Added to the collection: Four very rare chinease James Bond novels

Added to my collection of James Bond books from around the world with appealing covers are the below for James Bond novels from both Ian Fleming and John Gardner.

The titles are Live and let die, Goldfinger, Role of Honour, For your eyes only and Nobody lives forever (spelled "for ever"). A funny thing about these books is that For your eyes only and Nobody lives forever are both put together in one book. This is the first time I have ever come across a collection of James Bond novels were both the work of Ian Fleming and John Gardner are in the same book.

The one thing I have trouble finding out with these James Bond stories are if they are legit and royalties have been paid out or if they are pirated.

Below are pictures of the cover artwork for the different books.

 

Live and let die by Ian Fleming

Nobody lives forever by John Gardner & For Your eyes only  by Ian Fleming

Role of Honour by John Gardner

Goldfinger by Ian Fleming

The amount of words Anthony Horowitz has written on his next James Bond novel

As a swedish citizen there ain't much in the world of James Bond we can be proud of. Just a few things.

James Bond committed his second and final killing in Sweden, Stockholm, Old Town that "awarded" him with the double O prefix. (Read more about that here)

John Gardner turned to Sweden during the eighties for Bond's latest car. He chose the Swedish SAAB 900 and called it the Silver Beast.

Then of course we have the film. They have never taking place in Sweden but you are all familiar with the Swedish actresses who has appeared in the films. No need to name names.

So during this morning I wanted to ask Anthony Horowitz how his next James Bond novel i shaping up and at the same time ask him if James Bond might travel to Sweden soon. As a picture to spread the feeling of Bond traveling to Sweden in the late fifties I used a Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) poster from that time.

Mr Horowitz was quick to reply in his usual tongue in cheek way That he has up until now written four words on the upcoming book and then he says regarding my Swedish question "And he does".

Now did Mr Horowitz write this only to be funny / polite or will we actually see James Bond revisiting Sweden for the first time since Ian Fleming's first novel Casino Royale released in 1953 or the John Pearson novel James Bond The Authorized Biography released 1973.

I guess time / Horowitz will tell closer upon release of his next Bond book in 2018 (read more about the date here)

Added to the collection: The amazing James Bond books from Folio

I received an amazing package this week. It was from well known British publishers The Folio Society. The package contained there three newly released James Bond books: Casino Royale, From Russia With Love and Dr. No.

These books will be a very nice set to have in any James Bond collection.  If you are just starting your collection I would recommend The Folio Society editions over the old First Edition Library that cost way more.

On The Folio Society web page they are calling it "our best-selling James Bond series" so we can anticipate that these books are selling rapidly and that there will be more titles to come later on. Actually my copy of Casino Royale states "second printing" so they do seem to sell very well.

The books have fantastic illustrations by Fay Dalton. She seems to be a one of a kind in drawing the 50's with a mature and respectful way of making women sexy. More with finesse then anything else. You can see bits of her other work here!

I know there are collectors out there who have ordered two sets of the books but if you only order one set then make sure to remove the plastic protection to enjoy the books in full. They will be worth more to you if you can enjoy all the drawings by Fay Dalton. If I could make one little request for the upcoming titles it would be that the books themself also contained the drawing used on the slipcase. Just to have one drawing more in the book safe and sound between pages. 

I have contacted The Folio Society hoping to be able to do an interview with the team behind the books in a later blog post.

If you wish to purchase these books I do emphasize that you do so on the Folio website that you can find here! Some people are trying to sell these at Ebay for a higher price then ordering direct from Folio and that is just silly. To my knowledge you will get the best price over at Folio were each book cost £34,95. There you can also see some additional drawings contained in each book.

I hope to have many reasons in the future to come back to this series.

Some facts about the books.

Bound in blocked cloth
Set in Miller Text with Folio
Frontispiece and 6 colour illustrations
Printed slipcase 9" x 6¼"