Ian Fleming book with message to `the real James Bond` auctioned for £50,000
02-Dec-2008 • Collecting
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The 44-year-old copy of Fleming's 1964 novel You Only Live Twice is from the first edition printed in the UK.
Inside the front cover of the book, Fleming has written: "To the real James Bond from the thief of his identity. Ian Fleming, Feb 5, 1964 (a great day)."
The book was given as a present to American Ornithologist James Bond, who died shortly after he received the gift.
He was the inspiration for the now iconic character codenamed 007 when Fleming wrote his first novel, Casino Royale, in the early 1950s.
Fleming was in his home in Jamaica when he read a copy of Birds of the West Indies by Bond and decided to use the name.
The lot also features a copy of Birds of the West Indies as well as a copy of How 007 Got His Name by Mrs James Bond.
It is part of a series of originals to go under the hammer described as "the finest ever to reach the market".
It also includes first editions of Casino Royale, From Russia With Love, Thunderball and Goldfinger.
The books, which should all fetch between £10,000 and £25,000, are all inscribed by Fleming.
There is also a rare portrait of the author himself drawn by actor and playwright Noel Coward in 1939.
The pencil drawing shows Fleming wearing a suit and a bow tie and with a cigarette in his mouth. It is signed: "Noel C, 10/4/1939."
A copy of 1962 novel The Spy Who Loved Me featuring a note written by Fleming to Bond illustrator Richard Chopping could fetch as much as £40,000.
And a handwritten 100 page manuscript of You Only Live Twice signed by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl is expected to sell for up to £35,000.
The lots will be going under the hammer at the Profiles in History auction house, in Hollywood, California, on December 11.
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