James Bond First Editions

Collection of seven volumes from the author's library.

FLEMING, Ian.

1908-31. Mostly octavo, 6 volumes, original bindings. Occasional foxing and browning, extremities occasionally worn, some spines faded, loss of spine to Garet Garrett. Ian Fleming's own reading copies, most acquired by him during his formative years between the ages of 15-30 (during 1920s-30s) whilst a schoolboy at Eton College and a language student at the Universities of Munich and Geneva. Four books have gift inscriptions from friends and two books feature his own ownership inscription. This collection comprises literature, particularly romances, including some poetry, which highlight Fleming's youthful interest in the romantics. The specific volumes comprise: - D'ALBE, E. H. Fournier. Hephaestus or the Soul of the Machine. London: Kegan Paul, no date (circa 1920s). Inscribed by Ian Fleming to the front free endpaper "I. L. Fleming / Chelsea". Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan; the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire, and volcanoes, who had a reputation as a fix-it man, or creator, a similar role played by the mortal "Q" in film versions of Fleming's later adventure books. Like other mythical smiths but unlike most other gods, Hephaestus was lame, which gave him a grotesque appearance in Greek eyes; the notion of physical repulsion was a recurring theme for Fleming's deplorable villains who were given oversized heads, metal hands, hideous facial features and numerous injuries or birth defects. The name-place inscribed by Fleming relates to 118 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London SW10, which was his home address while studying at Eton College. - GARRETT, Garet. Ouroboros, or The Mechanical Extension of Mankind. London: Kegan Paul, no date (circa 1920s). With a gift inscription to Ian Fleming, dated 1927, from a female acquaintance. The Ouroboros in Greek mythology is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle. Serpents as death-bringers would feature in the James Bond novels, and a mechanical "dragon" was a recurring threat to the islanders in Dr No (1958). Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche, and is perhaps the reason Fleming was given this book; Fleming was an advocate of Jung's work and struck up a correspondence with the Zurich psychiatrist; he translated his essay Paraclesus while a language student in Munich in the late 1920s. - HEWLETT, Maurice. The Forest Lovers. A Romance. London: Thomas Nelson, no date. With a gift inscription to Ian Fleming, dated 1928. The Forest Lovers is a tale of knight errantry in the Arthurian style. In its simplest form it has, at its core, the idea of good versus evil, which was the entire premise of the James Bond series. The story also features a damsel in distress, which would of course be a pre-requisite for Ian Fleming's own gallant hero. - NICOLSON, Harold. People and Things. London: Constable and Company, 1931. With a long inscription, presented to Ian Fleming by a close friend, likely just before sitting examinations. People and Things is exactly that: short accounts of places and characters, similar in style to Fleming's later travel documentary series Thrilling Cities. - HOPE, Laurence. The Garden of Kama. London: William Heinemann, 1908. Inscribed to Ian Fleming (the source of the presentation is obscured). Love poetry, in which Ian Fleming was particularly interested; he also owned a selection of poetical works by Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Drinkwater, and wrote his own volume of romantic verse entitled The Black Daffodil (published circa 1928), which he quickly suppressed. - PINNINGTON, Edward. Sir David Wilkie. Edinburgh: Oliphant Anderson, no date. Inscribed by Ian Fleming to the front free endpaper "Ian Fleming Glasgow 1936" Fleming's own copy of a hardback cloth-bound textbook, part of the Scottish Painters series, this volume covering Sir David Wilkie. These copies are 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. PROVENANCE: The Library of Ian Fleming (-1964), (2) Ann Fleming (1964-1981), (3) Fionn O'Neill (Ann Fleming's daughter, 1981-94), (4) Bloomsbury Auctions, London, 15 September 1994, as part of a larger collection of some ninety-seven of Ian Fleming's volumes, largely uncatalogued. Item #156685

The Schøyen Collection No. 222 and 223.

Price: £10,000.00