FLEMING, Ian (1908-1964). From Russia, With Love. London: Jonathan Cape, 1957.

First edition, first impression: presentation copy inscribed by the author “To Geoffrey Boothroyd/ Herewith appointed / “Armourer” to J. Bond. / from / Ian Fleming”.

Geoffrey Boothroyd (1925–2001) was a British firearms expert who became a consultant ‘armourer’ to the James Bond novels following a letter he sent to Fleming in 1956, in which he gave various considered comments on the secret agent’s weaponry. His initial concern was around Fleming’s choice of Bond’s sidearm, the .25 calibre Beretta: “I have, by now, got rather fond of James Bond. I like most things about him, with the exception of his rather deplorable taste in firearms. In particular, I dislike a man who comes into contact with all sorts of formidable people using a .25 Beretta. This sort of gun is really a lady's gun, and not a really nice lady at that.” Boothroyd instead proposed a revolver, but Fleming preferred a semi-automatic pistol—they settled on the Walther PPK, which made its first appearance in Dr. No (1958) alongside the MI6 armourer “Major Boothroyd”, introduced to Bond as ‘the greatest small-arms expert in the world’. Boothroyd proofread the present work, From Russia, With Love, as a consultant on the armaments and also supplied from his own collection the Smith & Wesson revolver that was illustrated on the dust jacket by Richard Chopping. Gilbert A5a (1.1).

Octavo. Publisher's black cloth lettered in metallic red and silver, foil stamped with revolver and rose to front cover; pictorial dust jacket illustrated with sawn-off Smith & Wesson revolver placed across a red rose (extremities of jacket somewhat rubbed with nicks at corners and spine ends, rear panel moderately toned); housed in custom black quarter morocco case.