Blog post number 100 in less then 10 months with over 35 000 pageviews

Who would have thought that today the blog celebrates its one hundred blog post.

Ten month ago I decided to start a blog about the literary James Bond that so often feels to be forgotten. The blog was an attempt to get James Bond fans to explore the books written by Ian Fleming. You would be amazed at how many fans out there have never ever actually read the books.

I myself read them a log time ago in Swedish and am now re-reading them in English for the first time. and it is a blast.

During these ten months the blog has been a great success according to me with over 35 000 page views. I have received much praise but also critic for my spelling and grammar and that's fine. I have always had a difficulty in spelling and English in not my main language so please bare that in mind when reading a blog post.

The blog is also on Instagram showing pictures of books with great artworks or pictures of things associated with the literary world of James Bond. The Instagram account can be found here.

I myself is also on Twitter were I try to spread links to articles I read about James Bond. So if you have a link or wish to read others work about James Bond come join me here!

The same goes with Pinterest where I collect pictures from the blog and also pictures of books and others that are connected to the literary world of James Bond. See the pictures here!

The Blog also have a small You tube channel with more to come. You can follow it here!

And last but not least the blogs Facebook page have now past over 500 followers which is amazing in my world. Make sure not to miss any post by joining the page here.

Just for the fun of it I created the below picture to mess with the fans who have yet to read an Ian Fleming novel. All fans should try him out. Please share the picture if you wish to.

Thanks for your kind support to this blog. I am enjoying every minute of running it and read your comments on it.

Ian Flemings YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE script sold for £47.500

A few days back I wrote about a first edition of Casino Royale being sold at Sotheby's for £40 000. You can read that blog post here.

At that very same auction a oner of a kind James Bond collectable was also up for sale.

This very unique item was 255 pages of Ian Flemings typescript of of his thirteenth James Bond novel YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. 65 of these pages seems to have not made by Ian Fleming.

This is what the auction firm wrote about the lot up for sale:

WORKING TYPESCRIPT OF FLEMING'S TWELFTH BOND NOVEL, THE FINAL INSTALMENT OF THE 'BLOFELD TRILOGY'. It was also the first novel to be conceived and written after the beginning of the film franchise. Fleming had become fascinated with Japan on a 1959 visit. In 1962 he returned to the country, having decided that it would be the setting of his next Bond book (his research notes from the tip were sold at auction in 2002), and he began writing the novel shortly thereafter. By April 1963 the manuscript was completed and ready to be typed. His typist, Jean Frampton (who had typed all Fleming's manuscripts from For Your Eyes Only of 1959) produced eight copies for distribution to the editorial staff at Cape. The novel was printed in December 1963.

with extensive corrections and proof markings by a copy-editor in purple ball-point, the corrected text then checked by the author in blue ball-point WITH SUBSTANTIVE AUTOGRAPH REVISIONS TO APPROXIMATELY 65 PAGES, mostly single words or short phrases but including one eight-line textual addition (p.228), further textual revisions added in a second editorial hand (presumably representing additional authorial revisions made in another typescript) in red ball-point, and also with occasional editorial queries in green ink (pp.26, 192, 197), the first four pages (contents, dedication, divisional title, and first page of text) supplied in contemporary photocopy from another copy of the typescript, the remainder being carbon copy typescript, 255 pages, post quarto (260 x 206mm), March-May 1963, punch holes, held together by a prong fastener in a blue folder labelled "You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming", lacking title page, some abrasion at punch holes, light marks, tears to folder 

The typescript sold for no less then an amazing £47.500. No way near what I myself could ever spend on a James Bond Item. Lets just hope that the buyer was an institute that excepts visitors.

CASINO ROYALE signed first edition sold for £40.000

When CASINO ROYALE was released in 1953 it cost 10 shilling to buy and only 4 728 prints were produced.

On July 12 Sothebys London had a book auction containing six lots connected to James Bond author Ian Fleming. In the end only two of them got sold.

The first item to get sold was lot 159: Fleming, Ian CASINO ROYALE. JONATHAN CAPE, 1953. The book was estimated to sell for between £40.000 - £50.000.

The book was by Sothebys described as below:

8vo, FIRST EDITION, AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY FROM THE EARLY BOUND STOCK, INSCRIBED ON FRONT ENDPAPER ("To | Ralph. |We have now both | reduced our remainders | by one copy!"), together with note of explanation by recipient beneath ("I having told Ian, from the depths of my publishing experience, that he would be lucky if he made £200 out of this, his first thriller!! R.A."), original black cloth lettered in red on spine and with heart design on upper cover, some browning and spotting, head and foot of spine very slightly bumped.

Seeing these prices one can be sure that there will not be many of us fans who will own a true first edition of Casino Royale. Do you have one?