Field Guide of Birds of the West Indies [Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies.]
New York, NY: Macmillan, 1947. FIRST MACMILLAN PRINTING. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.xii; 257; [1], blank. With colour plate illustrations and line drawings by Poole. Publisher's brown cloth titled in black to spine and front board, map endpapers, original dust-jacket. Owner name, used jacket with some chips and tears backed with some tape strips to reverse side, cup ring to upper, price clipped as usual. Note slight difference between title page and printed jacket title. The acclaimed work by the ornithologist James Bond, whose name was famously appropriated for spy fiction's most celebrated hero. Fleming had purchased Jamaican and built his Goldeneye home in 1945-6. According to historian Ben McIntyre (and re-affirmed by Fleming throughout his life), while pondering his character, Fleming 'simply lifted the name from his bookshelves, his eye having alighted upon 'Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies' by James Bond, the standard reference book published by MacMillan in 1947'. Due to the connection, copies are desirable. Item #63728
Price: £550.00
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Biographies and Reference
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