(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1951).

FIRST EDITION BY A MASTER OF THE SPY-THRILLER, Ambler introduced a new level of realism to the genre with his hardened characters faced by extreme danger. This was his first novel after a ten-year hiatus caused by the war. His first post-war novel, JUDGMENT ON DELTCHEV, is strongly anticommunist and is based on the Stalinist purge trials then happening in Eastern Europe. It chronicles an English playwright and journalist sent to a Balkan state under communist rule to cover the sham trial of a leading opposition figure. He learns that reporting from behind the Iron Curtain can be a very dangerous thing to do. Ambler's books are all known for being great reads. Item #31585

First edition, in the second issue (yellow) dustjacket. 8vo, publisher's blue/gray cloth lettered on the spine and upper cover in black, in the original "Yellow Jacket" dustjacket. 256 pp. A nice copy, with the light mellowing that is typical to the paper used in the printing process, a tight and clean copy, the binding with a touch of age, still square and strong, the bright jacket with some light edgewear at the extremities, still complete and in good order.