ONLY KNOWN COPY WITH SKELETAL HAND STAMPED IN SILVER
Thunderball
Cape, 1961.
First edition. Publisher's primary binding in original dark brown boards with the skeletal hand on upper cover stamped in silver (rather than in blind as in most copies). Pictorial dustwrapper, with a striking design by Richard Chopping. A near fine copy with a trace of wear to the spine ends in a near fine dustwrapper.
The only known copy of the Thunderball in its primary binding. It appears that the publisher's intended the binding for Thunderball to have a large skeletal hand blocked in silver, following the trend that each of the previous Bond books had formed in which having some form of blocking to the front cover of the binding. Rather like the elaborate blocking which was to appear on the earliest bindings of The Man With The Golden Gun, the practice was abandoned at an early stage, possibly as it became apparent that the cost of producing such a large expanse of silver was prohibitive.
The number of copies produced must be significantly fewer than for The Man With The Golden Gun and this copy, which is referred to in Jon Gilbert's bibliography as a 'trial binding' is the "only one copy [that] has been identified".
Gilvert A9a (trial binding)
Stock ID: 44344
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