Full Set of Fleming Firsts on Auction

Caught this out of the corner of my eye so to speak on the Beeb site:

Quote :

A complete set of first edition James Bond books has been put up for sale with a price tag of £475,000.

The collection includes all 14 of Ian Fleming's 007 novels, complete with their original dust jackets.

Ten of the books include personal inscriptions from the author, to people including a former girlfriend, a Wing Commander and professional golfer.

Harrogate-based book dealer Dr John Atkinson said the inscriptions added considerable value.

A copy of A Field Guide of Birds of the West Indies by the ornithologist James Bond, who inspired the character's famous moniker, is also included.

Dr Atkinson, who helped amass the collection for a private collector, said: "[Fleming] knew the value of books when they were signed and he was quite sparing when he inscribed books to people.

"I think its fair to say he only inscribed books to people he liked."

He said a copy of the first Bond novel, Casino Royale, had been signed to one of Fleming's girlfriends.

"She was called Lisl Popper and was Austrian," he said.

"He met her in a bar in Kitzbuhel when he was 19 and she tripped him up, which he found hilarious.

"They had a bond throughout their life and she was one of the people that he left £500 to in his will."

Dr Atkinson said inscriptions increased the value of a book "especially if it's signed on the day or the year of publication".

Other recipients include Fleming's secretary, the golfer Sir Henry Cotton and Wing Commander Dobson, who advised on the Vulcan bombers used in Thunderball.

Dr Atkinson said it had taken him several years to pull the collection together.

"We got them from all parts of the globe and put them together, from auctions and private sales," he said.

"We wrestled a few from private collections here and there."

The collection, which is being kept in a secure location outside the UK, is being sold through Dr Atkinson's shop.

A signed first edition of Casino Royale was sold at auction in Scotland in 2019 for £55,000 while a first edition of Live and Let Die sold for £30,000.

Book specialist Cathy Marsden, from auctioneers Lyle and Turnbull, said it had been "a record price" for a signed Bond novel.

She said smaller print runs - only 4,500 first editions of Casino Royale were produced - as well as inscriptions and original dust jackets were key to driving sale prices.

"The earlier books are much rarer because the publisher printed fewer copies," she said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-55917614

anyone got a few quid?

Very nice.

Bet if you hold them to your face the scent of tobacco and bourbon will dance up your nostrils.

Closest I can manage is my fusty smellin' Companion Book Club edition of Colonel Sun (from '68, same as the first edition).

It was, erm, a fiver on eBay (but actually effectively free because eBay had gifted me a £5 voucher for reasons that now escape me).

I've handled a first edition in a shop on the Isle of Wight until I realised it was a first edition going for a few hundred, so a rather quick if careful placing back. Nothing I have even comes close but as CJB says, there surely is that smell of cigarettes and bourbon.

The fact Fleming personalised some, and apparently as it says didn't do that often, makes them a must have for someone I'm sure. Dare I suggest that what would push it over the edge is having an original copy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang too and perhaps some of his non-fiction work.

Waves hand: "You should give these to me"

One would hope that one's character had one existed in the 50's would have been enough to charm Fleming and that you would have gotten one of the personalized autographs...

Never a time machine around when you need it. I have an image of him wrinkling his nose at the thought.

The Yorkshire Post had a bit more to this story with the bloke flogging these.

Quote :

“They came from different collections all over the world.

“It took a couple of years to put it together.”

The books, just like 007, have arrived suitably journeyed, with a handful coming from America and one from Australia, while editions such as Casino Royale have been in private ownership for decades.

Dr Atkinson, whose shop is on Royal Parade after a move from Montpellier Mews last year, estimates that the number of Fleming collections similar to this worldwide would be in the single figures (and emphasises that it is not kept in the store).


“Fleming was a massive bibliophile,” he said.

“He knew that once he signed the book, it would be worth more money.”

Bond fanatics are of course potential buyers, but he says investors may be interested too.

“You’ve got people who are sick of putting their money into stocks and shares and want something tangible they can touch.”


Dr Atkinson, 41, runs the business alongside his wife Lottie, and they live in Ripon with their children Joss, five, and Kit, three.

The business owner picked up his first edition book at a car boot sale for 10p when he was seven years old, but it was not until his university days that a dust cover of The Man with the Golden Gun caught his eye.

Dr Atkinson - who prefers the Bond films to the books - bought it for £25, and later sold it for £50 during what he jokes was a “misspent youth selling books rather than reading them”.

To find out more about the collection, visit www.johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk.

Felt a tinge when he says maybe investors.

Had a look at his website https://johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk/book-category/ian-fleming/

Chitty firsts going for £875, unframed lobby posters and a first of Thrilling Cities for £175.

I'm in the wrong racket.

I've got 1st Editions of TMWTGG and OP/TLD. They were gifts years ago but I can't imagine my folks spending more than $50 on two second hand books. Curious to know what they're worth now. Might be able to get a home loan with them!

Worth a look even if you don't part with them.

Just had a look. Can get anywhere between $13000 to $21000.

Imagine if it was From Russia With Love...

Not bad money all the same. Well not to me who has diddly squat in reserve

I bet FRWL would be something, Casino Royale is probably the goldmine. I've seen an OHMSS first that was going for about 1000 quid in London.

Just looking at OHMSS, FRWL and CR... The most you can get right now for FRWL is $67000, OHMSS for $50000 and CR is at a monumental $202000!

Now why pay $202000 when you can get the whole set for £475000?

One imagines those prices for the print adventures of his 'cardboard booby' causing Fleming to raise a Moore-esque eyebrow before pouring a stiff drink.

You can only imagine. Something underlined by his chum Noel Coward making a humorous remark about someone paying that much for Fleming's writing.

I dream of having true first Cape editions with perfect dust jackets someday in addition to UK Gardners etc
But of course the expense....at least the slightly later printings are slightly more affordable at a thousand or two each....
I still drool over eBay listings.