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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The IAN FLEMING U.S. hardcover first editions

The classic Ian Fleming UK first editions are well-known and have even been reproduced on postcards, stamps, and in new collector sets. So I thought I'd share here instead the U.S. first edition hardcovers from my collection, because I figure people haven't really seen these and I like some of these covers. While less valuable than the UK editions, it's been my experience that these are actually harder to find, especially in Fine condition. One curiosity is the U.S. edition of Goldfinger matches the UK edition exactly, except for the publisher name, Macmillan, on the spine and title page. Anyway, enjoy.


Publication:
Casino Royale - Macmillian, March 23, 1954.
Live and Let Die - Macmillian, April 1955.
Moonraker - Macmillian, September 20, 1955.
Diamonds Are Forever - Macmillian, October 1956.
From Russia With Love - Macmillian, September 3, 1957.
Dr. No - Macmillian, June 24, 1958.
Goldfinger - Macmillian, August 18, 1959.
For Your Eyes Only - Viking Press, 1960.
Thunderball - Viking Press, April 24, 1961.
The Spy Who Loved Me - Viking Press, 1962.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - New American Library, September 1963.
You Only Live Twice - New American Library, August 1964.
The Man With The Golden Gun - New American Library, August 23, 1965.
Octopussy - New American Library, 1966.
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6 comments:

  1. Ah, now to the meat and potatoes! Excellent! Thank you, John. Weren't Macmillan's Goldfinger's actually printed by Cape, but perhaps rejected for some reason? I can't recall the story behind it. Does the US printing technically pre-date the UK one?

    Most of these were easier to find in America than the UK firsts--at least at library book sales and used bookstores and the sorts of places I was able to scour as a kid at the tale end of the Pre-Internet Age. I even volunteered at my town's library booksale every summer in hopes of spotting some Fleming treasure in advance. I was quite lucky on that front, one year getting my hands on the rarest of the Signet box sets and another the Viking Thunderball you picture.

    I amassed quite a few 1st Americans throughout middle school and high school: everything pictured except for the entire second row and LALD. A local library had a well-worn LALD 1st US on its shelf, whose protected dust jacket I often eyed jealously, but sadly they never retired it for their booksales in my days there. My CR is jacketless and my Moonraker is poor, the jacket having bonded to the boards... but because of the specific memories associated with collecting them at that time, they're worth more to me than fine copies would be. Strangely, I never acquired any more First Americans since high school. I suppose I really ought to make a point of completing my collection nowadays... (But the Internet kind of took the fun out of it.)

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  2. Yes, the US edition of Goldfinger was printed by Cape, but I don't think they're considered the true first and I don't believe they are rejected copies. You might be thinking of the UK FRWL book club.

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  3. Good list. One small correction, however: FRWL was first published in the US on September 3, 1957. (April 8 was, of course, the UK publication date.)

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  4. Does anyone have the US Book Club editon jacket pictures?

    I am trying to complete my set, which has the gun and girl silhouette with a colored box around each on the cover. Most jackets are brown or greyist blue that I have so far, and have been printed by Macmillan, Viking and NAL. I have not been able to find:

    Live and Let Die
    Diamonds Are Forever
    For Your Eyes Only
    On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    and Octopussy and The Living Daylights

    Any help would be great.

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    1. Just as a point of reference the covers I'm looking for look like these here:

      Www.1stopretroshop.com/books-magazines/set-James-bond-books.htm

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