James Bond First Editions

Contributes to 'The Concise Encyclopedia of Crime And Criminals'. Edited by Sir Harold Scott [two copies].

FLEMING, Ian Lancaster (1908-1964).

London: Andre Deutsch, 1961. [History] FIRST EDITION. Quarto (26 x 20cm), pp.351; [1], blank. Title page printed in two colours. Illustrated throughout with photographs. Publisher's hardback grey cloth blocked in red to backstrip, top edge green, photographic endpapers, pictorial dust-jacket priced at 50s. [Together with] Book Club edition published by Book Plan (1965), red cloth gilt, illustrated dust-wrapper. The book club edition differs in the binding, plain endpapers, the title page printed in black only, jacket imprint and no price displayed. Both are clean, fine copies (discreet blind stamp to half-title of first volume). Bibliographer Jon Gilbert's copies (pencilled signatures within). An informative history and glossary of crime and criminal law. Among the list of contributors is Ian Fleming, who is noted to both the title page and the dust-wrapper flap, with a brief biography at the rear. Fleming almost certainly assisted with articles on gambling, narcotics, diamond smuggling, organised crime, racketeering and the piece on Sicilian crime boss 'Lucky' Luciano, whom he interviewed in Napoli, May 1960, and described as "the last surviving fragment of the myth of the Al Capone era" (Thrilling Cities, p.193). Item #67563

Gilbert, C100, p.539.

Price: £175.00