Spycatcher by Peter Wright, First Edition (52 results)

Condition: Good. First Edition. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Condition: Good. First Edition. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Good. First Edition. It's a preowned item in good condition and includes all the pages. It may have some general signs of wear and tear, such as markings, highlighting, slight damage to the cover, minimal wear to the binding, etc., but they will not affect the overall reading experience.

Hard Cover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Twelfth Printing. Jacket is rubbed, lightly chipped. Black boards have light edgewear. Pages are clean, text has no markings, binding is sound. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Condition: Good. First Edition. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Condition: Good. First Edition. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.

Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Tenth Printing. Jacket has lightly chipped edges. Boards have only light wear. Pages are clean, text has no markings, binding is sound. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

black 1/2 cloth hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in fine cond. not torn or price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition. fourth printing. 392p. glossy b&w photo illustrations. index. memoirs. autobiography. cold war. espionage. covert operations. secret societies. conspiracy theory. ~ "Mr. Wright's testimony can only be described as convincing. His first~hand description of illegality and incompetence within the Security Service is deeply shocking." ~from Tlie Independent, a British newspaper, after having read a stolen copy of the manuscript of this book. Peter Wright was a key figure in British intelligence for nearly a quarter of a century. This book, which the British government has gone to great lengths to keep from being published, is a memoir that recounts his extraordinary career in that wilderness of mirrors, the world of espionage. It is uncensored, remarkably candid, and enormously revealing about the real spy business that most of us know principally from fiction. Peter Wright initially joined Britain's Secret Service, known as MI5, in 1955 in the capacity of the organization's principal scientist and devoted himself in the early years to the invention of various gadgets for use in the espionage trade. Along the way, he demonstrated a brilliant flair for the art of counterintelligence. He went on to become, for nearly two decades, the central figure in Britain's relentless and sometimes humiliating efforts to detect and expose Soviet espionage. From that vantage point, the reader is treated to a unique perspective on the likes of Philby, Maclean, Burgess, Blunt, and a host of other exposed spies and alleged defectors. The identity of the so~called Fifth Man Soviet spy has puzzled and fascinated many for decades. In Spycatcher, Peter Wright shares his conviction that the Fifth Man was none other than Sir Roger Hollis, long the head of MI5 itself! The story of how he and many of his MI5 colleagues came to this conclusion makes for some of the best reading found anywhere in the vast literature on espionage. As a result of a great many trips Peter Wright made tothe United States in his capacity as Britain's principal liaison with American intelligence officials, his book is replete with sharply etched and sometimes humorous anecdotes about such notables as J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Helms, Bill Sullivan, William Harvey, and, above all, James Jesus Angleton. Wright's insights about the CIA and the FBI, their relationships with each other, with the rest of the U.S. government, and with America's allies is riveting stuff. American interest ought to be especially aroused by Peter Wright's charge that there was a conspiracy within MI5 to overthrow then Prime Minister Harold Wilson in the mid~1970s, and that it was instigated from within the CIA. Wright's memoir is also of interest because it is a firsthand account of the bugging of embassies (of friend and foe alike), as well as other aspects of electronic eavesdropping, codebreaking, and "wet" affairs (assassinations). But the most important aspect of this book is that it offers a rare inside glimpse of the real day~by~day goings~on within the intelligence world over a long period of time from a very high~level, authoritative voice.

Damage to top right of jacket and some general wear. Slight corresponding bump to boards. Small inscription on inside front cover. Pages clean and unmarked.

Soft cover. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Good reading copy. Tanned pages and a little writing on the front advertising page. Newspaper clipping inside (author's obituary).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good+. First Edition; Eighth Printing. All dust jackets are in Mylar acid-free protectors.Dust jacket condition is not reliable -- pleas inquire if your would like a detailed description of the jacket condition.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. First Edition.

First Edition. Very good cloth copy (stained) in a near fine, if slightly edge-bumped and dust-dulled dust-wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Previous owner's inscription. Remains well-preserved overall. Physical description; 392 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm. Notes; Written jointly with Paul Greengrass. Subjects; Wright, Peter (19161995). Great Britain. MI5 History 20th century. Intelligence officers Great Britain Biography. Espionage Great Britain History 20th century. Cold War Secret service Great Britain Biography. 1 Kg.

Mass market paperback. Condition: Good. Stuart Alan Becker (Author photograph) (illustrator). First Printing [Stated]. xv, [1], 496 pages. Glossary. Index. Cover has some wear and soiling. The former assistant director of MI5 offers an account of British Intelligence, including his work on the Ring of Five and exposing Soviet espionage and the conspiracy to oust Harold Wilson from the office of Prime Minister in the 1970s. Peter Maurice Wright CBE (9 August 1916 - 26 April 1995) was a principal scientific officer for MI5, the British counter-intelligence agency. . Spycatcher was part memoir, part exposé detailing what Wright claimed were serious institutional failures he investigated within MI5. Wright is said to have been influenced in his counterespionage activity by James Jesus Angleton, counter-intelligence chief of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1954 to 1975. Wright worked as the first chairman of the new Radio Operations Committee (ROC) when it was formed in 1960. The technical staffs from the earlier separate and competitive British intelligence organizations finally began to combine their efforts, thus allowing the methods used in ENGULF and RAFTER to be expanded into domestic and foreign intelligence operations that would last into the late 1960s. According to Wright, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ had not functioned together or shared information as effectively since the war. In 1964, Wright became chairman of a joint MI5/MI6 committee, codenamed FLUENCY Working Party, appointed to find Soviet agents and moles in Britain. He regularly interviewed Anthony Blunt, a member of the Cambridge Five, trying to glean information from him about other Soviet agents. Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director drew on his own experiences and research into the history of the British intelligence community. Published first in Australia, the book was banned in England (but not Scotland) due to its allegations about government policy and incidents. These efforts ensured the book's notoriety, and it earned considerable profit for Wright. In 2021, the Cabinet Office was still blocking freedom of information requests for files on the Spycatcher affair despite the rule that documents should be released after 30 years. In Spycatcher, Wright says that one of his assignments was to unmask a Soviet mole in MI5, who he says was Roger Hollis, a former MI5 Director General. His book also discusses other candidates who may have or may not have been the mole. He explores the history of MI5 by chronicling its principal officers, from the 1930s to his time in service. Wright also tells of the MI6 plot to assassinate President Nasser during the Suez Crisis; of joint MI5-CIA plotting against Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson (who had been secretly accused by Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn of being a KGB agent); and of MI5's eavesdropping on high-level Commonwealth conferences. Wright examines the techniques of intelligence services, exposes their ethics, notably their "eleventh commandment", "Thou shalt not get caught." He described many MI5 electronic technologies (some of which he developed), for instance, allowing clever spying into rooms, and identifying the frequency to which a superhet receiver is tuned. In the afterword, he said that he wrote the book chiefly to work to regain compensation for losses of significant pension income when the British government ruled his pension for earlier work in GCHQ was not transferable. Wright wrote Spycatcher in Tasmania, after his retirement from MI5. He first attempted publication of his memoirs in 1985. The British government immediately obtained a court order banning publication in the UK, but the order applied only in the United Kingdom, and the book continued to be available elsewhere. In September 1987, the UK government applied for similar orders to prevent publication in Australia, but lawyer Malcolm Turnbull representing the publisher, successfully resisted the application, as he did on appeal in June 1988. English newspapers attempting proper reporting about Spycatcher's principal allegations were served gag orders; on persisting, they were tried for contempt of court. These charges were eventually dropped. Eventually, in 1988, the book was cleared for legitimate sale when the Law Lords acknowledged that overseas publication meant it contained no secrets. However, Wright was barred from receiving royalties from the sale of the book in the United Kingdom. In November 1991, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the British government had breached the European Convention of Human Rights in gagging its newspapers. In 1995, Wright died a millionaire from proceeds of his book.

First Edition. Very good cloth copy (stained) in a near fine, if slightly edge-bumped and dust-dulled dust-wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Previous owner's inscription. Remains well-preserved overall. Physical description; 392 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm. Notes; Written jointly with Paul Greengrass. Subjects; Wright, Peter (19161995). Great Britain. MI5 History 20th century. Intelligence officers Great Britain Biography. Espionage Great Britain History 20th century. Cold War Secret service Great Britain Biography. 1 Kg. Item is Shipped from Ireland or US locations.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1987, 1st edition, 1st impression - true first edition published in Australia when the book was stll banned in the UK. No inscriptions or other markings. Binding is slightly loosened at both front and rear joints - no evidence why.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st edition, 10th impression, 1987. Very Good cloth copy in a Very Good, dust jacket. Book has small neat owner's gift inscription on FFEP, DJ is not price clipped ($19.99).Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description; 392 pp., 8 unnumbered pages of plates, illustrations, 24 cm.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Unillustrated in maroon cloth boards with silver titling. Printed by Future Print in Dublin with the 'At Last! The Spy Book Of The Century' dustwrapper. Priced at IRL£14.95. Some light bumping at spine ends. Rubbing to edges of d/j and small crease across front. No markings or inscriptions. Despatched same or next working day in protective packaging.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Good tight copy, owners signature inside, light marks to page edges, a little light wear to wrapper edges.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. True first edition. Unillustrated in orange cloth boards with silver titling. Printed by Future Print in Dublin with the 'At Last! The Spy Book Of The Century' dustwrapper. Priced at IRL£14.95. Some rubbing to edges of d/j and book has light bumps at spine ends. No markings or inscriptions. Despatched same or next working day in protective packaging.

Condition: Bueno. 1ª ed. 23,5x15,5 cm.392 pp.Fotografías en blanco y negroTapa dura de tela editorial con sobrecubiertaInglés Tapa dura de tela editorial con sobrecubierta.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First English Edition. Very good book in clean, red cloth covers with bright silver gilt titles to spine. Internally very good and free of inscriptions but an oblong cut from lower front corner of flyleaf. The dust jacket is very good++ and not price clipped. This is a true first edition first printing by Future Print Ltd, Dublin from which the b/w photographs were omitted. The dust jacket bears the price of IR£14.95 and the red banner to the front says 'AT LAST! The Spy Book of the Century'.

Hardcover. Condition: Very good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very good. First edition-first impression. VGC.Heinemann,1987.First edition-first impression. Printed by Future Print, Dublin. Brown/Orange hardback (silver lettering to the spine, small nick on the edges of the cover) with Dj(large scratches on the Dj cover, small nicks and creases on the edges of the Dj cover),both in VGC.Illustrated with b/w photos. Nice and clean pages with small marks on the outer edges, small nicks on the edges of the pages. The book is in VGC with light shelf wear on the Dj cover. Price un-clipped. 392pp including Glossary, index.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Very clean 1st edition copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Very good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very good. First edition-first impression. VGC.Heinemann,1987.First edition-first impression. Printed by Future Print, Dublin. Brown/Orange hardback (silver lettering to the spine, small nick on the edges of the cover) with Dj(large scratches on the Dj cover, small nicks and creases on the edges of the Dj cover),both in VGC.Illustrated with b/w photos. Nice and clean pages with small marks on the outer edges, small nicks on the edges of the pages. The book is in VGC with light shelf wear on the Dj cover. Price un-clipped. 392pp including Glossary, index.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good +. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Black covers with silver gilt titles to spine; clean & tight; no marks or inscriptions; slight forward lean; photographs available on request.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First Australian Edition / First Print. Hardback copy in quarter black cloth, black boards with silver gilt lettering to spine. Unclipped dustjacket in new removable protective clear sleeve. 392pp. Not library copy, name/date in ink to ffep. (60/6).

A piece of publishing and censorship history! Like new hardback, the scarce Australian 1st edition, 1st printing, which was the only way the book could be published whilst it was banned in the UK. Since the work was freely available outside the UK, the ban was eventually dropped and a UK edition released. Hardcover. An as-new copy in an as-new dustjacket. William Heinemann, Australia, 1987. No inscription, unclipped jacket, appears unopened and unread. Illustrated. 391 pages. We pack our books properly and ship daily from the UK, using recycled materials where we can.

Hardcover. Condition: Very good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very good. VGC.Heinemann,1987.First Australian edition-first impression. Dark grey hardback with black borders(silver lettering to the spine, small nick on the edges of the cover) with Dj(small crease, nicks and scratch on the edges of the Dj cover),both in VGC.Illustrated with b/w photos. Nice and clean pages but slightly yellow on the outer edges, small ink mark and slightly yellow on the edges of the pages. The book is in VGC with light shelf wear.229pp including Glossary, index. First Australian edition-first impression.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 1987. Viking. First Edition sixth impression. A Hardback in Very Good condition in a Dust Wrapper also in Very Good condition. Original black boards with lettering in silver to spine. Slight softening and reading crease to spine, but spine and page block remain firm and tight. Toning to page block and mildly to page edges. Otherwise pages clean and unmarked. Slight light markings to page block. A nice clean book. The wrapper is not price clipped. One small closed nick to wrapper and small sticker from previous bookseller. Some creasing to back of wrapper and a very thin strip of toning and wear to top edge.