Casino Royale.

Although the jacket has had some 'work' this remains a handsome first issue of the edition of the first James Bond book by Ian Fleming.

'Connoisseurs of realistic fiction will particularly note the careful documentation of the Secret Service background, the chilling portrait of Le Chiffre, the authentic menace of SMERSH, and the sensual appeal of the girl in ''Soi Sauvage''...' The Author.

Following a spell with Reuters and then as a stockbroker in the City, Fleming joined the Navy at the outbreak of war in 1939. As personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, he found the war 'intensely exciting'. When it was over Lord Kemsley offered him the foreign managership of Kemsley newspapers. Fleming accepted on condition that he could have two months' holiday a year to spend at his house, Goldeneye, in Jamaica, where subsequently he did most of his writing. If his war experiences and his job provided the background for his thrillers, Fleming maintained that it was his marriage to Anne, Viscountess Rothermere in 1952 that spurred him to start writing.