You Only Live Twice by FLEMING, Ian

London: Jonathan Cape, 1964. "You only live twice: Once when you are born, And once when you look death in the face" (Matsuo Bashó, Japanese Poet 1643-94) A Near Fine First Edition in the Publisher's Unclipped Dust Jacket FLEMING, Ian. You Only Live Twice. London: Jonathan Cape, 1964. First edition, first impression, first state, Binding 'A' (with "First published 1964" on the copyright page and Japanese gilt characters on the front board). Octavo (7 3/8 x 5 inches; 188 x 127 mm.). 255, [1] pp. Publisher's black cloth effect paper over boards, front cover with gilt kanji, spine lettered in silver, bamboo patterned endpapers. Publisher's (unclipped) dust jacket designed by Richard Chopping. Two tiny 'foxing' marks on the top edge otherwise a near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket with just a hint of darkening to spine. "When Ernst Stavro Blofeld blasted into eternity the girl whom James Bond had married only hours before, the heart, the zest for life, went out of Bond. Incredibly, from being a top agent of the Secret Service, he had gone to pieces, was even on the verge of becoming a security risk. M is persuaded to give him one last chance - an impossible mission far removed from his usual duties - and Bond leaves for Japan..." (dust jacket, rear panel). The twelfth novel in the James Bond series and the last Bond novel published while Fleming was still alive, featuring Kissy Suzuki, who licks Bond's wounded heart and bears him the only child we are aware of after Bond kills Ernst Blofeld, is affected by amnesia, and lives with her as a fisherman in Japan. You Only Live Twice was the last in the 'Blofeld Trilogy'. Gilbert, A12a, 1.1.