James Bond First Editions

The Belated Reckoning.

[Ian Fleming / Bondiana] BOTTOME, Phyllis (1874-1965).

London: Collins, 1927. [Fiction] FIRST EDITION, SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.243; [1], imprint; [6], ads. Publisher's blue cloth trimmed in red. Author's inscription to endpaper 'To Bill with love from Phyllis' followed by a four-line quote from Blake. Contents and page edge clean, joints rubbed, some fraying to spine tips. Very good. Phyllis Bottome (1884-1963), novelist and story writer, educator and mentor to Ian Fleming, who attended her private school in school in Kitzbühel, learning French, German and Russian. Her husband Ernan Forbes Dennis, was a retired MI-6 agent. Fleming's adventures in the Austrian Alps are the genesis of James Bond, and it was here that he wrote his first thriller story. This copy is from the comprehensive bibliographical archive assembled by Jon Gilbert, with his pencilled ownership. His encyclopaedic guide to the works of Ian Fleming (2012) won the 16th Breslauer Prize for bibliography. Item #73036

Gilbert, p.635.

Price: £175.00