FLEMING, Ian (1908-64). Dr. No, London, 1958, 8vo, some marginal ink marks, original cloth with silhouette on the upper cover, dust-jacket by Pat Marriott. FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S SIXTH BOND NOVEL, later issue dust-jacket. Gilbert A6.

FLEMING, Ian (1908-64).  Dr. No. London: Jonathan Cape, 1958. 8vo (189 x 125mm). Half title (ink lines in the form of a "V" to the upper margins and, on one occasion, the lower margin of most pages between the first text page and p.47, where the marks abruptly stop, the remainder of the book unmarked, page-numbers 38, 39 and 40 scribbled out, some spotting to the last few leaves and rear endpapers). Original black cloth, the upper cover with the silhouette of "Honeychile" stamped in very faint brown, the spine lettered in silver with the publisher's device stamped in silver at the foot, dust-jacket by Pat Marriott with the author's name on the backstrip in tan lettering, with the price clipped and an advertisement with reviews of "From Russia, With Love" on the lower wrapper (the jacket with a chip not affecting letters at the head of the backstrip, some fraying at the head and foot of backstrip and at corners, some staining and spotting to lower wrapper). Please note that the dust-jacket has been photographed in its protective acetate wrapper which we have not removed to avoid damaging it. Provenance: illegible juvenile [?]inscription on front pastedown, almost certainly in the same hand that has marked the book internally. FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S SIXTH BOND NOVEL, in the second or later issue dust-jacket. The blurb on the front turn-in, with its retrospective reference to "publication day" (drawing further attention to the fact that it is a second or later issue of the jacket), states: "On publication day a leading article in the Manchester Guardian said: 'In spite of what is commonly said by magistrates and others, there is evidence that fiction of this kind provides a vicarious satisfaction of innately violent instincts which tends to prevent their expression in the everyday world. Taking this point of view, we should be grateful to Mr. Fleming for providing a conveniently accessible safety-valve for the boiling sensibility of modern man ... To call down thunder upon the head of Bond or his creator is the sign of a guilty conscience'."  The plot of "Dr. No" formed the basis of the first Bond film of 1962 which starred Sean Connery in the lead role and Ursula Andress as Honeychile Ryder (although the character's name was shortened to Honey for the film). Biondi & Pickard p.44; Gilbert A6.