Friday 13 October 2017

Rare storyboard for O.H.M.S.S. sold today at auction.


As I write this a very large James Bond auction takes place at auction house Ewbank's in Surrey, England.

And one of the lots up for sale today was an amazing storyboard drawn by Syd Cain. The actual scene was the first scene from On her majesty's secret service where Bond follows Tracy down to the water and fights the bad guys and presents himself as bing Bond... James Bond

The story board is signed by both Syd Cain and George Lazenby.

I was hopping to be able to place some bids on this beautiful James Bond history but decided not to once the auction started. The final price became £1,900 + premium.

If you are a collector of any sorts you should focus on the really great things like this one and not just buy anything because it carries a brand of any sort. I spent my teens trying to buy anything that said 007. Those days are long gone now.

I am sure that most of you out there has something from today's auction. and you can see all the lots by clicking here.

Below is a picture of the complete storyboard. 

Storyboard by Syd Cain sold for £1,900

Wednesday 11 October 2017

The next Folio Society James Bond novel is Moonraker


Sometimes everything in life does not turn out as planned. Some days ago I was offered know everything about the Folio Society's upcoming James Bond novel if I excepted that that I was under embargo until October 11 at 5 o'clock UK time.

The only trouble. I wrote down October 12th.

Anyhow 35 minutes ago The Folio Society went public with their new James Bond novel Moonraker that can be ordered directly at their website.

Included in this embargo was an early opportunity to see all of Fay Dalton's paintings and especially the fantastic cover she has made. In my opinion she has outdone herself and will have it though in the future to reach even higher level. I can also see how hush she seems to enjoy to draw women and that the fact that James Bonds face should always hidden in mystery.

All I can say is that I was earlier a bit sceptic about this release. Especially when I did not know if the complete series where to be released. Now that The Folio team has said it will and the drawings are fantastic and each book comes in its own slipcase there is not much to think about. I was given my book by the Folio Society today and I just love it. The cover is even better when you hold the book. It seems so massive.

I am all in and cant wait for the next book to be released. My guess is that it will be Diamonds are forever and hopefully we will see it out before April next year. But you never know. As it reads, just a guess.

You can order your copy of Moonraker from The Folio Society right here. and if you have none of the books you can order them altogether and get a 15% discount right here.
Illustration by Fay Dalton from The Folio Society edition of Moonraker by Ian Fleming ©Fay Dalton 2017


Illustration by Fay Dalton from The Folio Society edition of Moonraker by Ian Fleming ©Fay Dalton 2017


Monday 9 October 2017

How James Bond wants his eggs


Back in 1963 Ian Fleming released his second none James Bond book called Thrilling cities. The book did not contain that much of a story but only chapters about different cities around the globe. The most amazing and interesting places the readers could dream about.

But when the book came out Flemings American publisher New American Library was really upset with the book they had bought for publication.The reason for this is that one of the chapters about New York is in no means kind to the city and the chapter actually starts with "I enjoyed myself least of all in New York".

The publishers said that they did not wish to publish a book that criticise New York like that. So negotiations begun and for Glidrose Publications to be able to secure a release of the book in the US Fleming had to write a short story about James Bond in New York that would be included in the US version. It is a very short story of only six pages titled "007 in New York" that made the book easier to promote upon release in June 1964.

In the book it is mentioned on page 128 that Felix Leiter had instructed the head waiter how James Bond wanted his eggs.

The below recipe is for four individuals.

12 fresh eggs. 
Salt and pepper
5-6 oz of fresh butter

Break the eggs into a bowl. Beat thoroughly with a fork and season well. In a small copper (or heavy-bottomed saucepan) melt four oz. of butter. When melted pour in the eggs and cook over a very low heat, whisking continuously with a small egg whisk.
While the eggs are slightly more moist then you would wish for eating, remove pan from heat, add rest of butter and continue whisking for half a minute, adding the while finely chopped chives or fine herbs. Serve on hot buttered toast in individual copper dishes (for appearance only) with pink champagne (Taittainger) and low music.

So there you have it. Try it out this upcoming weekend and get back to me with how you liked it. The weirdest part for me with the above recipe is that in the "how to" text more ingredients are added.

Do you wish to order Thrilling Cities you can do so here on Amazon US and here on Amazon UK

UK first edition of Thrilling Cities


US first edition of Thrilling Cities including 007 in New York.

Thursday 5 October 2017

Global James Bond day: Best photo!


A funny thing happened last night. I dreamt that I was invited to a meeting with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson and the rest of the team at Eon Productions. I actually have been to such a meeting back in the day when they were shooting Die Another day.

After such a night I got really surprised when I woke up to find out that it was actually Global James Bond day today.

Global James Bond day has its origin in the first film release of Dr. No in UK on October 5th 1962.

So today Facebook and Instagram have been flooded buy people wishing to salute the worlds lest secret agent. And so will I.

What I wish to do is to share my favourite picture from the creation of the first film. It is below and is a promotion photo taken of the two producers, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman together with their lead actor Sean Connery and one and only true inventor of the whole thing, Ian Fleming.

I believe I have read somewhere that these photos were only produced for publicity.
Below the first picture is a second picture made to look like Ian Fleming is signing a contract there and then. This was of course done long before Sean Connery joined the team and also Saltzman was the sole owner of the rights for some time before Broccoli showed interest.

Happy Anniversary Mr Bond!

Any reader who has a favourite photo connected to James Bond. Please share below!

Notice the pre Bond photo of Sean Connery on the table.

  


 

Monday 2 October 2017

A fantastic The Living Daylights drawing


Some time ago I received the latest drawing by artist Gerald Wadsworth who specialise in drawing pictures from what could have been right out of the Ian Fleming novels.

His latest drawing is The Living Daylights drawn in watercolours and looks absolutely amazing. Just look at the wood details on the gun, must have taken ages to create.

If you head over to Gerald website you can see all his drawings and even purchase one if you want to. This is by no means a sponsored blog post. It is just fun to collaborate with other fans who also use their spare time focusing on the work of Ian Fleming.

But this drawing has a small interesting detail to me since I did my military duty back in the late 90's. The ammunition is red and in Sweden the red ammunition stood for "training ammo". those "bullets" exploded as soon as they left the barrel.

It might be different back in the day or in other countries and that little detail does no harm to a fantastic drawing.

Backstory to the painting:

Taken from the point of view of "Trigger" - the Russian sniper in which Bond’s Russian counterpart, the infamous sniper known as Trigger, prepares to assassinate British Agent 272. The agent is trying to escape East Germany by running the gaunlet of No-Man’s Land, bringing back top secret plans for a new Russian missile project. Trigger, disguised as a member of a Russian women’s orchestra, carries her weapon in a cello case, and uses the background noise of the orchestra playing Prince Igor, by Borodine, to cover up the sound of her machine gun. While Trigger waits for the agent to make his break for freedom, she bides her time in quiet contemplation - and anticipation of a successful assignment. Little does she know that Bond has her in his sights…
 
Full painting by Gerald Wadsworth

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