STAMBOUL TRAIN

London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1932. First Edition, second issue with "Q.C." changed to "Quin". This copy with pleasing provenance, having been the famous bibliophile, writer and collector, John Carter's copy with his bookplate. 8vo, publisher's original black cloth, the spine lettered in gilt. [x] 307 pp. A good copy of a very important and collectible book, the binding shows evidence of use, first free-fly excised, some overall mellowing, but still a solid copy and very usable, the hinges strong and in good order. FIRST EDITION OF THIS EARLY GRAHAM GREENE NOVEL. STAMBOUL TRAIN is the second significant novel by Graham Greene. Set on a train journey from Ostend to Istanbul, the book was renamed ORIENT EXPRESS when it was published in the United States. The novel appeared in 1932 and was Greene's first true success. It was taken on by the Book Society and in 1934 adapted as the film Orient Express.
The novel focuses on the lives of individuals aboard a luxury express making a three-day journey from Ostend to Istanbul (though Greene uses the old name for the city, Constantinople). The novel opens on board the ferry, on which several of the novel's major characters have travelled from England. Mabel Warren and Janet Pardoe join the train later in Cologne and Josef Grünlich joins it in Vienna. Although these characters are travelling for different purposes, their lives are intertwined in the course of the journey. Other scenes in places through which the train passes are also described, as well as Myatt's high-speed journey by car through the snow-laden countryside to and from the railway station at Subotica. Themes of anti-semitism appear as the train crosses Europe. The novel communicates a sense of unease.
The epigraph given the book is from George Santayana, "Everything is lyrical in its ideal essence; tragic in its fate and comic in its existence", which indicates its ambivalence of mood. A major theme there is also the issue of fidelity, the duty to others vis-ŕ-vis duty to self, and whether or not faithfulness to others pays; this theme is most clearly shown in the mental struggles of Czinner and Coral. Wiki