Casino Royale. by FLEMING, Ian - 1953

London: Jonathan Cape, 1953. In the exceptionally bright dust jacket First edition, first impression, first state dust jacket (without the Sunday Times review on the inner front flap). "According to the Cape archives, 4,760 sets of sheets of the first printing were delivered, but only 4,728 copies were bound up. Many of these went to public libraries and we believe that less than half of the first printing was sold to the public. The jacket is genuinely rare in fresh condition" (Biondi & Pickard, 40). Octavo. Original black boards, titles to spine red, heart device to front cover in red, bottom edge untrimmed. With the illustrated dust jacket. Housed in a custom black quarter morocco solander box. Boards very slightly bowed, a little foxing to top edge, a couple of faint spots of foxing to rear endpaper, otherwise internally fresh, in the exceptionally bright jacket with trivial nicks to head of spine panel and tiny puncture to head of front panel. An excellent copy. Gilbert A1a (1.1).