The Third Policeman. London: Macgibbon & Kee, 1967. First Edition. Pp, 200. Brown paper boards, title in gilt to spine, in pictorial dust jacket. Minor toning along top margin of jacket, spotting to fore-edges, otherwise a fine bright copy.

Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman, published posthumously in 1967, is a darkly comic and surreal novel with a deceptively simple plot that spirals into a profound philosophical inquiry.

Voted novel of the year, it received rave reviews as a ‘triumph of a book’ and ‘The magical stimulation of this superbly alert humour, delivered in a prose style of wonderful clarity and full of charm.‘

The Observer commented ‘I think, even with Ulysses and Finnegans Wake behind him, James Joyce might have been envious!’