# Is "Octopussy and The Living Daylights" by Ian Fleming a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Octopussy and The Living Daylights by Ian Fleming (Jonathan Cape, 1966) is identified by: The Cape first edition (Gilbert A14a), published posthumously on 23 June 1966, is bound in dark grey cloth lettered in silver on the spine and front cover, with grey marble-patterned endpapers; a scarcer variant binding in black cloth is recorded. True first is the London Jonathan Cape edition of 23 June 1966, the final volume of the fourteen-book Cape Bond run.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The Cape first edition (Gilbert A14a), published posthumously on 23 June 1966, is bound in dark grey cloth lettered in silver on the spine and front cover, with grey marble-patterned endpapers; a scarcer variant binding in black cloth is recorded
- The correct jacket is Richard Chopping's pictorial design: first-issue jackets carry the original printed price at the front flap, while second-issue jackets have the publisher's raised-price sticker pasted over the printed price, and — because the printing sold slowly — jackets still in stock after February 1971 received decimal-currency stickers
- The first edition contains only the two title stories; any copy whose contents add 'The Property of a Lady' (or later '007 in New York') is a later edition
- Publisher imprint reads Jonathan Cape
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ian Fleming |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
| Year | 1966 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The Cape first edition (Gilbert A14a), published posthumously on 23 June 1966, is bound in dark grey cloth lettered in silver on the spine… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The Cape first edition (Gilbert A14a), published posthumously on 23 June 1966, is bound in dark grey cloth lettered in silver on the spine and front cover, with grey marble-patterned endpapers; a scarcer variant binding in black cloth is recorded. The correct jacket is Richard Chopping's pictorial design: first-issue jackets carry the original printed price at the front flap, while second-issue jackets have the publisher's raised-price sticker pasted over the printed price, and — because the printing sold slowly — jackets still in stock after February 1971 received decimal-currency stickers. The first edition contains only the two title stories; any copy whose contents add 'The Property of a Lady' (or later '007 in New York') is a later edition.

## Is this the true first?
True first is the London Jonathan Cape edition of 23 June 1966, the final volume of the fourteen-book Cape Bond run. The first American edition, retitled Octopussy (New American Library, New York, 1966), also contains just the two stories, adds text illustrations, and carries a Paul Bacon-designed jacket; it is collected separately as the US first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
US book-club printings of the NAL Octopussy state 'Book Club Edition' and are common. On the Cape edition, a price sticker over the flap price marks a later-issue jacket, and expanded contents mark a later edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Octopussy and The Living Daylights* by Ian Fleming a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/octopussy-and-the-living-daylights
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.