For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming, First Edition in Original Dust Jacket, 1960

Ian Fleming. For Your Eyes Only. London: Jonathan Cape, 1960. First Edition. Octavo. Presented in  original boards with white eye design and gilt stamped spine, original pictorial dust jacket, and new archival quarter leather and cloth clamshell case. 

Presented is a first edition printing of Ian Fleming’s For Your Eyes Only. Fleming's eighth Bond title, For Your Eyes Only was the only collection of Bond short stories published in the author's lifetime. The collection contains five stories: "From a View to a Kill," "For Your Eyes Only," "Quantum of Solace," "Risico," and "The Hildebrand Rarity." The book was first published by London-based Jonathan Cape on April 11, 1960. It is presented here in its original black boards with white eye design to the front and gilt titles to the spine, the original dust jacket as designed by Richard Chopping, and a new archival clamshell case. 

Four of the stories in For Your Eyes Only were adaptations of outlines for a 1958 CBS television series that was never filmed. During the first two months of 1959, Fleming adapted the four plots into short stories at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. He added a fifth story he had written in the summer of 1958. Fleming undertook some minor experiments with the format, including a story written as an homage to W. Somerset Maugham, an author he greatly admired. This short story collection "provided Fleming with an opportunity to reveal his fine ability to create powerful impressions of different environments" (Black, 40). 

This book is presented with its original dust jacket. It has "the only British dust jacket with any depiction of Bond: the eye in the peephole is his. Fleming made artist Richard Chopping paint it many times, until he was satisfied with the shape and, particularly, the color" (Biondi & Pickard, 46). 

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:

Very good condition. Original black boards, with white embossed eye design to the upper cover. The board’s  spine is lettered in gilt. Original dust-jacket in good condition. Minor sunning to jacket’s spine, and the spine ends and corners a little chipped. Very light staining to the upper panel.Wrapped in new archival Mylar to protect the jacket. Interior pages are healthy, without marks or condition issues, save very light toning. 

The book is housed in a new, quarter black leather and red cloth clamshell case. Clamshell’s spine has raised bands, gilt tooling, and gilt titles. The front of the clamshell features an inlaid print of the original For Your Eyes Only dust jacket art. The interior of the clamshell has an embossed facsimile Ian Fleming signature stamp.

Book Dimensions: 7 3/4 " H x 5 1/4" W x 1" D. With Clamshell: 8 7/8" H x 6 1/4" W x 2" D.