“IF ANYONE CAN BRING IT OFF, YOU CAN. CARE TO HAVE A TRY, JAMES?”: FIRST EDITION OF YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
FLEMING, Ian. You Only Live Twice. (London): Jonathan Cape, (1964). Octavo, original black paper boards, patterned endpapers, original dust jacket.
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 Bond villain Ernst Blofeld.
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 considered by both reviewers and readers 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; issued concurrently with the second state. Gilbert A12a (1.1). Biondi & Pickard, 49.
Interior fine; scattered light foxing to text block edges. Lightest wear to extremities of bright dust jacket with light toning to spine and a half-inch closed tear to spine foot. A near-fine copy.