Dr. No.

FLEMING, Ian.

Item Number: 120836

London: Jonathan Cape, 1958.

First edition with the “Honeychile” silhouette. Octavo, original black cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Philip, In exchange for many favours. Affectionately Ian.” The recipient, Philip Brownrigg was one of Fleming’s old friends from Eton. He had been an editor at the Sunday Graphic before joining de Beers, the diamond merchants. As noted by Pearson, “..as a senior executive of de Beers [Brownrigg] enjoyed the entree to that curiously closed society of the London diamond market” (The Life of Ian Fleming, London, 1966, p. 250). It was through Brownrigg that Fleming gained access to a number of contacts connected to the illicit diamond trade. These contacts (including Peter Sillitoe, former head of MI5) assisted Fleming in his research for both Diamonds are Forever (1956) and also his non-fiction work The Diamond Smugglers (1957). Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of shelfwear. Jacket design by Pat Marriott. Uncommon signed and inscribed.

The further adventures of "literature's most famous spy" (Steinbrunner & Penzler, 151) and basis for the first Bond film in 1962, starring Sean Connery and Ursula Andress. Time acclaimed the title villain as "one of the least forgettable characters in modern fiction" (Black, 32). With brown-stamped dancing girl silhouette on front board ("probably intended to be Honeychile Rider" [Biondi & Pickard, 44]).