Books

First US edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author to his American publisher, Al Hart, on the front free endpaper: "To Al. 'Seulement le nom, Monsieur Proust. Seulement le nom. Surtout pas de pensées' ['Only the name, Mr Proust. Only the name. Above all, no thoughts'], From Ian". Fleming and Hart first met in 1953: Fleming had just published Casino Royale, and Hart was working for Macmillan, who had bought the American rights to the novel and any subsequent instalments in the series. Hart became Fleming's editor for his first seven books he published in the US, as well as "his crony, confidant, and drinking companion on all his subsequent visits to New York" (Pearson, p. 231). Hart made several changes to the series when it was published in the US. For the first paperback edition of Casino Royale, Hart changed the title to the pulp-sounding You Asked for It, writing to Fleming to explain: "the Great Unwashed won't know how to pronounce 'Royale'... If You Asked for It turns your stomach bright green, it might be a good idea to suggest an alternative title or titles" (quoted in Pearson, p. 249). For the US edition of Live and Let Die, Hart deleted several passages he thought racially insensitive; Fleming approved the changes and adopted the amended version for new editions. The Spy Who Loved Me was the last Fleming novel to be published by the Viking Press, featuring a slightly amended version of Chopping's design for the UK jacket. Octavo. Original orange-brown cloth, spine lettered in dark brown, brown endpapers. With dust jacket. Spine ends bumped, top edge lightly foxed; unclipped jacket rubbed and slightly foxed, a few surface abrasions to spine and extremities, small nicks to extremities: a very good copy in a very good jacket. Gilbert A10b(1). John Pearson, The Life of Ian Fleming, 1966.

The Spy Who Loved Me is the tenth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, first published in 1962. Unlike the other Bond novels, this story is told from the perspective of a young Canadian woman named Vivienne Michel, who encounters James Bond after she finds herself in a difficult situation at a motel in the Adirondack Mountains. The narrative explores themes of love, trust, and the dynamics of power.