Sauve Qui Peut by Lawrence Durrell (RB469)

Published 1966: First Edition / Hardcover / Very Good Condition / Illustrated throughout

Original red cloth with gilt titles on the spine and original pictorial dust jacket. 82 very clean and bright pages, previous owners dedication on the first free page. Slight shelf wear on dust jacket and slightly rubbed with time consistent with age. (RB469)

Postage €4.00.
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Here, in the delightful tradition of Esprit de Corps and Stiff Upper Lip, are new stories of life in the diplomatic corps. Career officer Antrobus, experienced man-behind-the-scenes in the Iron Curtain post of Vulgaria, does the telling, and a wild assortment of tales the British gentleman has. His nine reminiscences give excellent illustration of the fact that the major problems of a diplomat are seldom diplomatic. And the various crises show that the title of the book could well be the motto of any member of an embassy. For all too often the only solution is literally "save himself who can," or, as it has evolved, "everyone for himself." This, the first collection of Antrobus stories since 1959, confirms Lawrence Durrell as a master of humor as well as of storytelling.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2300127.Sauve_qui_peut

Imagine if P.G. Wodehouse was a diplomat: Durrell's hilarious foreign office sketches are 'sophisticated funny, but wonderful, and bonkers' ( Joanna Trollope)
'A rewarding cocktail based on two parts Wodehouse and one part Saki ... So much fun.' New York Times

'Whatever wars there may be and whatever crises, there will still, please heaven, be the diplomatic corps, with its protocol and formalities and a field for humour which I have never seen better used than in these stories.' John Betjeman
After a lifetime serving that most delightfully British of institutions, the Foreign Office, Antrobus can't resist musing over old times in Vulgaria at his London club - or should that be cringing ... His memories of farcical gaffes and comic diplomatic misadventures climax in a dramatic sword fight over a gorgeous new French 'ambassadress' - just one portrait of English eti-quette, empire, and eccentricity
Celebrated British novelist, travel writer, and member of the real-life family portrayed in The Durrells in Corfu , Lawrence Durrell experienced the absurdities of mid-century diplomacy firsthand. His charming jeu d'esprit about the diplomatic corps is classic satire: but be warned: there's a point where laughter can become painful ...
'Antrobus is a delight to listen to, and his stories are wonderfully funny.' Atlantic
'My goodness it is funny.' The Daily Telegraph. [Google Books]