Also known as The Belles of Hell
FLEMING, Ian. On Her Majesty's Secret Service. ~I~London: Jonathan Cape.~.~ 1963.
8vo., original brown cloth with white patterned swirl to upper board; gilt lettering to spine; the original Chopping dust jacket unclipped (16s. Net); pp. 288; very light spotting to outer edges, faint marks to verso of dedicaton oage; unclipped jacket marginally faded to spine with a little rubbing; a very good copy.
First edition, first impression, binding A.
After the relative disappointment of The Spy Who Loved Me, Fleming was adamant to produce his next novel to a tried and tested formula. On her Majesty's Secret Service saw the reappearance of Blofeld and Spectre, linking this storyline to that of Thunderballwhich had been published in 1961. Fleming's recent visit to Engadine, near St Moritz, inspired many of the locations within the book, with Piz Gloria, Blofeld's mountain-top retreat and lab, based on the exclusive Schloss Mittersill Alpine Sports Club. The original working title for the book - The Belles of Hell was swapped for its current form after a friend of Flemings found a nineteenth-century sailing novel of a similar name on a bookstall on London's Portobello Road.
The book is dedicated to 'Sable Basilisk Pursuivant', a code name for Fleming's friend Count Robin de la Laine Hirpleek.
Gilbert, p.351.
#2120650