Description

“NO CLEAVAGE FOR TIFFANY!”: EXCEPTIONAL DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, INSCRIBED BY IAN FLEMING

FLEMING, Ian. Diamonds Are Forever. London: Jonathan Cape, (1956). Octavo, original black cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of the fourth Bond novel, inscribed by Fleming, “To Robert. No cleavage for Tiffany! Ian.” Exceptionally rare inscribed.

“Tiffany” undoubtedly refers to the novel’s heroine, diamond smuggler Tiffany Case, who becomes Bond’s ally as he infiltrates the smuggling ring. Contrary to his inscription, in the chapter “Bitter Champagne,” as Bond and Tiffany toast to their first smuggling success together, Fleming writes, “The valley between her breasts opened for him. She looked up at him through the smoke of her cigarette, and suddenly her eyes widened and then slowly narrowed again.” “Ian Fleming accomplished an extraordinary amount in the history of the thriller. Almost single-handedly, he revived popular interest in the spy novel, spawning legions of imitations, parodies, and critical and fictional reactions? Through the immense success of the filmed versions of his books, his character James Bond became the best known fictional personality of his time and Fleming the most famous writer of thrillers since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle” (Reilly, 571). The early Bond novels are quite scarce. Biondi & Pickard, 42. Book fine, very slight rubbing to corners of about-fine dust jacket. A beautiful copy, rare and desirable inscribed.