London: Harper Collins, 1995

8vo, pp. 378. Original red boards, lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated dustwrapper. A fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper with just a little wear to spine ends.

First edition of the third volume in the House of Cards trilogy, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO IAN RICHARDSON, STAR OF BBC TV’S AWARD-WINNING ADAPTATION, AND HIS WIFE: ‘To Ian and Maroussia. Goodbye, Francis! With love, Michael.’

Michael Dobbs’ first novel of the trilogy, House of Cards, was filmed as a four-part series by the BBC in 1990, with a screenplay by Andrew Davies and starring Ian Richardson. giving a BAFTA-winning performance as the scheming Conservative Chief Whip Francis Urquhart. To Play the King was filmed in 1993, and The Final Cut in 1995, both series with the same star and screenwriter.