On Her Majesty s Secret Service, Ian Fleming, 1st Edition Very Nice Condition Overall

On Her Majesty s Secret Service, Ian Fleming, first edition, first print, Jonathan Cape, 1963. Cloth-bound book is firm and square.

The second title in Fleming’s ‘Blofield Trilogy’, which begins with ‘Thunderball’ and ends with ‘You Only Live Twice.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a 1969 spy film and the sixth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is based on the 1963 novel by Ian Fleming. Following Sean Connery's decision to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon selected George Lazenby, a model with no prior acting credits, to play the part of James Bond. During filming, Lazenby announced that he would play the role of Bond only once. Connery returned to portray Bond in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever.

In the film, Bond faces Blofeld (Telly Savalas), who is planning to hold the world ransom by a threat to render all food plants and livestock infertile through the actions of a group of brainwashed "angels of death". Along the way Bond meets, falls in love with, and eventually marries Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg).

It is the only Bond film to have been directed by Peter R. Hunt (with this serving as his directorial debut), who had served as a film editor and second unit director on previous films in the series. Hunt, along with producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, decided to produce a more realistic film that would follow the novel closely. It was shot in Switzerland, England, and Portugal from October 1968 to May 1969. Although its cinema release was not as lucrative as its predecessor You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service was still one of the top-performing films of the year. Critical reviews upon release were mixed, but the film's reputation has improved greatly over time and is now regarded as one of the strongest entries in the series as well as one of the most faithful adaptations of a Fleming novel.

The novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service was first published after the film series started and contains "a gentle dig at the cinematic Bond's gadgets"; Broccoli and Saltzman had originally intended to make On Her Majesty's Secret Service after Goldfinger and Richard Maibaum worked on a script at that time.10 However, Thunderball was filmed instead after the ongoing rights dispute over the novel was settled between Fleming and Kevin McClory.11 On Her Majesty's Secret Service was due to follow that,10 but problems with a warm Swiss winter and inadequate snow cover led to Saltzman and Broccoli postponing the film again, favouring production of You Only Live Twice.12

Between the resignation of Sean Connery at the beginning of filming You Only Live Twice and its release, Saltzman had planned to adapt The Man with the Golden Gun in Cambodia and use Roger Moore as the next Bond, but political instability meant the location was ruled out and Moore signed up for another series of The Saint.13 After You Only Live Twice was released in 1967, the producers once again picked up with On Her Majesty's Secret Service.10

Peter Hunt, who had worked on the five preceding films, had impressed Broccoli and Saltzman enough to earn his directorial debut as they believed his quick cutting had set the style for the series.14 It was also the result of a long-standing promise from Broccoli and Saltzman for a directorial position, which they honored after Lewis Gilbert declined to direct.1516 Hunt also asked for the position during the production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and he brought along with him many crew members, including cinematographer Michael Reed.17 Hunt was focused on making his mark – "I wanted it to be different than any other Bond film would be. It was my film, not anyone else's."18 On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the last film in the series on which Hunt worked

Code: 24936