in 1966,when he decided to escape. Five years into his imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs,Blake escaped with the help of three men he had met in jail,namely Sean Bourke (the author) and two anti-nuclear campaigners,Michael Randle and Pat Pottle.The escape was masterminded by Bourke, who first approached Randle only for financial help with the escape. Randle became more involved and suggested they bring Pottle in on the plan as well,as he had suggested springing Blake to Randle in 1962 when they were both still in prison.Their motives for helping Blake to escape were their belief that the 42-year sentence was "inhuman" and because of a personal liking of Blake. Bourke had smuggled a walkie-talkie to Blake to communicate with him while in jail.On 22 October 1966,Blake broke a window at the end of the corridor where his cell was located.Then between 6 and 7 p.m.,while most of the other inmates and guards were at the weekly film showing,Blake climbed through the window,slid down a porch and made his way to the perimeter wall.There,Bourke,who had been released from the jail earlier,threw a rope ladder over the wall.Blake then used it to climb over the wall and they drove off to a safe house.During the escape,Blake fractured his broke his arm jumping from the perimeter wall,but apart from that it all went according to plan. After the escape,it became apparent that the safe house was not suitable as it was a bedsit that was cleaned by the landlady once a week.Blake then spent several days moving between Randle and Pottle's friends' houses,including that of Rev. John Papworth in Earls Court.Subsequently,Blake and Bourke moved in with Pottle, staying with him while preparing to get out of the country.They smuggled Blake across the English Channel in a camper van,then drove across northern Europe and through West Germany to the Helmstedt–Marienborn border crossing.Having safely crossed the border without incident,Blake met his handlers in East Germany and completed his escape to the Soviet Union. Please contact seller, because of the weight/value of this item, for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.