James Bond Novel Collection For Sale

By: FSWL team

Published:
2008-07-30

Collection of James Bond novels for sale

SALE OF JAMES BOND NOVELS COLLECTION

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - JULY 30, 2008

A fine collection of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, from the library of Sir Fitzroy Maclean Bt, considered being one of the main inspirations for the character of James Bond.

Ian Fleming - Sir Fitzroy Maclean Bt
CASINO ROYALE (1953) - First edition, first issue (without Sunday Times review), dust-jacket slightly frayed at extremities and lightly soiled
LIVE AND LET DIE (1954) - Second impression, dust-jacket slightly frayed at extremities and slightly soiled
MOONRAKER (1955) - First edition, dust-jacket very slightly frayed and very slightly soiled
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1956) - First edition, inscribed "Fitzroy Maclean" on endpaper
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1958) - Fourth impression, inscribed "Fitzroy Maclean" on endpaper, dust-jacket slightly frayed at extremities
DR NO (1958) - First edition, second impression, brown dancing lady on cover, dust-jacket slightly frayed at extremities and lower wrapper somewhat soiled
GOLDFINGER (1959) - First edition, second impression, dust-jacket very slightly frayed & with small biro scribble to lower wrapper
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1960) - First edition, dust-jacket very slightly rubbed at extremities and very slightly soiled
THUNDERBALL (1961) - First edition, dust-jacket frayed at extremities and small stain to upper wrapper
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1962) - First edition, dust-jacket with slight adhesion to upper wrapper and slight stain to lower
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1963) - First edition, dust-jacket slightly discolored at spine ends
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1964) - First edition, dust-jacket slightly frayed at head of spine
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1965) - First edition, dust-jacket
OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1966) - First edition, dust-jacket
The James Bond dossier (1965) by Kingsley Amis - First edition, dust-jacket
COLONEL SUN (1968) by Robert Markham - dust-jacket slightly frayed at head of spine, four volumes with House of Commons headed paper signed by Sir Fitzroy Maclean Bt. loosely inserted

Estimate: £15,000-20,000

NOTE:
With a collection of personal material relating to Sir Fitzroy Maclean Bt including photographs of Maclean with Tito, in a British military jeep and on horseback in Belgrade in 1944 and in the Western desert, four portrait photographs (including a duplicate of Maclean taken in Moscow in 1937), luggage tags, 1951 letter to Sir Fitzroy from a former German employee, visiting cards as Secretary at the British Embassy, Jonathan Cape's promotional leaflets for Eastern Approaches, A Person from England and Disputed Barricade, 2pp. autograph manuscript eulogizing the wartime qualities of the Yugoslavs ("I saw what great qualities you possessed during the war - courage, endurance, determination, independent mindedness, how you combined against a common enemy..."), headed stationery from the British Embassy and Legation, Belgrade, the War Office, the British Embassy, Paris, the House of Commons, a Christmas card from British Embassy, Moscow, signed by Maclean, and other papers. Most interesting perhaps is Fitzroy's passport [C63923], issued at Moscow on 1 June 1938, giving his residence as Moscow (British Embassy), with the manuscript note that it is valid for "British empire, all countries in Europe including Union of Soviet Socialist Republics & Turkey, China, Japan & all Countries in the Far East" with Iran and Iraq added in another hand. This was the passport, valid until 1 June 1943 that accompanied Maclean on his famous journeys in central Asia in 1938-39, and has entry and exit stamps for China, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Germany, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Poland, Estonia, France and Italy.

Various models have been suggested as the prototype for modern fiction's most famous hero, and of them all Sir Fitzroy Maclean - diplomat, war hero, traveler, clan chieftain and outstanding public servant - is one of the most plausible. A personal friend of Ian Fleming and his brother Peter, Maclean went, like Fleming, to Eton College and came from an Anglo-Scottish background. In 1935 Maclean was Third Secretary at the British embassy at Paris before moving to the British embassy at Moscow where he witnessed the Soviet show trials which Fleming was then covering for Reuters news agency. Travelling with and without permits through Central Asia in the 1930's, as he described in his classic memoir, Eastern Approaches, the Soviets naturally assumed Fitzroy was a spy. Although Fitzroy later denied being a spy in the early 1950's, when the Cold War was at its height, he was asked by Stewart Menzies, head of SIS, to do a recce to gather more information about a possible Soviet invasion of Turkey via the Caucasus. He did so, being debriefed on his return by the double-agent Kim Philby - a classic Bond scenario!

There were other incidents among Fitzroy's wartime exploits that were straight out of James Bond. One was the successful kidnapping at gunpoint of the Persian collaborator with the Nazis, General Zahidi.
Another Bond-like episode had murkier associations. In 1943 Fitzroy was due to leave Cairo in a Liberator plane bound for London. At the last minute he received instructions to delay his departure. The Liberator mysteriously crashed into the sea off Gibraltar, killing all passengers. Among them was General Sikorski, leader of the Polish government-in-exile. Several theories have been put forward to explain this incident, including the infamous accusation that Churchill was responsible. But Fitzroy privately suspected Philby who was in the Spanish section of MI6 at the time. In the war Maclean quickly volunteered for and distinguished himself in the newly established S.A.S. in North Africa and in 1943 was chosen personally by Churchill to liaise with Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia, an exceptionally dangerous mission behind enemy lines. Even though Maclean may not have thought of himself as a spy, and never really confirmed or denied the connection with 007 in his lifetime, he certainly had many connections with and contacts in, British intelligence, and led an adventurous life full of intrepid exploits that provided plenty of inspiration for the character of James Bond.

For further information contact Simon Vickers or Alex Dove at Lyon & Turnbull.

www.lyonandturnbull.com

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