Sunday, May 3, 2015

Paperback 875: Live and Let Die / Ian Fleming (Perma Books M-3048)

Paperback 875: Perma Books M-3048 (1st ptg, 1956)

Title: Live and Let Die
Author: Ian Fleming
Cover artist: James Meese

Estimated value: $75-100

PermaM3048
Best things about this cover:

  • The world's most ruthless diving coach doesn't want to hear your bullshit about the Chinese judge having it in for you.
  • "Scrooge McDuck had to go on vacation. You deal with me now."
  • You'd think with all those gold coins, he could afford a nicer office. Something less in-a-cave.
  • Just in case you didn't notice: this cover is all kinds of fabulous.


PermaM3048bc
Best things about this back cover:

  • Tee-Hee. No, I'm not laughing, that's his name. His name is Tee-Hee. Tee-Hee. OK, now I'm laughing. Keep up!
  • No reaction shot from Bond. I assume he just stiff-upper-lipped it, then bagged a leggy stewardess/assassin, then had a martini.
  • "Take Mr. Bond to Central Perk … introduce him to Ross and Phoebe. You're job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA, Mr. Bond."


Page 123~

Soon they were over Miami and the monster chump-traps of the eastern seaboard, their arteries ablaze with neon.

Monster chump-traps! Nice phrase, Mr. Fleming.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

3 comments:

Jean said...

The henchman's name is Tee-Hee. I do not even know how to describe that fact.

vintagehoarder said...

If my name was "Tee Hee" I'd get a job that involved breaking fingers too.

Benzadmiral said...

Fleming tells us that Tee-Hee displays the reason for his nickname: He giggles. And the back cover blurb, which is mostly taken from the text, is trimmed down. Bond does indeed react to having his finger broken by quite decently fainting. (Yes, he did that from time to time. Doesn't sound very Sean Connery-esque, but he did.)

The cover is remarkably faithful to the novel, in spirit if not in actual detail. Mr. Big is even described as wearing a suit and tie during the novel's climactic scenes.