FLEMING, Ian.

£37,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Moonraker. First US edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author to Al Hart on the front free endpaper: "To Al, my American publisher & conspirator. Ian 1955."Fleming and Hart first met in 1953: Fleming had just published Casino Royale, and Hart was working for Macmillan, which had bought the American rights to the novel and any subsequent instalments in the series. Hart became Fleming's editor for the first seven books he published in the US, as well as "his crony, confidant, and drinking companion on all his subsequent visits to New York" (Pearson, p. 231).Hart made several changes to the series when it was published in the US. For the first paperback edition of Casino Royale, Hart changed the title to the pulp-sounding You Asked for It, writing to Fleming to explain: "the Great Unwashed won't know how to pronounce 'Royale'... If You Asked for It turns your stomach bright green, it might be a good idea to suggest an alternative title or titles" (quoted in Pearson, p. 249). For the US edition of Live and Let Die, Hart deleted several passages he thought racially insensitive; Fleming approved the changes and adopted the amended version for new editions.The dust jacket by Leo Manso is the first to incorporate a skeletal hand into the design, which would later be used to great effect by Richard Chopping in subsequent jackets for the UK editions.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.