JAMES BOND - RARE BOND BOOKS GO ON SALE

RARE BOND BOOKS GO ON SALE

A rare collection of JAMES BOND novels is expected to fetch $36,000 (GBP20,000) at auction this week (begs01Sep08).
The books were owned by former special forces soldier and Conservative politician Sir Fitzroy MAClean, who is believed to have been the main inspiration for the Bond character.
Author Ian Fleming was a pal of MAClean's and is believed to have based the super-spy on him.
MAClean, who died in 1996 and was a close friend of Winston Churchill, owned every Bond novel Fleming wrote, including a first edition of his 1953 debut, Casino Royale.
Now the books are to go on sale on Wednesday (03Sep08) at an auction house in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Simon Vickers, of Lyons and Turnbull auctioneers, says, "Sir Fitzroy is one of the men thought to have inspired the character of Bond. He was a friend of Fleming and they moved in the same circles."