The fifth of the James Bond titles by Ian Fleming, considered by some to be the best. In a contemporary review The Times Literary Supplement described this as Fleming's 'tautest, most exciting and most brilliant tale'. It is the first Bond novel with a jacket by Richard Chopping, who went on to execute many of the subsequent Bond covers, often in collaboration with Fleming himself.

First edition, first impression; 8vo (19 x 13 cm); internally clean; publisher's black boards (Gilbert's Binding A) stamped in silver & red, pictorial dust-jacket by Richard Chopping, toning and mild dust-soiling, more so flap-folds, rubbing to extremities with chips to spine ends and edges of spine-folds, otherwise unclipped and generally very good, internally fine; 253, [2]pp.