007 collection, including first edition novels, up for auction

First edition copy of 1953’s Casino Royale that’s up for auction

A large James Bond collection, including first-edition copies of Ian Fleming’s novels and short stories, is now up for auction at Heritage Auctions.

Collector Gary J. Firuta is selling off his 007 properties, which also include vintage movie posters.

Firuta’s collection includes both U.K. and U.S. first editions of Fleming’s originals, including a U.K. first-edition copy of the author’s first novel, Casino Royale.

As of Thursday evening, that copy of the novel had an opening bid of $12,500. Heritage describes it as “a near fine copy that shows well.”

The major auction for the books is underway and is scheduled to conclude Nov. 5. The auction for posters (and other items) will begin around the end of the month and conclude Nov. 22.

Among the posters being auctioned are a 1965 U.K. Thunderball quad poster.

To track down the items being auctioned, you may want to go to Heritage’s website and search for both “Ian Fleming” and “James Bond” because Heritage apparently doesn’t cross promote merchandise.

If you CLICK HERE, you’ll get the results of a search of “Gary Firuta” on the Heritage website. There are four pages of results.

Full disclosure: Firuta is a friend of the blog and has supplied copies of his 007 film scripts, which we’ve used for a series of posts.

UPDATE (Oct. 16) If CLICK HERE, you’ll see 83 books and related items (it’s from using “Ian Fleming” for the search). If you CLICK HERE, you’ll see 214 posters, lobby cards and related items (using “James Bond” for the search).  Most of the Firuta collection material can be found somewhere in these searches.