Birds of the West Indies
[Philadelphia]: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1936.
First edition, first printing in the original dust jacket. An inconspicuous birding book by James Bond, the American ornithologist whose name Ian Flemming took for his iconic spy protagonist. Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist's wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born." In a Reader's Digest interview, Fleming noted, "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest sounding name I could find, and James Bond, was something more interesting, like Peregrine Carruthers. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department."
Bound in publisher's grayish-blue cloth lettered in gilt. Very Good+ with cloth slightly mottled and a little stained. Hinge at title page slightly over-opened, pages toned, marginal mark in red on page 372. In a Very Good dust jacket with rubbing and chipping at extremities, rippling to the rear panel but generally bright and attractive.
Sold