THE SHEPHERD

First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Original burgundy cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the dustwrapper illustrated by Chris Foss, who also provides the illustrations in the book. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, the contents, toned owing to the poor quality paper stock, otherwise clean throughout. In the dustwrapper, variously rubbed, nicked and torn to edges, the spine lightly toned. Not price-clipped (£1.50 net to the front flap).

Inscribed by the author in black ink to the front free endpaper "For Jill / with all best wishes / recalling our lunch / in Dublin this day / Freddie Forsyth / 16th October '75". "Christmas Eve, 1957. For one Royal Air Force pilot, one last hurdle remains between himself and a cozy Christmas morning in England. A sixty-six-minute flight in his Vampire fighter plane from Germany to Lakenheath. [A]s the fog begins to close in, the compass goes haywire and the radio dies, leaving him in silence, lost and alone up in the inky black sky. All hope seems lost as he accepts his fate when, out of nowhere, a vintage fighter-bomber appears and is miraculously trying to make contact. For one lonely pilot this is a miracle, but really the mystery has just begun..." (from the publisher).