Description

“PARDON ME, BUT SURELY IT’S MR BOND… MR—ER—JAMES BOND?” GOLDFINGER, WARMLY INSCRIBED BY IAN FLEMING TO HIS CLOSE FRIEND PHILIP BROWNRIGG

FLEMING, Ian. Goldfinger. London: Jonathan Cape, (1959). Octavo, original black cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom half-morocco box.

First edition of the seventh James Bond thriller, a rare inscribed presentation copy, inscribed by Fleming to his friend Philip Brownrigg: “To Philip / Who often helps. / From / Ian.”

Brownrigg was invited by Fleming after the war to work for him at Kemsley Newspapers, where Fleming was Foreign manager. Later, Brownrigg became a Director at the Anglo American Corporation. “[Fleming’s] novels are a perfect example of the right thing at the right time, as appropriate an expression and index of their age as, for example, the Sherlock Holmes stories or the novels of Dashiell Hammett” (Grella, 20th Century Crime and Mystery Writers). Biondi & Pickard, 45. Dust jacket has only minor toning to spine and very light edge-wear. A near-fine copy.