Thrilling Cities First Edition - Ian Fleming - Bauman Rare Books

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Thrilling Cities

Ian FLEMING

Item#: 121472 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Thrilling Cities

Thrilling Cities

Thrilling Cities

"TO VISIT ALL THE WICKED CITIES": FIRST EDITION OF IAN FLEMING’S THRILLING CITIES, 1963

FLEMING, Ian. Thrilling Cities. London: Jonathan Cape, (1963). Octavo, original half white cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition. first printing of "one of Fleming's finest works," covering his visits to 14 cities around the globe, with 48 pages of black-and-white photographic illustrations, in original dust jacket.

"Fleming traveled widely from an early age and his interest in foreign places is reflected in his journalism… as well as in his fiction" (DNB). It was Sunday Times editorial director Denis Hamilton who proposed "a round-the-world journey… as a suitable project for Ian's talents. Ian would visit a number of Thrilling Cities (as his articles were later called) to report on their attractions to a man of Fleming's (or James Bond's) exotic tastes and sophistication" (Lycett, 354). "Thrilling Cities is one of Ian Fleming's finest works, reading just as easily as any of this thrillers." On news of Fleming's plan to visit 14 cities, including Hong Kong, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Vienna and Monte Carlo, it was commented: "Mr. Fleming has gone off around the world to visit all the wicked cities and write a series of titillating articles" (Gilbert 480-81). First edition, first printing: with erratum slip tipped-in at page 223; first issue dust jacket with laminate covering entire width of rear flap, unclipped with price "30s. net." Fleming's articles first appeared in the Times in 1959-60. The first American edition, issued one year later, lacks the photographs of this first English edition. Gilbert A16a (1.1).

Only lightest foxing to cloth. A splendid copy in fine condition.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
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Collation Process by which the contents of a book are inspected for completeness, checking against internal evidence, the table of contents and/or plate list, and reference works. Also a shorthand bibliographical description of a book’s composition by its leaves and signatures, rather than its pages. A-C, for example, would indicate a quarto volume composed of three signatures or gatherings of eight pages each for a total of 24 pages.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
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