11. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Author : Ian Fleming
Publisher : Jonathan Cape / Boots Book Lovers Library
Format : Hardback
Series : Boots BookLovers (Cape)
Edition : 2nd
Year : 1963 (first published with this artwork)
Country published : UK
General Notes
From 1898 until 1965 the UK company Boots (better known as a chemist / drug store) ran lending libraries in many of their stores. For the Fleming books the pages are printed by Jonathan Cape and are almost always 1st editions. The Boots library binding is distinctive due to the washer / hole at the top of the spine. This was where you attached you membership card to the book where it could also double as a book mark. Some copies however have standard Cape bindings and a Boots Booklovers Library sticker to the front.
For a long time these copies have been undervalued / ignored by collectors assuming they were re-bound ex library books. The fact they were originally bound like this and may actually pre-date the Cape bindings is leading to a growth in interest. If you have copies of Fleming titles not shown on this web site please get in touch.
More information can be found in this article on the
Boots Libraries.
Editions and pricing variants found with this artwork
Unusually this is a Cape 2nd edition. Most of these Boots editions use Cape 1st edition sets of pages.
Back to all photos