Casino Royale.

FLEMING, Ian.

Item Number: 140696

London: Jonathan Cape, 1953.

First edition of the first novel in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Octavo, original black cloth. Fine in a near fine first state price-clipped dust jacket (without the Sunday Times review on the inner front flap) with a touch of shelfwear. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example.

Casino Royale was written by Ian Fleming in Jamaica over a period of around two months, largely from his own experiences and imagination; he also devised the artwork for the cover. "Within the first few pages Fleming had introduced most of Bond's idiosyncrasies and trademarks," which included his looks, his Bentley and his smoking and drinking habits. The full details of Bond's martini were kept until chapter seven of the book and Bond eventually named it "The Vesper", after Vesper Lynd" (Andrew Lycett). It has been filmed twice as a feature film, the first being the 1967 spoof starring David Niven, and later as the twenty-first official Bond film starring Daniel Craig as James Bond.