Rare James Bond books to go on sale

(IANS)

A rare collection of James Bond novels - owned by the man who is said to have inspired the super-spy character - is expected to fetch $36,000 at an auction that began Monday.

The books were owned by former diplomat, soldier and conservative politician Sir Fitzroy Maclean widely believed to have ...

Author Ian Fleming was a friend of Maclean's and is believed to have based the super-spy on him.

'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,' said Simon Vickers of Lyons and Turnbull auctioneers.

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".

The books are to go on sale Wednesday at an auction house in Edinburgh, Scotland.