THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original brown cloth with gilt titles to the spine, in the Mon Mohan designed dustwrapper, reproducing a watercolour of the Grand Canal in Venice by J. M. W. Turner. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth bright and fresh. The contents, with light spotting to the top edge of the closed text block, are otherwise clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the original dustwrapper, that has a couple of small foxing spots to the underside, that is otherwise without fading, loss or tears. Not price-clipped (£5.50 net to the lower front flap).

Although the city remains unnamed, McEwan's second novel clearly takes its place in a long line of fictional works to portray Venice as a setting for the menacing and unsettling. The novel was shortlisted for the 1981 Booker Prize and later adapted for the 1990 film (unambiguously set in Venice) directed by Paul Schrader with a screenplay by Harold Pinter and starring Christopher Walken, Helen Mirren, Natasha Richardson and Rupert Everett.