Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS

Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS

Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS
Ian Fleming (1954) Live and Let Die , UK first edition, first printing, first state, published by Jonathan Cape. Including an original typed letter, hand signed by Ian Fleming with yours ever Ian Fleming. The letter is dated 22 September 1954, just five months after the publication of Live and Let Die. The book: a true first edition, first print of Live and Let Die, the second James Bond novel which had a small print run of 7,500 copies. Black cloth with gilt medallion to the front as called for, and gilt titles to the spine. The Dust Jacket : Matte jacket paper. Hot purple/pink jacket with yellow titles. Net on jacket flap located to the front and rear flaps. Rear panel has reviews for Casino Royale. No credit for the dust jacket illustrator is placed on the inside front flap.

Very few printings with the first state were published. In fact the first state of the first Live and Let Die edition jacket has a smaller print run than Casino Royale and is considered to be scarcer. Condition : the book is close to fine.

No previous owners names, no stamps, no bookplates. A whiff of faint foxing spots to the endpapers. Page block slightly darkened commensurate with age.

One corner bump to rear board as shown, otherwise very nice and the medallion and gilt titles are vibrant and not rubbed out. The dust jacket is the correct first state wrapper. It has been professionally restored by expert Richard Reeve who has specialised on dust jackets. This is a highly skilled restoration job and not some amateur job with cheap tape as often seen. The restoration job took care of the edges of the flaps and bottom, a narrow strip of about 1.5 cm.

No middle sections of the jacket has been touched. As such the jacket now presents in clean and fine condition. If the jacket was unrestored and looked like on the pictures the book would fetch more than double! Since the wrapper has been restored we grade it as very good condition. The letter: TLS signed Yours ever, Ian Fleming, one page, 8 x 10, Kemsley House letterhead, September 22, 1954.

Letter to journalist and spy how appropriate! Antony Terry of the British Press Centre, in part: Do you think you could follow this up? It looks as if it might make an interesting leader-page for the Sunday Times if you extracted the spicy bits and did it in the form of a well-documented review, or alternatively if its just cheap and sensational it might do for the Sunday Chronicle or Sunday GraphicPlease press on with the Sunday Times. Now is the chance for a really good correspondent in Germany to take over the foreign news columns from Paris and Washington and, incidentally, to play a really vital part in educating the public.

If you find you are getting too bogged down with secondary requests, please let me know and I will get you some help. It is far more important that you should develop as a thunderer in the Sunday Times. Fleming adds the salutation in his own hand. In very good condition, with light creasing, file and staple holes, and several intersecting folds. While working as foreign manager of the Kemsley newspaper groups Sunday Times, Fleming hired Terry to be posted in Germany.

Utilizing this legitimate news organization as a cover, Fleming also ran an intelligence outfit known as Mercury which used foreign correspondents to gather information in sensitive foreign zonesTerry was one such correspondent. An interesting association letter, very spy-them appropriate written in the same year as Live and Let Die was published! Ian Flemings seminal fourteen James Bond books remain highly collectable and steadily climb in value every year. On offer a rare first state of Live and Let Die in really nice condition with an authentic Fleming signature on a typed letter.

The price is a true baragin. A fine, unrestored dust jacket and signed copy of the book would likely see tripple prices and beyond depending on the inscription/ association. The item "Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS" is in sale since Sunday, May 5, 2019. This item is in the category "Books, Comics & Magazines\Antiquarian & Collectable". The seller is "firstandfine" and is located in Birmingham. This item can be shipped to all countries in Europe, all countries in continental Asia, United States, Canada.


Ian Fleming (1954)'Live and Let Die', UK first edition, first state, signed ALS


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