Catalogue - Bauman Rare Books

48
new acquisitions in a ll Fields | autumn 2012 | literature
ian fleming
“Whom Have You Been Sent Over To Kill Here, Mr. Bond?”:
First Edition Of Ian Fleming’s Live And Let Die, In Rare First-Issue Dust Jacket
41. FLEMING, Ian. Live and Let Die. London, 1954. Octavo, original gilt-stamped black paper boards,
dust jacket. $30,000.
Scarce first edition of Fleming’s second James Bond novel, “full of pace, incident and color” (Lycett, 238)—in
which 007 investigates an underworld voodoo leader who is suspected of selling 17th century gold coins to finance
Soviet spy operations in America—in the rare first-issue dust jacket.
“Before Casino Royale was published [in 1953], Fleming had already researched and written what was originally
to be called The Undertaker’s Wind… Far from repeating the formula of his first success, this [book] was a world
away from the sinister style of a luxurious European gambling resort” (Black, 10-11). “Fleming accomplished an
extraordinary amount in the history of the thriller. Almost single-handedly, he revived popular interest in the spy
novel, spawning legions of imitations, parodies, and critical and fictional reactions… Through the immense
success of the filmed versions of his books, his character James Bond became the best known fictional personality
of his time and Fleming the most famous writer of thrillers since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle” (Reilly, 571). First-issue
dust jacket without credit for jacket design and art. Biondi & Pickard, 41. Owner signature. Book fine, with only a
couple of spots of foxing to fore edge of text block. Light wear to extremities and light scattered foxing to white
rear panel of bright, unrestored dust jacket. An about-fine copy of an increasingly scarce early Bond title.