Introduction
British Secret Service Agent James Bond 007 was the creation of novelist Ian Fleming. A former British naval intelligence officer, Fleming wrote 12 novels and two collections of short stories between 1952 and 1964 detailing the exploits of his fictional hero. The James Bond movies have been produced since 1962, collectively grossing an estimated $1-billion worldwide. One of the reasons for their tremendous success is a formula that deftly interweaves action, suspense, humour, sex, and high technology. Never has there been a Bond movie that didn't feature gorgeous women, humour in the face of danger, an assortment of exotic weaponry and mechanical gadgetry, suggested sexual liaisons, an evil villain and his murderous henchmen (and women), larger-than-life plots, beautiful foreign locales, futuristic set designs, plenty of action in the way of hand-to-hand combat, high-calibre fire-power, key chase or 'stunt' scenes, and, of course, a dramatic musical score. So popular were the first few films that, by 1966, Bondmania had become a worldwide phenomenon. Licensed James Bond merchandise flooded stores and included board games, die-cast cars, toys, bath towels, trading cards, rings, watches, apparel, posters, and soundtrack albums by every orchestra imaginable. All in all, the mid-60s saw a Bond-inspired 'secret agent craze' that had the entertainment, advertising and merchandising industries - not to mention the public - ablaze in excitement. Danny Biederman The origin of the name "James Bond"

In 1952 a London Times columnist and former Royal Navy intelligence officer named Ian Fleming was writing Casino Royale, which he vowed would be "the spy story to end all spy stories" at Goldeneye, his vacation home on the north shore of Jamaica. He didn't yet have a name for his character and wanted "the dullest name I could find". His eyes fell upon a favourite book on his coffee table entitled "Birds of the West Indies" by an American ornithologist named-you guessed it-James Bond. He appropriated the name and the rest, as they say, is history. Ian Fleming had a copy of a book called, "Field Guide of Birds of the West Indies" on his book shelf at Goldeneye in Jamaica. It was written by James Bond. It was the 1947 printing by The Macmillan Company of New York and was the first commercial printing of this book. The true first edition was published in 1936 by Waverly Press, Inc of Baltimore, Maryland, for The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. As Fleming did not discover Jamaica as a potential location for a retreat until after the second world war and due to the limited distribution of James Bond's first printing of his book by Waverly Press and the fact that, "Field Guide of Birds of the West Indies" was only published once commercial before 1953 when Fleming first published, "Casino Royale", I think that it is safe to say that the exact edition of James Bond's, "Field Guide of Birds of the West Indies" was the 1947 Macmillan edition. David A. Reinhardt The Ian Fleming Foundation