Orbis non sufficet
In Fleming’s “OHMSS” Bond seeks to pose as a heraldic scholar to employ Blofeld’s “achilles heel of snobbery” against him. When Bond’s own family name is discussed it is suggested that he might be descended from Sir Thomas Bond himself. Sir Thomas Bond was made a Baronet at the time of King Charles II and is the man responsible for Bond Street in London. The real life Bond family heraldic crest features the phrase “Orbis non sufficet” itself a line inspired by Juvenal’s epitaph of Alexander the Great in which he say’s “A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough”. The world is not enough would of course, more familiarly, go on to be the name of Pierce Brosnan’s Bond outing in 1999. It also graced the Richard Chopping designed cover photographed above from my own collection and featured in the novel itself in which Bond replies to its mention “It is an excellent motto which I shall certainly adopt”. Orbis non sufficet – certainly something to contemplate when walking through the unrivalled luxury of Bond Street.