The Battle for Bond: The Genesis of Cinema's Greatest Hero

Sheffield: Tomahawk Press, 2007-8. ['Thunderball' film reference] FIRST EDITION [together with Revised Edition]. ASSOCIATION COPIES. Two volumes, octavos. Pp.264; pp.251, with photographs and reproductions of documents. Publisher's illustrated softcovers. Fine/as new copies. The Battle for Bond is the story of the much-discussed Thunderball dispute. In late February 2008, the book was withdrawn, and the accompanying revised edition was issued shortly after, with the controversial content removed. The official James Bond novelist Raymond Benson, who had written the opening essay, evidently before being able to read a copy of the book, quickly distanced himself from the project, refusing to allow his introduction to be included in any future publication and declining to sign any copies of the first edition in which he appears. Spy novelist Len Deighton, who had collaborated on a screenplay for an unrealised SPECTRE-based James Bond film "Warhead" with Sean Connery in 1976, wrote a new preface for the revised edition. This pair are from the library of Deighton's biographer Edward Milward-Oliver, purchased directly by ourselves, with a printed note to that effect loosely inserted. Gilbert, Jon: Ian Fleming The Bibliography, pp.296, 610.