FLEMING, Ian (1908-1964). The Spy Who Loved Me. London: Jonathan Cape,...

FLEMING, Ian (1908-1964). The Spy Who Loved Me. London: Jonathan Cape, 1962.

First edition, first impression, presentation copy inscribed by Fleming to Noël Coward: ‘To Noël / Read & Burn! / from / Ian’. The Spy Who Loved Me is the shortest and most sexually explicit of the Bond novels. Narrated by a fictional young woman called Vivienne Michel – named after Fleming and Coward’s neighbour in Jamaica, Vivienne Stewart – it was a clear departure from the formula upon which the previous novels were based, and was met by harsh criticism upon publication. Although Bond himself does not appear until two thirds of the way through the narrative, it is clearly the earlier chapters that Coward enjoyed most, claiming that the novel ‘starts brilliantly, and goes too far as usual’ (Diaries, p.503). Gilbert A10a (1.1). G. Payn and S. Morley. The Noel Coward Diaries. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1982.

Octavo (188 x 124mm). Original black cloth, upper cover with a dagger motif stamped in blind and silver, spine lettered in silver, red endpapers, original dust-jacket after Richard Chopping (very faint marks to rear panel). Provenance: Noël Coward (1899-1973; author’s presentation inscription, bookplate).