Asked by Fleming Ian (6 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. SOFTCOVER - A very good example bound in the publisher's pictorial card covers with green topstains. The covers are very clean for its age with the odd age related scratch, but with no loss to the spine. There is shallow chipping to the edges of eight pages, also with the usual page toning. Printed in the UK in 1953 as Casino Royale. This book was printed in the US two years later by The Popular Library in quite small numbers.

Softcover. Condition: Good. Binding is solid. Pages are tanned, but otherwise clean and unmarked. Hinges are brittle, but holding. Cover is in very good condition with minor wear along edges and corners.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st U.S. Ed. VG to VG+ in pictorial wraps with white & black lettering & cover art picturing a guy pouring a drink & looking at a hot brunette in a bathing suit. Mystery, Vintage Paperback.

Soft cover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. FLEMING, Ian [128] pp. Popular Library 1955 6 7/8" x 4 3/8" You Asked for It was simply the title given to the very first U.S. paperback version of Casino Royale, the book that introduced British super-spy James Bond, Agent 007, to the world. The original hardcover edition was brought out in Great Britain back in 1953 by publisher Jonathan Cape. Two years later, though, when New York-based American Popular Library arranged to release a cheaper, softcover version in the States, the company s marketing geniuses griped that the name Casino Royale wasn't sufficiently saleable. Apparently, it was feared that American readers would not be able to pronounce Royale. They wanted something different, a replacement that was more in keeping with the tough-guy stories then flooding U.S. bookstores. Fleming s suggestions for a new title, The Double-O Agent and The Deadly Gamble, were disregarded, in favor of You Asked The novel was subtitled Casino Royale and made reference to secret agent 007 as Jimmy Bond on the back cover (left). Did the Popular Library honchos really believe 007 needed such a nickname to appeal to often folksier Yankee readers? You Asked for It is a wonderful piece of Bondamania. Its illustrated cover features an alluring Vesper Lynd with a leering Jimmy pouring a drink. The spine of the book reads, She played a man s game with a woman's weapon. One would hardly recognize this book as an adventure of the suave sophisticated 007 of today. This remains a very scarce book, and one that is passionately sought after by Bond fans. So who painted You Asked for It s pulpish jacket? Well, there s a mystery for you. According to novelist Bill Crider, who owns a copy of the paperback, There s absolutely no signature on that cover, nor is there any credit given to the artist on the inside. Hoping for a more definitive answer, and because he s been helpful to me before in solving this sort of puzzle, I dashed off an e-mail inquiry to Art Scott, the co-author of a comprehensive illustrated bibliography, The Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis (2001), and a contributor to a forthcoming book from Donald M. Grant about McGinnis portraits of women. Alas, he couldn't identify the artist here either. [B]ut my best guess, Scott wrote, would be Ray Johnson, who did a lot of Pop [Library] covers in that era, and it looks like his style. Johnson s other works include the fronts of The World in the Evening, by Christopher Isherwood (1955); Mr. Trouble, by William Ard (1956); Love in Suburbia, by John Conway (1960); This Is My Night, by Richard Deming (1961); and Some Die Hard, by Nick Quarry (1961). Fortunately, the rebranding of Fleming s debut thriller was short-lived. Popular Library s You Asked for It (released in April 1955) was the only edition to carry that title. Signet Books picked up the U.S. rights to the James Bond novels after 1960 and restored the Casino Royale name.

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. IAN FLEMING - YOU ASKED FOR IT (aka CASINO ROYALE), published by Popular Library, #660, copyright 1953, states "Popular Library Edition -- Published in April 1955" - THERE WAS ONLY ONE PRINTING OF THIS PB EDITION PUBLISHED BY Popular Library - Popular Library had not only changed the title of "Casino Royale" to "You Asked For It" without Fleming's approval but they also changed James Bond to "Jimmy Bond" - Fleming quickly fired Popular Library and then retained Perma Books as his U.S. pb publisher (who in turn then did the same thing by changing the title of "Moonraker" to "Too Hot To Handle" - causing fleming to fire Perma Books as his U.S. pb publisher and changed to Signet as his U.S. pb publisher). Book has no vertical spine creasing, no creased page corners from prior reading (small crease to a group of related pages due to poor handling/storage), no spine lean, no wear to spine tips or to left/right on spine, no tearing at spine tip corners, no cover creases (just creasing to left edge from opening of cover), hint of edge wear, almost no color rubbbing to cover (common defect with this book), green outside page edge stain has no drop spots or fading, outer page corners are sharp and square, no foxing to pages or endpapers or outer page edges, hint of age darkening to page edges, no former owner's markings or used book store stamps inside, rear cover is clean. Overall a FINE-/N-FINE book of an Ian Fleming 1st printing pb book. I have a number of other U.S. and U.K. Ian Fleming James Bond 1st printing hardcover appearances up for sale.

First US Paperback Edition 1955). A Softcover. Publisher's illustrated card covers with all edges tinted green. About VG. Creased to the front cover; just a touch of wear at the head and tail of the spine. It appears as if the fore-has had several drops of water on it; and there is a little bit of surface loss at the bottom left hand corner of the back panel. Quite a nice copy. Great cover art. Photographs/scans available upon request.