Release and Reception
Thunderball was published on 27 March 1961 in the UK as a hardcover edition by publishers Jonathan Cape; it was 253 pages long and cost 15 shillings. 50,938 copies were printed and quickly sold out. Thunderball was published in the US by Viking Press and sold better than any of the previous Bond books. Publishers Jonathan Cape spent £2,000 (£33,169 in 2012 pounds) on advance publicity. Cape sent out 130 review copies to critics and others and 32,000 copies of the novel had been sent to 864 UK booksellers and 603 outside the UK.
| “ | The title of the book will be Thunderball. It is immensely long, immensely dull and only your jacket can save it! | ” |
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—Ian Fleming, in a letter to cover artist Richard Chopping |
Artist Richard Chopping once again provided the cover art for the novel. On 20 July 1960 Fleming wrote to Chopping to ask if he could undertake the art for the next book, agreeing on a fee of 200 guineas, saying that "I will ask to produce an elegant skeleton hand and an elegant Queen of Hearts. As to the dagger, I really have no strong views. I had thought of the ordinary flick knife as used by teenagers on people like you and me, but if you have a nice dagger in mind please let us use it. The title of the book will be Thunderball. It is immensely long, immensely dull and only your jacket can save it!"
Read more about this topic: Thunderball (novel)
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