MACLEAN, Alistair. South by Java Head. London: Collins, 1958.
First edition, first impression. Signed by Alistair MacLean in blue ink on the title page.
Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, in the striking original pictorial dust jacket, retaining the publisher’s 14s. net price to the front flap. 320pp.
Published after H.M.S. Ulysses and The Guns of Navarone, South by Java Head was Alistair MacLean’s third novel and an early demonstration of the taut, highly visual wartime thrillers for which he became internationally celebrated.
Set during the fall of Singapore in February 1942, the novel follows a desperate escape into the South China Sea aboard a battered vessel carrying passengers with conflicting loyalties, concealed identities and dangerous secrets. MacLean turns the voyage into a tense enclosed-world drama, where the threat from Japanese aircraft, tropical waters and the people on board is never far away.
MacLean’s own wartime service in the Royal Navy gave his early fiction its convincing sense of shipboard life, pressure and danger. Before the later successes of Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra and Force 10 from Navarone, this was one of the novels that established the distinctive MacLean combination of naval atmosphere, suspense and relentless forward movement.
A particularly appealing signed copy of this early MacLean title, retaining its vivid original Collins dust jacket and bearing a clear author signature on the title page.
Condition
A very attractive copy. The green cloth remains fresh and bright, with strong gilt lettering to the spine, while the contents are clean, crisp and well preserved. The original pictorial dust jacket retains excellent colour and presents extremely well. The author’s signature is clear, bold and well positioned on the title page. Please see photographs for full condition detail.
