?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 12,000 - $ 18,000
BOND ON THE LINKS FLEMING, IAN. Goldfinger. 8vo, publisher's black boards, skull and coin design in blind and gilt on front cover; dust jacket priced "15s net" but with For Your Eyes Only later blurb on rear flap, light rubbing to folds and corners, minor dust soiling to rear flap; armorial bookplate to front pastedown, else unmarked internally. London: Jonathan Cape, (1959)
first edition, superb association copy, with presentation inscription: "To / Henry Cotton / Who may be / amused by pp. 92-131! / from / Ian Fleming." Sir Henry Cotton, MBE, was an English professional golfer. Cotton won the Open Championship in 1934, 1937 and 1948, establishing himself as the leading British player of his generation, and enjoyed a long time friendship with Fleming, the two men fellow players in the same soigné social circles.
"Henry Cotton's Golf Notes were syndicated around the world. The pioneering golfer's notes that were published in Farm and Country on 30th September 1959 focused on the golf swing and the importance of good position of the legs and feet. To illustrate Henry Cotton's various points, the article includes photographs of golfers in action [...] Golfer no. 3 was none other than Ian Fleming. So what was his golfing malaise? 'Celebrated author Ian Fleming,' Cotton wrote, 'is caught at a later point in his swing, and whilst his arms could be coming to a position of rest, both his feet are firmly anchored on his heels.'"(The accompanying photograph confirms Cotton's account.)
"Despite Fleming's faults, Henry Cotton admitted that Fleming 'is quite a golfer' with 'a good hard action, which could be put to even better use with some 'educated' footwork.' [...] Bond shares a nine handicap with his creator, and similarly has trouble with his swing, which we know from Goldfinger [...] is flat. Bond would do well to take some tips from Henry Cotton, with a little help from Ian Fleming" (http://jamesbondmemes.blogspot.com/2017/09/improve-your-golf-with-ian-fleming.html). The pages Fleming cites in his inscription narrate the golf match in which Bond bests Goldfinger (including a direct reference to Cotton's observation regarding "that flat swing of yours" on p. 102). Gilbert A.7.a.
