"DEATH IS FOREVER. BUT SO ARE DIAMONDS"

FLEMING, Ian. Diamonds Are Forever. London: Jonathan Cape, (1956). Octavo, original black paper boards, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $11,000.

First edition of Fleming's fourth James Bond thriller, a fast-paced, globe-spanning race through the deadly world of diamond smuggling. A lovely copy in unrestored original dust jacket.

"In the 1950s, the mystique of America as a land of wealth and excitement held great sway in a Britain still in the grips of austerity" (Black, 25), and this mystique influenced Fleming's fourth Bond thriller, in which the super-spy visits the States to battle diamond-smuggling gangsters. Made into the 1971 film of the same title starring Sean Connery as Bond and Jill St. John as Tiffany Case. With all first-issue points as called for in Gilbert A4a(1.1). Biondi & Pickard, 42. Owner ink signature on front free endpaper dated 1956.

Book clean and about-fine, with very faint discoloration to front board. Unrestored original dust jacket with just a touch of rubbing to corners, uncommonly clean and crisp, near-fine. A nearly fine copy.