There is only one Bond. Enjoy these intoxicating spy novels in stylish Vintage Classics editions.
There is only one Bond. Enjoy these intoxicating spy novels in stylish Vintage Classics editions.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was born in London on 28 May 1908 and was
educated at Eton College before spending a formative period
studying languages in Europe. His first job was with Reuters news
agency, followed by a brief spell as a stockbroker. On the outbreak
of the Second World War he was appointed assistant to the Director
of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Godfrey, where he played a key part
in British and Allied espionage operations.
After the war he joined Kemsley Newspapers as Foreign Manager of
the Sunday Times, running a network of correspondents who were
intimately involved in the Cold War. His first novel, Casino
Royale, was published in 1953 and introduced James Bond, Special
Agent 007, to the world. The first print run sold out within a
month. Following this initial success, he published a Bond title
every year until his death. His own travels, interests and wartime
experience gave authority to everything he wrote. Raymond Chandler
hailed him as 'the most forceful and driving writer of thrillers in
England.' The fifth title, From Russia with Love, was particularly
well received and sales soared when President Kennedy named it as
one of his favourite books. The Bond novels have sold more than
sixty million copies and inspired a hugely successful film
franchise which began in 1962 with the release of Dr No starring
Sean Connery as 007.
The Bond books were written in Jamaica, a country Fleming fell in
love with during the war and where he built a house, 'Goldeneye'.
He married Anne Rothermere in 1952. His story about a magical car,
written in 1961 for their only child Caspar, went on to become the
well-loved novel and film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Fleming died of heart failure on 12 August 1964, aged
fifty-six.
www.ianfleming.com
Mr Fleming is the best thriller writer since Buchan.
*Evening Standard*
Ian Fleming traces the intricacies of counter-espionage with all
the efficient authority of 007’s own secret reports
*Sunday Times*
A brilliant gem!
*Publishers Weekly*
Admirers of James Bond will be glad to have them to add to their
collection
*Sunday Telegraph*
Stories which, in their fascinated pouring on things – guns,
techniques, foodstuffs – remind us that it is the mastery of the
world of things, rather than people, that gives Fleming his
peculiar literary niche
*Anthony Burgess*
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