A world where so-called Moms of Liberty sit, Madame Defarge-like, and knit as a well-honed guillotine drops and severs democracy from its enlightenment roots. I never considered living in an America where books are figuratively burned in public squares. A world more closely approximating Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” than approximating an America celebrating Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.” I never considered that we would someday be living in a dystopian world. I never told my daughter what to read (although I did strongly suggest Tayeb Salih, Naguib Mahfouz, and Edward Said). No one ever told me to look only for age-appropriate, gender-appropriate, color-appropriate books. I’ve been reading - and collecting - ever since.

My daughter now owns the 39 volumes I collected! I devoured it and, over the years, even into adulthood, collected and read the 38 other books in the series. It was a story about an amateur detective and tomboy who eschewed schoolwork and makeup in favor of adventure and solving mysteries. I was probably eight or nine at the time and the idea of personally owning a book was new to me. The first book I ever received as a gift was “Trixie Belden and The Red Trailer Mystery.” Arthur, my best friend, gave it to me for my birthday. You’ll be responsible for paying these costs in addition to the top bid.Robert Azzi is a photographer and writer who lives in Exeter. This object might be affected by recent changes related to Brexit like additional VAT charges, customs fees, shipping costs and shipping delays. Pages 19 to 22 have creases at the upper outer corners where the pages were folded down. Light spotting and minor brown staining to the external edges, visible to the internal edges and affecting the outer margins just very rarely. The dust jacket is unclipped browned at edges, with spotting and brown staining to the covers and spine, minor(ish), and to the reverse, and just a couple of minor nicks and tears to corners and spine head and foot ends. The cloth binding is in almost as new condition, just the merest hint of shelf wear to the spine head and foot ends. The book is bound in the original black cloth covered boards with a dagger in silver gilt and blind tooling to the upper cover, and titling and publisher vignette in silver gilt to the spine, and comes wrapped in the original pictorial paper dust jacket. Title(s): The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming

First edition the spy who loved me