James Bond First Editions

The Heart of the Hunter.

VAN DER POST, Laurens Jan (1906-1996).

London: The Hogarth Press, 1961. [Legends and fables from the African bush] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.256. Publisher's red cloth, gilt titles to spine, in pictorial dust-jacket designed by Maurice Wilson. Illustrated with numerous drawings by Maurice Wilson. A particularly fine copy with a hint of toning to the spine panel. This story collection influenced the James Bond novelist Ian Fleming (his books Diamonds are Forever and The Diamond Smugglers are set in Africa). Sir Laurens van der Post was an Afrikaner author, decorated soldier, explorer, anthropologist and an authority on Bushman culture; his writing was highly regarded by Fleming and mentioned by Lycett, p.438. This copy is from the comprehensive Ian Fleming Bibliographical Archive assembled by Jon Gilbert, with his pencilled note and ownership to free endpaper. His encyclopaedic guide to the works of Ian Fleming (2012) won the 16th Breslauer Prize for bibliography. Item #64989

Gilbert, p.631.

Price: £100.00