FLEMING, Ian Lancaster (1908-1964). Casino Royale. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1954, 1954.

Price: US$4851.06 + shipping

Description: [Bond] FIRST U.S. EDITION, ASSOCIATION COPY. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.176. Bound in original dark green cloth boards in the pictorial dust-jacket designed by Leo Manso. Priced to the front flap ($2.75) but with both corners clipped, as was the publisher's method. Decorative bookplate, SIGNED by Amherst Villiers, also SIGNED by his daughter Janie Villers in our presence. A near fine copy of the book with a few light marks to covers, jacket with some chips, rubs and tears, some minor sunning to the spine, a few old tape repairs to reverse side. Author's first novel. Engineer Charles Amherst Villiers (1900-1991) designed a supercharger for the 4½ litre 'Blower' Bentley, the gearing for which was made by David Brown & Son [D.B.S.], prior to their acquisition of Aston Martin, a struggling motor company previously funded by Count Louis Zborowski. His friend Ian Fleming chose the 'blower' as James Bond's own vehicle in Casino Royale, plus a company Aston Martin D.B.3 for the Goldfinger assignment, and later consulted Villiers while writing Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, an adventure book about a vintage car based on Zborowski's 1920 Zeppelin-powered Mercedes. Gilbert A2b (1.2).

Seller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB, Royal Tunbridge Wells, KENT, United Kingdom