Sam Greenlee. First U.K. edition, first printing. NAP. London: Allison and Busby, 1969. Both unclipped dust jacket and hardcover are in Very Good+ condition. No writing or markings found in this well-preserved copy, 182 pp. Pages are crisp and clean, binding is tight.
Neither of the U.K and U.S. publications were widely distributed and both first editions are scarce.
Author's first book, first published in England and later that same year in the U.S. A fictional account of the first Black CIA agent, described by critic Karen Grigsly Bates as "part thriller, part satire and part social commentary" and basis for the 1973 film of the same name. According to a review in The New Yorker, the title "alludes to the conspicuous deployment of the agency's one black officer to display its phony integration."
Samuel Eldred Greenlee, Jr. (1930 - 2014) Was An American Writer Of Fiction And Poetry. He Is Best Known For His Novel The Spook Who Sat By The Door, First Published In London By Allison & Busby In March 1969 (Having Been Rejected By Dozens Of Mainstream Publishers), And Went On To Be Chosen As The Sunday Times Book Of The Year. The Novel Was Subsequently Made Into The 1973 Movie Of The Same Name, Directed By Ivan Dixon And Co-Produced And Written By Greenlee, That Is Now Considered A Classic.
