Ian Fleming | Thrilling Cities, 1963, first impression, first state, inscribed by the author

Ian Fleming

Thrilling Cities. London: Jonathan Cape, 1963.

8vo, FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR ("To | Charles Tyrrell | from | Ian Fleming") on title, publisher's white buckram over grey patterned boards, top edge black spine lettered in gilt, original dust-jacket by Paul Davis, housed in bespoke black cloth clamshell case with embossed dust-jacket design and magenta sides, spine ends and top edge faded, some spotting and browning to inside of dust-jacket, extremities slightly bumped

Fleming inscribed this copy to Charles Tyrrell (1910–1972), a British accountant instrumental in the establishment of the Booker Prize. Tyrrell, along with the Chairman of the Booker Group (an old friend and golfing partner of Fleming's), arranged for the Booker Group's acquisition of the rights to Fleming's works for £100,000, a deal finalised in February 1964.

Originally published as two series of articles for The Sunday Times in 1960, Thrilling Cities was the result of a five-week, all-expenses-paid trip to visit the world’s most exciting cities. Travelling to thirteen cities, from Hong Kong to Monte Carlo, Fleming gathered material that would provide much of the backdrop and research for the five Bond novels and seven short stories that would follow.

LITERATURE:

Gilbert, A16a (1.1); see Nicholas Shakespeare, Ian Fleming: The Complete Man (London, 2023), pp. 671-4 and Fergus Fleming (ed.), The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming's James Bond Letters (London, 2015), p.366