Beschreibung:

Fleming, Ian. THE IAN FLEMING CENTENARY EDITION, IN 18 VOLUMES, ONE OF 26 LETTERED SETS (THIS SET LETTER "M"), OF A TOTAL EDITION OF 406, QUEEN ANNE PRESS, 2008 8vo, each volume in special pictorial bindings by Shepherds, Sangorski & Sutcliffe in dark blue morocco gilt onlaid with various coloured designs (in red, yellow, pink, green etc), each volume according to theme (Casino Royale with playing cards, From Russia with Love with design of Moscow, On her Majesty's Secret Service with Alpine ski resort etc), the spine of Diamonds are Forever incorporating a diamond, hand-sewn head- and tail-bands, all edges gilt, handmade watermarked endpapers, the text designed and typeset by Libanus Press, each volume in specially made blue cloth slipcase lettered in gilt, the set preserved in black cloth presentation box with Ian Fleming's crest in gilt on the lid a spectacular edition celebrating the centenary of the birth of ian fleming the creator of "james bond". During his lifetime Fleming was the author of seventeen published books: twelve James Bond novels, starting with Casino Royale (1953: see also lot 99); two volumes of Bond short stories; a book of travel journalism, Thrilling Cities; a nonfictional account of the diamond trade, The Diamond Smugglers, and the children's book, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. This collected edition--in fact the first of its kind ever published--adds Talk of the Devil, a collection of rarely seen material (some unpublished), as well as explanatory comments written by Fleming in the flyleaves of his personal copies. "M" is James Bond's boss and head of the British Secret Service, a composite character probably based on Rear-Admiral John Godfrey (Fleming's former boss in the Department of Naval Intelligence), Maxwell Knight, former head of counter-subversion in MI5 and Maurice Buckmaster, head of the F Section of the SOE. In the film versions of the novels the character has been most famously played by Bernard Lee (until 1979), and then most recently by Judi Dench.