Ian Fleming | Casino Royale, 1953, first edition, dust-jacket

Ian Fleming

Casino Royale. London: Jonathan Cape, 1953

FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION, first issue, 8vo, original black cloth, lettered in matte orange-red foil, heart design to upper cover, DUST-JACKET, black half-morocco clamshell case, ballpoint ownership inscription to front free endpaper, some light spotting, slightly soiled price-clipped dust-jacket frayed at extremities

First issue in jacket of the author's first novel, and the debut James Bond title, written by Fleming in early 1952 at Goldeneye, his tropical hideaway on Jamaica's north shore. "Of the conception of this most famous of debuts Fleming repeatedly said that it was written to take his mind off his forthcoming marriage yet as early as the end of the war, following his decommission from a successful career in Naval Intelligence, Fleming had told Ivar Bryce that he would settle down to write 'the spy novel to end all spy novels'" (Gilbert, Fleming: The Bibliography, p. 16).

LITERATURE

Gilbert A1a (1.1)