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The German Spy System from Within

Ex-Intelligence Officer, preface by William Le Queux

This book is a re-issue in paperback of a title first published in 1914. The first edition had more pages, so this edition has been reset. It was issued in plain paper wrappers with a dust jacket pasted onto the spine, an unusual method of manufacture. It's possible that the jacket may have been used initially on a hard back and was adapted for this paperback edition. It is rare.

Jisc indicates that the book was attributed to a man named Lionel James (poss 1871-1955). He is reported by Wikisource to be a journalist who worked for Reuters and The Times. The preface by William Le Queux is dated April 1915. The title page of a copy shown here indicates that there was a paper edition priced at 2 shillings, but it may have been a cheaper edition of the first edition. Four other titles in this series were republished by Henry Frowde with Hodder & Stoughton and had covers with designs by Blampied. I suspect that this is not a coincidence.

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Image of dust jacket (click to enlarge)

Notes: Note the blonde waiter: very suspicious. The slight overlap of the jacket design to the right across the fold around the wrappers suggests that it was intended for a wider book. This could be a different edition, perhaps hardback, or it could just be poor design.

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