Ian Fleming | Thunderball, 1961, first edition, Amherst Villiers' copy

Ian Fleming

Thunderball. London: Jonathan Cape, 1961

8vo, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, BOOKPLATE of Amherst Villiers to front-free endpaper, SIGNED by Villiers, original dark brown cloth, lettered in gilt, design to upper cover in blind, DUST-JACKET, collector's black cloth clamshell box, tiny bumps to head and foot of spine, scattered spotting to front-free endpaper

This association copy of Thunderball comes from the library of Charles Amherst Villiers, the engineer that designed a supercharger for the 41/2 litre 'Blower' Bentley; his close friend Ian Fleming chose the 'Blower' as James Bond's own vehicle, which appears in the first three Bond novels.