Thunderball.

FLEMING, Ian [Sean Connery].

Item Number: 123744

London: Jonathan Cape, 1961.

First edition of the ninth novel in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Octavo, original black cloth. Boldly signed by Sean Connery on the title page. Connery played 007 in the film bearing the same name. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket art by Richard Chopping. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Uncommon signed by Connery.

"Thunderball represented a new departure [for the Bond series], with the introduction of SPECTRE and of Ernst Blofeld, a commanding villain who was to reappear. This gave a measure of continuity to the later Bond novels Thunderball worked well as an adventure story the theme of the theft of atom bombs seemed pertinent and modern" (Black, 49, 55). "A thriller, a chiller and a pleasure to read" (New York Times). It was adapted twice to the screen: under the present title in 1965 and as Never Say Never Again in 1983—each time starring Sean Connery.