Books

(London: Jonathan Cape 1957). First UK Edition, First Impression, Second State. SCARCE VARIANT WITH BRONZE LETTERING TO THE SPINE. pp.160. Illustrated with photographs. Publisher's black cloth tooled in bronze foil to the spine in original dustwrapper illustrated by Denis Piper, priced at 12/6. A remainder mark to the bottom edge otherwise a near fine copy in like dustwrapper with orange spine faded to a lighter hue but with no tears, wear or pieces missing. No inscriptions, contents clean, edges slightly toned. Ian Fleming's first non-Bond book, and also his first non-fiction work. Written with the assistance of diamond expert John Collard, who is noted in the book as 'John Blaize'. Gilbert, Jon: Ian Fleming The Bibliography, A15a (1.2). "This appears to be a secondary binding produced more economically for the library suppliers, using a non-specific covering fabric with a cheaper metallic foil being employed for the blocking which often dulls or turns to brown.copies in these covers also appear to have been sold at the full price in regular bookshops". NB: the bronze lettering to the spine although slightly dulled is still bright and clear and this is NOT an ex-library copy. Quite uncommon in our experience. Photographs/scans available upon request.

In this non-fiction book, Ian Fleming explores the world of diamond smuggling drawing upon his own experiences in the field.