Books

McCall Corporation, May 1954. Octavo. Original illustrated wrappers. Text mostly printed in double columns. Lacking rear wrapper, spine worn with loss, creasing and rubbing, front wrapper bright, large faint damp stain to initial leaves, not affecting Fleming's text, contents toned; a good copy. First appearance in the US of the second James Bond novel, published here in abridged form just one month after the first UK edition and nearly a year before the first US edition in book form. There are two exclusive illustrations: a full-page introductory scene on p. 88 and the dramatic cover artwork in colour. This highly elusive periodical printing was not mentioned in the bibliographies of Iain Campbell, Otto Penzler, or Biondi & Pickard. This copy is from the significant Ian Fleming collection of Martin Schøyen (b.1940), whose private collection of manuscripts, which span all cultures and all time periods, is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind. Gilbert A2b, p. 82; The…

Live and Let Die is the second novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series of stories, and is set in London, the US and Jamaica. It was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1954. In the novel, Bond must defeat a dangerous drug lord with plans to finance Soviet espionage in America. The story was developed during Fleming's second stay in Jamaica, where he had extensive knowledge of the local scenery, wildlife, and underworld.