James Bond First Editions

The River Watcher.

CHARTERIS, Hugo, MC (1922-1970).

London: Collins, 1965. [Crime fiction] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.320. Publisher's blue cloth with silver titles to spine, typographic dust-wrapper priced at 21s. Contents clean, no inscriptions, some spotting to edges of text block and jacket panels, spine panel lightly toned. Very good indeed. A novel about poaching gangs set in the Western Highlands. Hugo Charteris was a noted British novelist and screenwriter, awarded the Military Cross for exemplary gallantry during active operations in Italy. His sisters were the socialite Ann Fleming and Laura Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, and brother-in-law Ian Fleming appropriated his name for the villain 'Sir Hugo Drax' in his third James Bond novel Moonraker (1955). From the comprehensive archive assembled by Jon Gilbert (pencil ownership within). His encyclopaedic guide to the works of Ian Fleming (2012) won the 16th Breslauer Prize for bibliography. Item #67470

Gilbert, p.90.

Price: £48.00