The Bridge on the River Kwai, Pierre Boulle, Secker & Warburg, 1954, First Edition First Impression Based on his own experiences as a Japanese prisoner-of-war in Indochina, Pierre Boulle's 1952 novel, Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai, won the Prix Sainte-Beuve, and was quickly released as an english translation. It became the basis for David Lean's 1957 film, The Bridge on the River Kwai, although the novel's original ending, in which the bridge was not destroyed, was changed. Lean's brilliant epic won seven of eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Alec Guinness. A First Edition, First Impression in very good condition. The binding is straight and tight, the boards clean and the lettering on the spine bright. Spine slightly sunned. The end papers include two owners bookplates but they and the pages are free from marks, tears or inscriptions. Some sunning to the spine. Minor foxing to endpapers. The clipped dust jacket, protected in a clear, removable cover is in very good condition bright with some darkening in parts, some rubbing / wear at the corners, a couple of small enclosed tears, some darkening to the cream coloured rear cover and small loss to the top of the spine Becoming rarer in very good condition and of real historical significance. Will be dispatched wrapped in bubblewrap and in a cardboard box.