Christmas Rising (A Superintendent Bernal Novel)

First edition, first impression.  224pp.  Red publisher’s cloth-covered boards, gilt-stamped lettering on the spine.  8vo.  Cloth a little worn, gently rubbed and rounded at corners and spine tips.  Slight lean.  Faint spotting on text block edges.  Previous owner’s name neatly inked on the front paste down else internally neat, clean, bright and tight.  Dust wrapper a little shelf worn and slightly toned on verso.  Dust wrapper now protected in Mylar-style wrapper, fitted without the use of tape or adhesives.

A frist edition copy  of the 1982 political thriller by the British medievalist academic Ian Michael (1936-2020), published under his pen name of David Serafin.  It is the second title in the well-regarded Superintendent Bernal series, atmospheric police procedurals set the post-Franco Madrid, Spain, preceded by Saturday of Glory (1979).