"IF ANYONE CAN BRING IT OFF, YOU CAN. CARE TO HAVE A TRY, JAMES?"

FLEMING, Ian. You Only Live Twice. (London): Jonathan Cape, (1964). Octavo, original black paper boards, patterned endpapers, original dust jacket. $2500.

First edition, first state, of the 12th James Bond novel—the last published in Fleming's lifetime—set in Japan and featuring the further plots of veteran Bond villain Ernst Blofeld. The bibliographer's copy, a binding variant, with his penciled annotations and reference card laid in.

The third Bond adventure featuring Ernst Blofeld as villain "was set in Japan, a novelty for Bond, but one that reflected Fleming's visits in 1959 and 1962… Fleming worked hard to discover details of Japanese culture and society… [The novel] reflected Fleming's increasing melancholia, with Bond mirroring the author's moods" (Black, 60-61). The Japanese characters on the book's cover and dust jacket translate the book's title. You Only Live Twice was acknowledged by the press and readers alike as one of the best Bond novels. Made into the 1967 film of the same title with a screenplay by Roald Dahl, starring Sean Connery as Bond and Donald Pleasence as Blofeld. First state, with "First published 1964" on copyright page (the determining point), and with unimproved type; issued concurrently with the second state. Gilbert A12a (1.2). Biondi & Pickard, 49. With the reference card and penciled annotations of Fleming bibliographer John Gilbert, author of Ian Fleming: the Bibliography, the standard reference in the field, describing this copy as a first state, in the rare variant "Binding B" of "Fabroleen" or Type A cloth, indicating that he consulted this copy in the compilation of his bibliography.

Minor markings to rear cover, very shallow rubs to corners of bright dust jacket. A lovely, near-fine copy with impeccable provenance.