James Bond - The Secret Agent

Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Up next from THE FOLIO SOCIETY

Illustration ©Fay Dalton 2021 from The Folio Society edition of The Man with the Golden Gun

The Folio Society have a new James Bond novel coming out to day (October 12 - 2021). It is Ian Flemings last novel THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN that is up for release. A book Ian Fleming sadly never got to finish due to his early death on August 12 1964 during filming of Goldfinger.

The novel was first released on April 1 1965 and it is said that since Fleming himself could not finish more then the first draft, Author Kingsley Amis stepped in and completed the book for publisher Jonathan Cape. This is also the reason why Kingsley Amis got the job as a ghost-writer in 1968 writing the novel Colonel Sun under the name Robert Markham.

©The Folio Society

But back to the The Folio Society and their press release for todays release of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN:

The twelfth volume in The Folio Society’s spectacular and best-selling James Bond series, The Man with the Golden Gun sees the world’s greatest super spy tackle his most dangerous assignment.

For The Man with the Golden Gun, series artist Fay Dalton returns with her incomparable vision of Bond and his glamorous, deadly and action-packed world. This gorgeous edition features seven full-colour illustrations, a pictorial slipcase and a binding inspired by Bond’s own impeccable suits. The final full-length novel in the James Bond collection is an unmissable volume for fans and collectors alike.

Written while Fleming was very ill and published eight months after his death, The Man with the Golden Gun sees Bond once again faced with his own mortality. However, being Bond, he faces the possibility head on, taking risks and repeatedly snatching victory from the jaws of certain death. Perhaps fittingly for the last Bond adventure, Fleming sets this in his beloved Jamaica. His lavish descriptions of exotic locations have always been one of the highlights of the series, and Fleming’s portrayal of Jamaica is especially evocative. The beachside bars, the dusty inland towns and the dangerous mangrove swamps are all alive with the hum of insects and the scent of rum.

Captured by the KGB and brainwashed into making an assassination attempt on his own commander, James Bond is a shadow of his former self. When his mind is set free of insidious Russian influences, Bond is sent after Francisco ‘Pistols’ Scaramanga, a lethal assassin with a penchant for flashy hardware: the former circus performer’s signature weapon is a gold-plated Colt.45. Bond must infiltrate Scaramanga’s closest confidants, or risk being on the end of a lethal golden bullet...

Bound in blocked cloth
Set in Miller Text with Folio Bold Condensed as display
176 pages
Frontispiece and 6 colour illustrations
Pictorial slipcase
9" x 6 1/4"
Price £39,95

©The Folio Society

Illustration ©Fay Dalton 2021 from The Folio Society edition of
The Man with the Golden Gun

Wednesday, 10 March 2021

Next from The Folio Society - You only live twice

Illustration ©Fay Dalton 2021 form The Folio Society edition of You Only Live Twice.
Text added by James Bond - The Secret Agent blog.

The eleventh volume in The Folio Society’s spectacular James Bond series sees the agent fighting not only for his life, but for his very livelihood. The last book to be published before Ian Fleming died, You Only Live Twice contains everything that makes a Bond novel so thrilling: exotic locations, glamorous women, grotesque villains – while also revealing a little more of what makes the agent tick.

Fay Dalton continues her dazzling work on this series, with seven gorgeous colour illustrations and a show-stopping pictorial slipcase. The elegantly understated binding design nods to both the location of Bond’s latest adventure, and the agent’s love of smart suits.

The story starts with Bond at his lowest ebb. Since Blofeld murdered his wife all passion for his work has disappeared, but M is willing to give him once last chance to save his career.

In a seemingly impossible mission, Bond must infiltrate the so-called Castle of Death, the home of the mysterious Dr Shatterhand. Looming on the shores of the Japanese island of Kyushu, this is no ordinary criminal hideout. Featuring a garden populated with deadly plants and venomous snakes, the compound is a veritable murder machine, with hundreds having already lost their lives to it. To get to the heart of the castle and put a stop to the madness, Bond must first master the ancient ways of the ninjutsu. And he must master them quickly, for there is much more to the sinister Dr Shatterhand than first appears.

I have not been able to take a closer look myself on the book since I will receive it tomorrow but looking at the pictures below and knowing the high quality drawings that Fay Dalton has created earlier in the series I am sure that this release will be as good as the ten previous books.

I am obligated to mention that this novel will be sent to me for free since I run this this blog. But as a Swedish chef once said when he got spice samples for free "It doesn't matter that I got them for free since I would have bought them anyway"

PS. Just a funny thing I found today when scrolling through the Folio website. They have released Lee Child's Jack Reacher novel Killing Floor. Now we all now Ian Fleming Publications want James Bonds face to be used as little as possible. It it actually not seen many times in the Folio series at all. (not once in FRWL) and now that I found Lee Child's book I could see that they work just the same. No visible face. I both like it and dislike it. What are your thoughts on this? Comment below!

You Only Live Twice

By Ian Fleming

Illustrated by Fay Dalton

Available exclusively from The Folio Society – www.FolioSociety.com

Price: £39.95

Production details: Bound in blocked cloth. Set in Miller Text with Folio Bold Condensed as display. 232 pages. 7 colour illustrations. Pictorial slipcase. 9˝x 6¼˝

Illustration ©Fay Dalton 2021 form The Folio Society edition of You Only Live Twice

Sunday, 3 January 2021

Did Brosnan buy Flemings golden typewriter?

When Ian Fleming was writing his first James Bond novel CASINO ROYALE back in 1953 he was so satisfied with being done with the first draft that he ordered a golden typewriter from Royal typewriter company in New York at the price of $174. He then asked his friend Ivar Bryce to deliver it to him the next time he was visiting Jamaica.

I believe that it is said that Fleming wrote all his novels on his golden typewriter but looking at pictures both from Jamaica and England it is obvious that Fleming uses different typewriters during the years. Maybe he did write the Bond novels on his Golden typewriter and maybe not.

Flemings golden typewriter has long after his death been famous for two things.

1. That it held the world record for being the most expensive typewriter ever sold at an auction when it sold for £56,250 on May 5 1995.

2. That it was said that the buyer at the action was Pierce Brosnan, the actor just about to play James Bond for the first time in GoldenEye.

I had the fortune to meet Pierce Brosnan for the first time back in the fall of 1995 when he was in Sweden to promote GoldenEye and my first question to him was if he actually had bought the typewriter. He sounded very serious when he replied "No, it's not me".

Regarding the most expensive typewriter it is no longer Flemings either. Writer Cormac McCarthy (who wrote NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and THE ROAD) had his typewriter sold at an auction for $254 500).

But who actually bought Fleming's typewriter back in 1995? Well no one knows. It went to a secret buyer. Even EON productions have had an article on their website asking if anyone wish to com forward regarding the true owner.

A picture of what I believe is Ian Fleming and his golden typewriter in London.

My first meeting with Pierce Brosnan at the Grand Hotel. I presented a Goldfinger poster to him since it is his favourite James Bond film.

Monday, 9 November 2020

This is what James Bond collecting is all about (for better or worse)

When collecting James Bond, most of us feel the need to be a completist. Living in Sweden the only local collectables are movie posters and books. For many years I thought that my Swedish book collection was complete. I have every edition of every James Bond book released in Sweden.

But when I showed a photo of my Casino Royal from 1965 a blog reader living in Sweden contacted me saying that his copy was spelled more correctly Casino Royale also released in 1965.

It is obvious that the misspelled version was released first. My guess is that is was printed in more numbers then the later corrected version.

It is always fun when you find something new for the collection. This book cost me around £10 including postage. There is not often a cover is being found with a misprint on it. I would love to know who found out that the book was misspelled. What if it was Glidrose Publications that told Swedish Bonniers to change it.

Sunday, 8 November 2020

Folio Society has released CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

James Bond author Ian Fleming was hospitalized for living a way to hard of a life after High court trials regarding the book release of Thunderball. At the hospital he came up with an idea for a children's book for his son Casper. That book became three volumes and was called Chitty chitty bang bang.

The first out of three volumes came out on October 22 1964. Sadly Ian Fleming never had a chance to live long enough to see them published since he died on August 12th 1964.

When the book was released it also carried drawings by John Burningham.

56 years later Folio Society has released their own version of the book to complete the James Bond series they have produced book by book for some time now.

The book looks fantastic and comes in a green slipcase and I am truly glad to have this in my collection. I do not own a Chitty Chitty bang bang first edition (except the Swedish one) since I find them hard to come by in good condition.
The book also have some special features including behind the scenes material and sketches by John Burningham for the books written by Fergus Fleming.

Therefore I find the Folio Society edition a very nice release for anyone in the same position.

The Folio Society edition of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, including a new afterword by Fergus Fleming and original illustrations by John Burningham, is available exclusively from www.FolioSociety.com

Illustration © John Burningham 1964 from The Folio Society 2020 edition of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Illustration © John Burningham 1964 from The Folio Society 2020 edition of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,

Sunday, 1 November 2020

Fantastic Sean Connery book covers

It was with deep sorrow every Bond fan across the globe learnt that the first (if not counting Barry Nelson in the 1954 version of Casino Royale), and to many the best James Bond, Sean Connery passed away on October 31th, 2020. He reached the age of 90 and had a very long and successful career from the day he signed on to play James Bond in Ian Fleming's DR. NO.

To honor his memory I wanted to share some fantastic Ian Fleming book covers from Sweden. They were released during 1965 in a series called "Zebra special" and had all paintings of Sean Connery on the cover. The paintings were done by Yrjö Edelmann (1941-2016) and are just fantastic to look at.

Below you can find the cover designs using Connery's likeness.

Casino Royale

Live and let die

Moonraker

Diamonds are forever

From Russia with love

Dr.No

Goldfinger

Thunderball

The Spy who loved me

Wednesday, 21 October 2020

Folio Society finally release ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE

Finally the day has come when Folio Society decided to release Ian Fleming´s ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE in their series of James Bond books.

We are a lot of fans of James Bond who favours On her majesty's secret service both as a book and a movie. that's the reason I say "finally". The wait has been long and many people just like I has thought that the next book will be it.

But now it is finally here and many of the drawings looks better than anticipated. Fay Dalton never seems to be able to disappoint.

There are eight drawings within the book. Seven of the drawings are scenes from the books that can also be found in the film with the same title. On the eight picture Dalton has been brave and drawn Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Feels a bit like drawing the Muslim God Muhammad. No one have dared to do so yet.

It is of course hard for Dalton to come up with new ideas for drawings that has not been used before. The skichase cover was for instance used on the british book club edition and also on the 1979 Bulls-eye edition. The skichase has also been used once on the scandinavian comic version with Sean Connery's resemblance.

But this is truly a great looking book just like the rest of the series. Do I dare to say that Countess Tracy di Vincenzo has never looked better.

The Folio Society edition of Ian Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, illustrated by Fay Dalton, is available exclusively from www.FolioSociety.com

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

AMAZING Signed "Golden gun" up for auction

You could understand both complete joy and happiness when finally a signed first edition of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN from Jonathan Cape surface on the auction market.

Not that I want one. I most certainly don't. But only for the chear joy that an auction house could make such a big mistake.

Most James Bond fans knows a lot about Agent 007 but less amount of people know about Ian Fleming and his books.

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN was Ian Fleming's last novel. Sadly he was not able to finish the novel. Some claim that Fleming wrote the first draft and that Kingsley Amis did the touch up of the novel before release. The reason Fleming did not do the touch up himself is sadly because he became ill and died before the novel was released.

Maybe by know you understand what this blogpost is aiming for. It is impossible for Ian Fleming to have signed any copy of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN because he had past away before the release. This books signature is fake and selling it should be counted as fraud.

It is GWS Auctions Inc. in in USA who are the auction house. They estimate that the book will bring in $18-19 000. I myself is pretty sure it will be removed if people with knowledge claim that the signature is fake.

The auction house also says that the James Bond movie with the same title was released in 1964. We all know it was released in 1974. The auction house don't even notice that in the same sentence they write that the book was released 1965. If so, the film could not be based on the novel.

.... Well since english is my second language I just noticed that I have tripped and fell on my knowledge for the language. I did not notice the word "tipped-in". It means that a peace of paper has been glued to the book. And this is the same as for the Roger Moore autograph that the book contains.

Two pieces of paper has been inserted within the book with what is said to be authentic autographs of Ian Fleming and Roger Moore. I would still not bid and I would not call the book signed.

Most Ian Fleming autographs seems to be fake. If this one is real or fake I leave to others to decide. I believe Fleming did most of his signings in books or on stationery.

The hunt for someone claiming to have a signed copy of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN goes on.

If you wish to order the latest version of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN you can do so here.

Saturday, 23 May 2020

Ian Fleming: Bust sold for £1250

In October 2019 a bust of Ian Fleming was offered at auction by Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers. The bust sold for £1000 plus 25% commission coming to an end price of £1250.

The bust was first used on the cover artwork for John Pearson's Fleming biography “The Life of Ian Fleming” (Jonathan Cape, 1966). It was then reproduced in small numbers for distribution to the larger book shops across Great Britain, to be used as window decoration when promoting both the biography and Fleming's own James Bond novels. The size of the bust is 52 cm. Not only was the bust seen on the first edition of the biography but also on the book club version (The companion book club 1966).

Very few of these beautiful plaster busts have survived, and those that have usually need some sort of restoration of the gold paint and possible plaster repair too.

When I first saw the bust on the cover of “The Life of Ian Fleming” I felt I would do anything to own it. As I have shown in another blog post (click the link) I am now indeed fortunate to own two of them.

It’s nice to discover they have increased in value over the years: they are so worth it. If you are able to buy one you definitely should.

PLEASE NOTE: English is my second language so please excuse any small errors in translation.

When the auction house Christies was selling one back in 2007 they described the lot as written below.

FLEMING, Ian (1908-1964)--After Simone PANCHAUD DE BOTTOMES. 'Ian Fleming'. A cast metal bust finished in gold-painted plaster with initials 'SPB', executed c.1966 after Panchaud de Bottomes' original conceived in c.1931, 520mm high (some minor surface chipping and old repairs). Provenance: The Times Bookshop (purchased upon its closure). A RARE BUST OF FLEMING AFTER THE ORIGINAL BY THE MOTHER OF HIS FIANCéE MONIQUE PANCHAUD DE BOTTOMES, probably produced to publicise John Pearson's biography of Fleming. Fleming met Monique Panchaud de Bottomes at a ball in Geneva in autumn 1930, while he was a student at Geneva University. She was 'a slim, dark-haired local beauty' (A. Lycett Ian Fleming, London: 1995, p.45), from Vich in the Canton of Vaud, some 15 miles from Geneva, and 'she was impressed by [Fleming's] intelligence, charm and sensitivity ... He found her chic, cultured and amusing, the very essence of a modern French-speaking girl. Before long they were inseparable' (loc. cit.). By the summer of 1931 they considered themselves unofficially engaged, and Fleming would spend most weekends at the Panchaud de Bottomes' chateau, where the original of this bust by Monique's mother, Simone Panchaud de Bottomes, was sculpted in the early 1930s. However, Fleming's mother was strongly opposed to the engagement, and brought all possible pressure to bear on him -- emotional, professional, and financial -- and eventually the engagement was broken off by Fleming in 1933. Fleming felt bitter and guilty about the ending of the relationship: 'after this he would never dream of marrying anyone. "I'm going to be quite bloody-minded about women from now on ... I'm just going to take what I want without any scruples at all"' (J. Pearson The Life of Ian Fleming, London: 1966, p. 57), and was thought by his friends to continue to pine for Monique. Certainly, her name and background were used by Fleming some thirty years later in the 'James Bond' novel You Only Live Twice (London: 1964), in which Bond's mother is described as Monique Delacroix, from the Canton of Vaud. This bust is one of a small group that was probably produced to publicise Pearson's biography of Fleming, which uses a photograph of one on the dustwrapper; only a small number are thought to have been made, and few survive.