A SCARCE JAMES BOND SIGNED LIMITED EDITION IN WONDERFUL CONDITION
First edition, first printing. Signed by the author. Limited Deluxe Edition. Publisher’s original quarter vellum over black boards, white ski tracks to the upper board, titles in gilt to the spine. Top edge gilt. Colour frontispiece of the author by Charles Amherst Villiers. Complete with the original clear glassine cover. A very near fine copy, the binding square and tight. The contents are spotlessly clean throughout and without previous owner’s marks. Complete with the very good, often discarded or replaced original folded glassine cover. The only one of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books to be published in a signed edition. Issued in a limited edition of 250 copies, this example is hand numbered 83 and signed by Ian Fleming in blue ballpoint pen on the limitation page. There were an additional 35 copies marked “presentation” reserved for the author and publisher’s private distribution. A fine copy with an unusually clean vellum spine. The glassine is in beautiful condition. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the only Bond novel to be issued in this deluxe format and is uncommon as it was such a limited edition. Over time, the vellum has shown a tendency to yellow, and copies in such nice condition, with the original glassine, are extremely scarce.