Goldfinger.

FLEMING, Ian.

$60,000.00

Item Number: 133728

London: Jonathan Cape, 1959.

First edition of the seventh novel in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Octavo, original black cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Una, who again wrote the whole thing! from Ian Fleming.” The recipient, Una Trueblood, whose surname was later appropriated by Fleming for the character of Mary Trueblood in Dr. No. Una started working in 1948 at Kemsley Newspapers and The Sunday Times where she was soon appointed secretary to Ian Fleming, where he worked throughout the 1950s. She recalled that Fleming “always said he only wrote Casino Royale, the first Bond book, because he was on the plane to Jamaica and he read such a bad, boring thriller that he thought he could do better himself.” He would write the Bond novels during his annual stays at Goldeneye, his home in Jamaica, thereafter sending the manuscript to Una for typing up. The character in Dr. No named after Una is Mary Trueblood, secretary to John Strangways, the head of the British Secret Service’s Caribbean station, a position echoing that of Una to Fleming. Mary however met a gruesome end, stabbed to death. Recalling a visit to Una made in 2008 the writer Adam Thorpe noted that “The fictional Mary Trueblood has many features in common with her real-life namesake; she’s described in Dr No (1958) as “elegant” (three times), “pretty” and a “good-looker.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Richard Chopping. Housed in a custom clamshell box. One of the finest association copies imaginable.

Goldfinger originally bore the title The Richest Man in the World. Based upon American gold tycoon Charles W. Englehard, Fleming named his villain after British architect Erno Goldfinger. When the actual Goldfinger found out his name was being used, he threatened to sue Fleming, and the matter was ultimately settled out of court. A best-seller upon its release, it became the third James Bond film in 1964 starring Sean Connery.