Thunderball - Author s Presentation Copy -
Ian Lancaster Fleming
1961 - Jonathan Cape, London - First Edition
A fine first edition of one of the most pivotal works of the James Bond series, and the first of the ‘Blofeld’ trilogy
Inscribed by the author "To Noël, In exchange for the copy of P & C he didn't send me! With love Ian" on the front free endpaper.
The inscription refers to Noël Coward's first and only novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), at the centre of which is a thinly-veiled account of Fleming's affair with Ann. Set on the fictional island of Samolo – a close match for Jamaica – it concerns the secret relationship between the aristocratic Eloise and her lover, Bunny, whose character mirrors Fleming's almost exactly. "In the character of Bunny... we have a remarkably unflinching portrait of Ian Fleming's time on the island in 1949-51, the years immediately preceding his marriage to Ann and the simultaneous launch of James Bond … It's astonishing how little Coward bothered to make up" (Parker, page 91).
This copy is from the significant Ian Fleming collection of Martin Schøyen (b.1940), with his bookplate. Schøyen's private collection of manuscripts, which span all cultures and all time periods, was one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind. It was in Thunderball that Fleming first introduces the world to the ultimate Bond villain - Ernest Stavro Blofeld. Though Bond and Blofeld never actually meet here, it is in this book that Bond first battles the schemes of SPECTRE, Blofeld's criminal organisation.
Filmed in 1965, starring Sean Connery as 007, Claudine Auger as Domino and Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo- SPECTRE's No.2. The later film ‘Never Say Never Again’, with Connery again as 007, was loosely based on this story.
Appropriately housed in a bespoke clamshell quarter black morocco over matching cloth, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, lined in black felt, by the Chelsea Bindery of London.
Reference: The Schøyen Collection No. 70. Matthew Parker, Goldeneye, Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica, 2015. Gilbert, Ian Fleming - The Bibliography, A9a (1.1):- Book - First Edition, First Issue, Binding A. Publisher's cloth-effect paper over boards with embossed skeleton hand design to upper board, gilt titles to spine (titled in silver for Binding B). In first edition dust jacket illustrated by Richard Chopping, priced ‘15s.net’ to lower corner of front flap (later increased to 16s, firstly by the use of a sticker, and then by reprinting).
Octavo (book size 19.5x12.8cm), pp. 254 [2]. All corners of dust jacket with Jonathan Cape’s decorative clip. Condition: Fine, spine ends slightly wrinkled, in near fine dust jacket, minor rubbing to corners, short closed tear to lower edge of rear panel, small damp stain to foot of spine, only visible to verso of dust jacket. Ref: 112088 Price: HK$ 385,000
Inscribed by the author "To Noël, In exchange for the copy of P & C he didn't send me! With love Ian" on the front free endpaper.
The inscription refers to Noël Coward's first and only novel, Pomp and Circumstance (1960), at the centre of which is a thinly-veiled account of Fleming's affair with Ann. Set on the fictional island of Samolo – a close match for Jamaica – it concerns the secret relationship between the aristocratic Eloise and her lover, Bunny, whose character mirrors Fleming's almost exactly. "In the character of Bunny... we have a remarkably unflinching portrait of Ian Fleming's time on the island in 1949-51, the years immediately preceding his marriage to Ann and the simultaneous launch of James Bond … It's astonishing how little Coward bothered to make up" (Parker, page 91).
This copy is from the significant Ian Fleming collection of Martin Schøyen (b.1940), with his bookplate. Schøyen's private collection of manuscripts, which span all cultures and all time periods, was one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind. It was in Thunderball that Fleming first introduces the world to the ultimate Bond villain - Ernest Stavro Blofeld. Though Bond and Blofeld never actually meet here, it is in this book that Bond first battles the schemes of SPECTRE, Blofeld's criminal organisation.
Filmed in 1965, starring Sean Connery as 007, Claudine Auger as Domino and Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo- SPECTRE's No.2. The later film ‘Never Say Never Again’, with Connery again as 007, was loosely based on this story.
Appropriately housed in a bespoke clamshell quarter black morocco over matching cloth, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, lined in black felt, by the Chelsea Bindery of London.
Reference: The Schøyen Collection No. 70. Matthew Parker, Goldeneye, Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica, 2015. Gilbert, Ian Fleming - The Bibliography, A9a (1.1):- Book - First Edition, First Issue, Binding A. Publisher's cloth-effect paper over boards with embossed skeleton hand design to upper board, gilt titles to spine (titled in silver for Binding B). In first edition dust jacket illustrated by Richard Chopping, priced ‘15s.net’ to lower corner of front flap (later increased to 16s, firstly by the use of a sticker, and then by reprinting).
Octavo (book size 19.5x12.8cm), pp. 254 [2]. All corners of dust jacket with Jonathan Cape’s decorative clip. Condition: Fine, spine ends slightly wrinkled, in near fine dust jacket, minor rubbing to corners, short closed tear to lower edge of rear panel, small damp stain to foot of spine, only visible to verso of dust jacket. Ref: 112088 Price: HK$ 385,000