The Battle for Bond

London, 2007. First Edition. Signed by Author. (Sheffield: Tomahawk Press 2007). First UK Edition. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR AND SYLVAN WHITTINGHAM MASON WHOSE FAMILY ARCHIVE WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN THIS BOOK BEING WRITTEN. A fine copy in wrappers (as issued). This first edition book has disappeared from the shelves in the UK following the intervention of the Ian Fleming Will Trust who forced the publishers to pulp any remaining un-sold copies of the first edition. This first edition contains reprinted court documents from the Thunderball trial which the Trust contended was an infringement of their copyright and not a matter of public record. The publishers took the view that these were public documents but did not have the financial wherewithal to challenge the request for the remaining unsold copies to be pulped. This resulted in a furore in the press (with articles in the Independent and The Sunday Times, for instance) and attracted a damning verdict from none other than Len Deighton who has written the foreword to the revised cheaper edition that was published in 2008 (removing those bits of the first edition that were deemed to be in copyright infringement). Deighton, most famous for the Ipcress File, and perhaps the greatest spy novelist of his generation, writes: How Ian Fleming would have hated to know that this book had been censored. As a gentleman he would have felt that harassing a fellow author to be the ultimate demonstration of bad taste. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the early history of James Bond. Quoting from Graham Rye's excellent review of the book on his influential website: "Having read Robert Sellers' manuscript, The Battle for Bond will undoubtedly become the most important book ever published about the evolution of Ian Fleming's James Bond from Fifties literary sensation to Sixties cinematic icon. With many unpublished facts and information drawn first hand from correspondence between Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory, and the other protagonists involved at the inception of Agent 007 becoming a screen hero, Sellers' book is a "must read" for anyone who considers themselves either a Bond aficionado or a serious student of the history of cinema. This first edition copy is signed by the Author (Robert Sellers) and also by Sylvan Whittingham, the daughter of the late Jack Whittingham, the Thunderball screenwriter. The Author acknowledges the support of Sylvan Whittingham Mason in the Acknowledgements: "Special thanks must go to Sylvan Whittingham Mason. Without her sterling support and efforts, this book wouldn't exist. Thanks also for the use of documents and photographs from the Whittingham family archive". Double-signed copies of this scarce book are exceedingly uncommon these days. Photographs/scans available upon request.