Westwind (First Edition, Signed)
RANKIN, Ian. Westwind. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1990.
8vo. Blue publisher's cloth. Gilt lettering to spine. Unclipped pictorial dust jacket. 224 pp. First edition. First printing. Signed by the author on the title page.
Westwind is one of Ian Rankin's earliest published works, and one he famously came to regard with considerable ambivalence. Commissioned as a techno-thriller at a moment when Rankin was still finding his footing as a writer, it was reworked so extensively at the publisher's direction that he later said it no longer felt like his own work — and he expected it to disappear without trace. The novel centres on a British spy satellite called Zephyr that goes inexplicably dark for three minutes and forty seconds, and on the two men — ground controller Martin Hepton and the sole British survivor of a crashed American space shuttle — who piece together what that interruption conceals. The conspiracy they uncover reaches into the highest levels of British and American intelligence at a moment when transatlantic relations are fracturing and American troops are withdrawing from Europe. It is, in retrospect, a premise of some prescience.
Rankin did not permit the book to be reprinted for nearly thirty years. When he finally reread it at a reader's suggestion, he was sufficiently surprised by its quality to allow a revised reissue in 2019 — with a new introduction in which he writes candidly about the difficult early years of his career. By that point he had become, as the reissue's marketing noted, Britain's number-one crime writer. The original 1990 Barrie & Jenkins first edition, long out of print and scarce with an unclipped jacket, is consequently among the harder Rankin titles to find in presentable condition. A signed copy in near fine condition is rarer still.
Near fine in like dust jacket. Jacket unclipped, colours bold and bright. Boards fine. Contents near fine; gentle age toning towards edges of textblock.
This book is currently not on display in store. If you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: [email protected]
Catalogue Number: HH000014
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Westwind (First Edition, Signed)
Westwind (First Edition, Signed)
RANKIN, Ian. Westwind. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1990.
8vo. Blue publisher's cloth. Gilt lettering to spine. Unclipped pictorial dust jacket. 224 pp. First edition. First printing. Signed by the author on the title page.
Westwind is one of Ian Rankin's earliest published works, and one he famously came to regard with considerable ambivalence. Commissioned as a techno-thriller at a moment when Rankin was still finding his footing as a writer, it was reworked so extensively at the publisher's direction that he later said it no longer felt like his own work — and he expected it to disappear without trace. The novel centres on a British spy satellite called Zephyr that goes inexplicably dark for three minutes and forty seconds, and on the two men — ground controller Martin Hepton and the sole British survivor of a crashed American space shuttle — who piece together what that interruption conceals. The conspiracy they uncover reaches into the highest levels of British and American intelligence at a moment when transatlantic relations are fracturing and American troops are withdrawing from Europe. It is, in retrospect, a premise of some prescience.
Rankin did not permit the book to be reprinted for nearly thirty years. When he finally reread it at a reader's suggestion, he was sufficiently surprised by its quality to allow a revised reissue in 2019 — with a new introduction in which he writes candidly about the difficult early years of his career. By that point he had become, as the reissue's marketing noted, Britain's number-one crime writer. The original 1990 Barrie & Jenkins first edition, long out of print and scarce with an unclipped jacket, is consequently among the harder Rankin titles to find in presentable condition. A signed copy in near fine condition is rarer still.
Near fine in like dust jacket. Jacket unclipped, colours bold and bright. Boards fine. Contents near fine; gentle age toning towards edges of textblock.
This book is currently not on display in store. If you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: [email protected]
Catalogue Number: HH000014
Product Information
Product Information
Shipping & Returns
Shipping & Returns
Description
RANKIN, Ian. Westwind. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1990.
8vo. Blue publisher's cloth. Gilt lettering to spine. Unclipped pictorial dust jacket. 224 pp. First edition. First printing. Signed by the author on the title page.
Westwind is one of Ian Rankin's earliest published works, and one he famously came to regard with considerable ambivalence. Commissioned as a techno-thriller at a moment when Rankin was still finding his footing as a writer, it was reworked so extensively at the publisher's direction that he later said it no longer felt like his own work — and he expected it to disappear without trace. The novel centres on a British spy satellite called Zephyr that goes inexplicably dark for three minutes and forty seconds, and on the two men — ground controller Martin Hepton and the sole British survivor of a crashed American space shuttle — who piece together what that interruption conceals. The conspiracy they uncover reaches into the highest levels of British and American intelligence at a moment when transatlantic relations are fracturing and American troops are withdrawing from Europe. It is, in retrospect, a premise of some prescience.
Rankin did not permit the book to be reprinted for nearly thirty years. When he finally reread it at a reader's suggestion, he was sufficiently surprised by its quality to allow a revised reissue in 2019 — with a new introduction in which he writes candidly about the difficult early years of his career. By that point he had become, as the reissue's marketing noted, Britain's number-one crime writer. The original 1990 Barrie & Jenkins first edition, long out of print and scarce with an unclipped jacket, is consequently among the harder Rankin titles to find in presentable condition. A signed copy in near fine condition is rarer still.
Near fine in like dust jacket. Jacket unclipped, colours bold and bright. Boards fine. Contents near fine; gentle age toning towards edges of textblock.
This book is currently not on display in store. If you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: [email protected]
Catalogue Number: HH000014
