You Only Live Twice Fleming, Ian

London: Jonathan Cape, 1964 8vo., black cloth, japanese characters in gilt to upper board; lettered in silver to backstrip with publisher's device to foot; wood-effect endpapers; in the classic Richard Chopping dust jacket (16s. net) featuring a poisonous toad grasping a dragonfly under the shelter of a pink chrysanthemum; pp. [xiv], 15-255, [i]; essentially a fine copy, some very minor toning to edges of jacket and shelf-wear to the lower panel the only defects. First edition, first impression, first state. Binding A in black cloth. The final book in Fleming's 'Blofeld Trilogy', following Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It features the usual descriptions of intelligence-gathering and code-breaking networks which Fleming himself was familiar with, having run covert operations during the war. In the Autumn of 1962 the author had travelled to Japan, adamant that his next novel would be set in the 'Land of the Rising Sun'. During his time there, he kept a series of notebooks in which he jotted down observations about the people, culture, and phrases he encountered, as well as plot ideas for his upcoming work. The first manuscript appeared in 1963. You Only Live Twice was Fleming's eleventh novel, and the last published within his lifetime. In 1967, it was adapted into the fifth film in the Eon Production series, featuring the best Bond, Sean Connery, in the title role. The screenplay was produced by Roald Dahl, who was a close friend of the author, but who took liberties with the plot - only a few elements of the novel, and a limited number of characters, survive from the original text. A superior copy of this popular book in the James Bond series.