Published in black cloth boards with silver titling to the spine and the iconic red-brown silhouette of a dancing girl printed to the front board. The title page verso confirms the printing history precisely: "First published March 1958 / Second Impression May 1958," True first-impression copies were issued in plain, undecorated black boards without the silhouette; the appearance of the dancing-girl design on the boards themselves is the reliable identifier of the second impression onward.
Housed in the original Jonathan Cape dust jacket, carrying the same silhouette artwork to the front panel against a textured brown ground, with "Dr. No" in bold hand-lettering and the author's name in cream to the upper edges. The rear panel carries Cape's promotional copy for the preceding title, From Russia, with Love.
A contemporary ownership signature appears to the front free endpaper, accompanied by a pencilled bookseller's notation.
Condition: the jacket shows genuine handling consistent with age with some chipping and fraying to the spine ends and corner tips, overall toning, and some foxing concentrated on the rear panel. The boards remain sound, with the silhouette design and spine titling still clear and legible, light rubbing at the extremities. Internally, scattered foxing is present throughout the text block and endpapers, consistent with age; the text itself is complete and the binding tight.
Dr No is the sixth of Fleming's James Bond novels and, notably, the first to be adapted for the screen, launching the Bond film series in 1962.
