All Night at Mr Stanyhurst's.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1963. [Historical Fiction] Octavo. Publisher's red wrappers, with printed blurb on a white label affixed to the front panel. Frontispiece illustration. A very good copy indeed, rubbed, spine faded and creased, otherwise a well-preserved proof copy. Uncorrected proof copy, one of 35 copies only, with an introduction by Ian Fleming. "The publisher's production ledger reveals this to have one of the lowest print runs of any Ian Fleming proof" - Gilbert, page 522. Jonathan Cape had first published this tale of a corrupt eighteenth-century rake, mixed with nautical adventure and shipwreck, in 1933. The book was re-issued in a New Library series in 1937 before disappearing from the public. Ian Fleming first wrote to Cape requesting a copy as early as 1949, long before his debut as the James Bond novelist. The book was so scarce that Cape forwarded their own file copy, which Fleming returned in February 1950 while urging the publisher to reprint. Following his success as a thriller writer himself, and after several times of asking, publisher Jonathan Cape did eventually re-issue this "lost" book by the shadowy, unsung author Hugh Edwards, with a brand-new introduction from Ian Fleming, intended to increase sales. This copy is from the significant Ian Fleming collection of Martin Schøyen (b.1940), with his bookplate. Schøyen's private collection of manuscripts, which span all cultures and all time periods, is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind. Item #155998
Gilbert B5a; The Schøyen Collection No. 212.
Price: £3,500.00
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