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This is the first edition of ‘Casino Royale’ – Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel!⁠
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With the publication of his blog post on #WritersAndSpies out this week, our Digital Content Manager @oliverjbayliss has chosen this as his #BookOfTheWeek⁠
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'At the impressionable age of seven I discovered that my home in sleepy Hampshire was once the childhood home of Guy Burgess, one of the infamous Cambridge Spies! This sparked a lifelong, and probably rather unhealthy, fascination with all things cloak and dagger (I mean it's pretty normal to pretend you're a KGB spy infiltrating you're school at 7 isn't it?...)!⁠
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For spy books you can't really get better than Bond, and it really doesn't get better than the all too rare first edition of his first novel!⁠
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As the tale goes, the inspiration for Bond came from Fleming’s time in Naval Intelligence during WW2. Whilst playing a baccarat game in Lisbon, the author's alleged to have whispered to his friend ‘just suppose these fellows were German agents—what a coup it would be if we cleaned them out entirely!'⁠
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➡️ Link in bio⁠
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#spy #spybooks #cloakanddagger #007 #jamesbond #casinoroyale #ianfleming #bookdesign #bookart #coverlove #rarebook #rarebooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookporn #bibliophile #beautifulbooks #oldbooks #bookshop #bookcollecting #collectingbooks #booklove #bookphotography #bookenvy #shapero

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Secret agents infiltrating a communist devil-worshiping cult.... it must be #DennisWheatley the second author to be featured in our #WritersAndSpies 🕵️‍♂️ series!⁠
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As a bit of #booktrivia for you #bookstagrammers out there, the jacket was designed by Sax, a prolific book artist of the 20th century.... however don't google 'Sax book art' as our social media man has just discovered...⁠ ➡️ link in bio ⁠
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#occult #occultism #spooky #satanic #bookstagram #booknerd #bookworm #horror #spookishbookish #spookybooks #spinetingling #spooktober #spookyseason #bookart #bookdesign #coverlove #creepybooks #spookathon #rarebooks #bookcollecting #collectingbooks #bookenvy #covertart #bookillustration

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Twain’s adage ‘write what you know’ could have been written for #GrahamGreene, the subject of the first post in our series #WritersAndSpies⁠ 🕵️‍♂️ ⁠
His established career as a writer, and penchant for travel, made Greene the perfect candidate for MI6. ⁠
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Recruited in 1941, he monitored the Vichy forces in Sierra Leone, searching ships for smuggled diamonds and documents. Later under the ruse of book research, he travelled widely across China and the USSR, observing and reporting. He also worked under the famous Soviet mole Kim Philby, even developing a friendship with the traitorous spy.⁠
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The Philby connection also gave Greene a rather dubious honour: whilst spying for MI6, he was himself the subject of investigation by the FBI due to his links with the Cambridge Spy Ring. With wonderful irony, whilst the author was under investigation, the CIA were helping to turn one of his novels into a film…..⁠
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📸 The first edition of Graham Greene's 'England Made Me' 1935 - Link in bio⁠
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#spy #spying #espionage #spybooks #spyfiction #rarebooks #firstedition #booktrivia #bookhistory #literaryhistory #bookstagram #booklove #coverlove #bookdesign #youngmancarter #coolbooks #beautifulbooks #booknerdigans #bookcover #literature #bookcollection #bookstagramer #bookcollecting #bookenvy #bookworm #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #bookgram

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Thank you to everyone who came to our stand at @friezeartfair this year!

#friezeweek #friezemasters #art #contemporaryart #modernart #artfair #andywarhol #roylichtenstein #rarebooks #bookstagram #artforsale

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