Ill Met by Moonlight Folio Society 2001

🏛️ Ill Met by Moonlight — The Audacious WWII Abduction of General Kreipe

W. Stanley Moss’s firsthand account of one of the war’s most daring special operations, in a striking Folio Society edition.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: W. Stanley Moss (1921–2005), SOE officer and author
• Publisher: The Folio Society, London
• Year: 2001
• Format: Hardcover in slipcase
• Condition: Fine / Near Fine — full report below

THE STORY

In April 1944, two British SOE officers — W. Stanley Moss and Patrick Leigh Fermor — led a small band of Cretan partisans on a moonlit mission to kidnap German General Heinrich Kreipe from his car on the road between Heraklion and the Villa Ariadne. What followed was a three-week odyssey across the Cretan mountains, evading thousands of German troops in one of the most audacious operations of the European resistance. Moss wrote this account from his wartime diary, and it became one of the most celebrated WWII memoirs of the 20th century.

THIS EDITION

Published by The Folio Society, London, 2001. Introduction by M.R.D. Foot (official historian of the SOE), prologue and epilogue by Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk (who served alongside the participants), and an afterword by Patrick Leigh Fermor himself — the co-leader of the operation and one of the great travel writers of the century. The text block includes original black-and-white photographs of the actual participants and Cretan landscape, captioned with names like “Vassily,” “W.S.M.,” and “Ivan.”

THE BINDING

Pristine navy buckram cloth boards with a striking cover design: silver crescent moons arranged vertically over a stylized Cretan landscape of burnt-orange mountains and dark water, with a small resistance boat crossing below. The spine carries silver lettering with “FOLIO” at the base. Matching navy slipcase in Near Fine condition with only minimal shelf-wear.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The actual operation — codenamed “Derynia” — was one of only a handful of SOE kidnappings of senior Axis officers in the European theater
• Moss and Fermor later inspired the 1957 film Ill Met by Moonlight (UK title Night Ambush), with Dirk Bogarde as Fermor
• The Folio Society edition is the most collectible modern printing, with contributions from all three surviving participants
• Patrick Leigh Fermor went on to write A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water, widely considered the finest travel books of the 20th century

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? Folio Society edition, published London, 2001. Introduction by M.R.D. Foot, afterword by Patrick Leigh Fermor.

What condition is it in? Fine to Near Fine — pristine boards, tight binding, clean slipcase with only minimal shelf-wear.

Is the slipcase included? Yes. Matching navy slipcase in Near Fine condition.

FOR COLLECTORS

This Folio Society edition, with its all-participant commentary and atmospheric Cretan moonlight cover art, is the definitive modern presentation of Moss’s classic. The navy cloth boards and slipcase are in Fine to Near Fine condition — clean, tight, and likely unread. A handsome volume that works equally well as a reading copy, a display piece, or a gift for anyone fascinated by WWII special operations.

#### **Condition Report**

Book: Fine / Slipcase: Near Fine

Pristine pictorial buckram boards featuring a silver-and-white moon-phase motif. Absolutely no fading or rubbing to the gilt spine. Pages are bright, clean, off-white/cream, and completely free of marks or foxing. Binding extremely tight and square, likely unread. Slipcase sturdy with only minimal shelf-wear.

#### **Book Details**

* **Author:** W. Stanley Moss

* **Publisher:** The Folio Society, London

* **Year:** 2001

* **Binding:** Hardcover in slipcase

* **Contributors:** Introduction by M.R.D. Foot, Prologue/Epilogue by Iain Moncreiffe, Afterword by Patrick Leigh Fermor

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