James Bond First Editions

From Russia, With Love.

FLEMING, Ian Lancaster (1908-1964).

New York: The Macmillan Company. 1957. [Thriller] FIRST U.S. EDITION, INSCRIBED ASSOCIATION COPY, presented to Al Hart, the author's American publisher and editor. Octavo (22 x 14cm), pp.253; [3], blank. Publisher's beige/grey cloth lettered in black, in the original pictorial dust-wrapper with illustration by Richard Chopping, priced at $3.50. Inscribed on the front free endpaper: "To Al, By, with, & from Ian". Spine ends bumped, top edge foxed, pp. 90-1 browned from inserted clipping, contents clean; jacket unclipped, slightly rubbed, a little worn at extremities, spine slightly chipped with some discreet reinforcement to verso: a very good copy in very good jacket. Fleming and Hart first met in 1953: Fleming had just published Casino Royale, and Hart was working for Macmillan, who had bought the American rights to the novel and any subsequent instalments in the series. Hart became Fleming's editor for the first seven books he published in America, as well as "his crony, confidant, and drinking companion on all his subsequent visits to New York" (Pearson, p. 231). Hart made several changes to the series when it was published in the US. For the first paperback edition of Casino Royale, Hart changed the title to the pulp-sounding You Asked for It, writing to Fleming to explain: "the Great Unwashed won't know how to pronounce 'Royale'. If You Asked for It turns your stomach bright green, it might be a good idea to suggest an alternative title or titles" (quoted in Pearson, p. 249). For the Macmillan edition of Live and Let Die, Hart deleted several passages he thought racially insensitive; Fleming approved the changes and adopted the amended version for new editions. Fleming began work on the present novel in 1954. Following the advice of his friend Raymond Chandler, he hoped to move away from the "straight pillow fantasies of the kiss-kiss, bang-bang variety" and "put more feeling into my typewriter" (letter to Chandler, quoted in Pearson, p. 286). The result was a suspenseful thriller, partly based on his own experiences in Russia and Turkey, which would be Fleming's favourite of his own works. Hart was delighted when he read the manuscript: "The new one is far and away your best, from the very first page right through to that altogether admirable cliff-hanger of an ending. Seriously, I mean it: From Russia, with Love is a real wowser, a lulu, a dilly and a smasheroo. It is also a clever and above all sustained piece of legitimate craftsmanship. My chapeau is not only off to you, it is over the windmill" (quoted in Lycett, p. 301). Following Hart's suggestion, From Russia, with Love was the first book in the Bond series where the UK and US editions shared the same jacket design, by Richard Chopping. Jonathan Cape subsequently sent Macmillan Chopping's proof artworks to use on the jackets of Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only, and The Spy Who Loved Me, as well as his design for Thunderball, which they used on the jacket for the omnibus edition Gilt-Edged Bonds. Item #71695

Gilbert A5b (1); Lycett, Andrew. Ian Fleming: The Man Who Created James Bond, 1995; Pearson, John. The Life of Ian Fleming, 1966. Offered in partnership with Peter Harrington, London.

Price: £27,500.00