The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming, First US Edition, 1962

Fleming, Ian. The Spy Who Loved Me. New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1962. First US edition, first printing. Octavo. Presented in the publisher's original dust jacket and original cloth boards. With new archival quarter leather and cloth clamshell archival case. 

This is the first US edition of Ian Fleming’s tenth James Bond thriller, The Spy Who Loved Me. The book is presented in the publisher’s original boards and dust jacket, with Richard Chopping’s classic artwork on the front of the jacket. The book was first published in London by Jonathan Cape in 1962; this is the US first edition, published the same year by The Viking Press, Inc. in New York.

The Spy Who Loved Me is a clear departure from previous Bond novels by Ian Fleming, in that the novel is told in the first-person by a young woman named Vivienne Michel. James Bond himself actually doesn't appear until two-thirds of the way through the book and the novel itself breaks up Fleming's "Blofeld Trilogy" of books. Although the title page lists the book as being written by Ian Fleming with Vivienne Michel, the "co-authorship credit is a hoax: Vivienne Michel was the name of the wife of one of Fleming's golfing companions in Jamaica" (Biondi & Pickard, 47). 

Fleming "had become alarmed that his earlier thrillers, designed for an adult audience, were increasingly read in schools… where young people made a hero out of James Bond… He did not regard Bond as a heroic figure 'but only as an efficient professional in his job.' Therefore he had sought to write a cautionary tale to put the record straight, particularly for his younger readers. Unable to do this in his usual narrative style, he had invented a heroine 'through whom I could examine Bond from the other end of the gun barrel, so to speak'" (Lycett, 401-402).

Ian Fleming (1908–1964) was an intelligence officer, journalist, and creator of the fictional British Secret service agent James Bond. Beginning in 1939, he served as a liaison between the Navy and the other secret services, where he was privy to the highest levels of intelligence and became known for his creativity in planning operations, work that inspired his later novels.

After the war, Fleming became a journalist and in 1953 published his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. It was a success, and Fleming wrote a new book each year until his untimely death in 1964.

CONDITION:

Book is in very good condition. Octavo. Original publisher's cloth boards. Original dust jacket, not price clipped, with light beige top stain. Dust jacket has new Mylar wrapping for protection. Internally clean and healthy pages, with publisher and title page intact. 

Book is housed in a matching quarter red leather and tan cloth clamshell case, with raised bands, gilt titles and tooling to the spine. The clamshell has an image of  “The Spy Who Loves Me" dust jacket inlaid on the front and Ian Fleming’s facsimile signature black embossed into its interior lining.

Clamshell dimensions: 9 3/8" H x 6 3/4" W x 2" D; Book dimensions: 8 1/2" H x 5 3/4" W x 7/8" D.