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

James Bond books sold for an amazing $40,123

Recently there was a big book auction in the US that offered a section of valuable Ian Fleming books. Below you can see the prices the books went for. Below is pictures of the actual books being sold. Maybe you have anyone like these in your collection. The entire Fleming collection fetched $40,123. You may click on each book to see a bigger version.Please note that prices include the auction house fee but not tax.

The Man with the Golden Gun. London: Jonathan Cape, [1965]. First edition. Octavo. 221, [3, blank] pages. Publisher's full cloth, gold lettering on spine. In a pictorial dust jacket. Spine cocked, extremities worn, spine ends and corners of front board bumped. Some soiling on textblock edges, adhesive residue and abrasions on paste downs, ink mark on front free endpaper, occasional soiling in margins, upper corner creased on page 17/18. Jacket foxed, toned and soiled, minor chips on edges, cello-tape repairs on verso of spine panel. Very good. Sold for $163

 You Only Live Twice. [London]: Jonathan Cape, [1964]. First edition, uncorrected proof. Octavo. 256 pages. Publisher's perfect binding in original printed wrappers. Spine leaning, wrappers rubbed with occasional light soiling, faint tidemark along fore-edge of front wrapper, joints worn, corners bumped. Preliminary and terminal leaves glued to wrappers at gutter, minor faint staining to preliminary leaves, occasional over-opening. Good. Sold for $525

The Man with the Golden Gun. London: Jonathan Cape, [1965]. First edition, uncorrected proof. Octavo. 221, [3, blank] pages. Publisher's perfect binding in original printed wrappers. Front wrapper worn with a series of small bruises, faint diagonal crease across lower portion; joints worn, small chip to foot of spine; corners lightly creased. Hinges discretely reinforced. About very good. I bid $1,025. Sold for $1,062

Diamonds are Forever. London: Jonathan Cape, [1956]. First edition, first impression, with "His friends called him 'Boofy'" on page 134. Octavo. 257, [1, blank] pages. Publisher's black cloth, diamond device stamped in silver and diamond pattern ruled in blind on front board, spine lettered in silver, in original pictorial dust jacket designed by Pat Marriott. Small blemish to lower-right of front board, upper corners softly bumped. Endpapers lightly discoloured from binder's glue with some minor corresponding foxing, hard pencil erasure to upper-right of front free endpaper with small bruise, small stains to lower margin of page twenty-five, affecting adjacent leaves. Jacket edges lightly worn, particularly at spine ends, with small closed tear at bottom of front joint fold, extending to Cape urn device on spine; rear panel lightly rubbed with two small splashes in author bio; spine panel verso faintly darkened; price-clipped. Very good. Sold for $ 1,000

Diamonds are Forever. London: Jonathan Cape, [1956]. First edition, with "Boofy" on page 134. Octavo. 257, [1, blank] pages, with pages [9-10] not accounted for in pagination. Publisher's black cloth, front board pattered in blind with central diamond device stamped in silver, spine lettered in silver, in original dust jacket. Spine leaning gently, front board slightly splayed, lower edge of front board softly bumped. Page edges and endpapers lightly foxed. Dust jacket with closed tear at upper edge of rear panel near joint fold, recently addressed by small tape repair primarily on verso but folded over to small portion of spine and rear panels; spine panel faintly darkened with small bruise between "Diamonds" and "are," rear panel lightly rubbed with some faint soiling, edges and folds somewhat worn. Still, very good. Sold for $1,750

Octopussy and The Living Daylights. London: Jonathan Cape, [1966]. First edition, uncorrected proof, with sixteen words of notes regarding layout in pencil to preliminary pages and four on the front panel of the dust jacket. Octavo. 94, [95], [1, blank] pages. Publisher's perfect binding in printed cape wrappers, in original oversized proof-issue dust jacket with inset box stating "Proof Only..." on front flap. Spine very gently leaning with some minor creasing, rear wrapper slightly cockled at fore edge. Minor small stain to lower margin of page 11. Dust jacket top edge lightly worn with some minor creasing, as expected due to size. Near fine. Sold for $1,250

 

Group of Five Books. London: Jonathan Cape, [1957-1966]. First editions, including From Russian with Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy. Five octavo volumes Publisher's bindings and dust jackets. Some rubbing on bindings, spines leaning, ink ownership signatures. Dust jackets rubbed, edgeworn, and stained. For Your Eyes Only has staining on edges and front free endpaper, bookplate and small abrasions on front pastedown. Octopussy foxed on textblock edges, preliminary and terminal sheets, and dust jacket. From Russia, with Love has light foxing on top edge, and ink marks in margins and underlining text. Thunderball has staining on front free endpaper. Overall, very good. Sold for $625

On Her Majesty's Secret Service. London: Jonathan Cape, [1963]. First edition, uncorrected proof, one of 500 printed. Octavo. 288 pages. Publisher's perfect binding in original printed wrappers. Wrappers lightly rubbed, front wrapper lightly soiled, spine somewhat creased and leaning slightly, joints worn, corners softly bumped. Text block lightly foxed at fore-edge with small splash at top, occasional minor over-opening. Very good. According to Gilbert, "The proof of On Her Majesty's Secret Service has more errors and required more amendments than any other Fleming title, both in terms of careless composition and poor spelling..." Sold for $1,062 

The Spy Who Loved Me. London: Jonathan Cape, [1962]. First edition, uncorrected proof, one of only 500 copies. Octavo. 221, [3, blank] pages. Publisher's perfect binding in original printed wrappers. Wrappers lightly rubbed with some minor marginal soiling, particularly near the joint of the rear wrapper; spine rolled, cocked slightly and somewhat darkened. Top edge of text block with slight discolouration near crown, small bruise to half-title page near hinge where paper folded back and was glued to page, likely during the binding process. Very good. Sold for $687

 

On Her Majesty's Secret Service. London: Jonathan Cape, [1963]. First edition, limited issue, one of thirty-five unnumbered copies marked "Presentation," from a total limitation of 285, including 250 numbered copies, and signed by the author on the limitation page. Octavo. 288 pages, frontispiece after painting by Amherst Villiers tipped in. Publisher's quarter vellum over black cloth-cover boards with large ski-track motif on front cover, in publisher's plain protective clear plastic dust jacket. Spine somewhat darkened, joints softly creased with a touch of rubbing and a few spots of minor soiling. Mild over-opening to the first gathering. About near fine. Sold for $12,500

 

 

 Casino Royale. London: Jonathan Cape, [1953]. First edition, first impression, first issue of the first James Bond novel. Octavo. 218, [2, blank] pages. Publisher's black cloth, front board stamped in orangish-red with central heart device, spine lettered in orangish-red, in original first issue dust jacket lacking the over-printed Sunday Times review. Front board slightly soiled along lower edge, small damp stain to rear board at joint, spine gently leaning. Top edge of text block and free endpapers faintly foxed, page margins a bit browned, but pages still supple. A very good copy, housed in custom black clamshell case. Sold for $11,250 

Goldfinger. London: Jonathan Cape, [1959]. First edition, first issue, second state with blind-stamped detail lacking from upper-left portion of skull decoration. Octavo. 318 pages. Publisher's black cloth, spine lettered in gilt, front board stamped in blind with line-drawing of skull, gold pieces over eye sockets blacked in gilt, in original dust jacket. Front board lightly rubbed, spine slightly skewed, upper corners softly bumped. Occasional light foxing to page edges and endpapers. Dust jacket edges lightly worn, heaviest at spine ends and fold, spine panel somewhat darkened, light soiling on flap folds. Very good. Sold for $625

Thunderball. London: Jonathan Cape, [1961]. First edition, uncorrected proof, one of 500 copies. Octavo. [254], [2, blank] pages. Publisher's perfect binding in original printed wrappers. Front wrapper lightly soiled, spine leaning and a bit darkened, bottom of spine bumped, joints creased, series of small splashes to fore-edge of text block. Preliminary and terminal blanks discoloured at gutter from binder's glue, due to possible repair, occasional light over-opening, scant wear and small closed tears to page edges. Very good. I bid $1,750. Sold for $1,812

 

Live and Let Die. London: Jonathan Cape, [1954]. First edition, serif faint on the signature letter "I" on page 129. Octavo. 240 pages. Publisher's black cloth, Edward IV gold rose noble coin device stamped in gilt on front board, spine lettered in gilt, in original second issue dust jacket, (identified as third state by Biondi and Pickard). Front board bent near joint and slightly splayed, with three short ripples in cloth above coin device, spine gently cocked, gilt slightly tarnished, upper corners softly bumped. Occasional light foxing to edges of text block, blemish with small bruise at upper corner of front free endpaper from pencil erasure. Sold for $937

Moonraker. London: Jonathan Cape, [1955]. First edition, second state, with "shoot" corrected on page ten but other textual and printing errors present. Octavo. 255, [256] pages. Publisher's B binding of black cloth, measuring 194 mm tall, front board and spine lettered in silver, in original first-issue dust jacket. Binding lightly rubbed with few minor surface scuffs, rear board slightly warped, spine gently leaning. Page edges foxed with series of small splashes to fore-edge and small dampstain across the bottom edge. Front free endpaper and first two leaves as well as rear endpapers and two terminal leaves foxed; rear endpaper also soiled and stained. Sold for $3,250

Complete Set of Facsimile First Edition James Bond Books. Sheldon, CT: The First Edition Library, [circa early 1990s]. FEL editions, facsimiles of the Cape first editions of each of Fleming's Bond titles. Fourteen octavo volumes. Publisher's bindings, in original dust jackets and slipcases. Fine, in the original shrink wrap. Sold for $1,625

The different Swedish titles

If you live in a country where English is you native tongue I believe that subtitles or translations is not a normal part of your daily life. But if you, like me, live in Sweden then subtitling is something we get every day.

Title changes on books and films are also common even if you do not see them as often today as before, thanks to internet and day and date releases across the globe they are are not as beneficial as they used to be. The reason they do change the title is because the local managers simply think they will sell more units /admissions if they do localise them. 

Many of the James Bond continuation novels have sadly not been released in Sweden but all Ian Fleming novels has. Below is therefore a list of all the novels released in Sweden and the local title chosen for novel I have also added pictures of all 14 James Bond Swedish first editions.

Read them and weep of laughter.

Original title / Swedish title

Ian Fleming: 
Casino Royale / Casino Royal
Live and let die / Live and let die
Moonraker / Attack
Diamonds are forever / Death plays false
From Russia with love / Comrade killer
Dr. No / Death on Jamaica
Goldfinger / Goldfinger
For your eyes only / From a view to a kill
Thunderball / Thunderball
The spy who loved me / Beloved spy
On her majesty's secret service / In her majesty's secret service
You only live twice / You only live twice
The man with the golden gun / The man with the golden gun
Octopussy and The living daylights / Octopussy

Robert Markham / Kingsley Amis

Colonel Sun / Colonel Sun

John Gardner: 
Licence renewed / With a licence to kill
For special services / Special assignment for 007
Icebreaker / Icecold for 007
GoldenEye / GoldenEye

Sebastian Faulks

Devil may care / In the service of the devil

William Boyd
Solo / Solo

Charlie Higson
SilverFin / Silver fin
Blood fever / Blood fever

Below you can see all the artworks for the Ian Fleming Swedish first editions. 

 

The problems with FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

In 1962, Ian Flemings first short stories titled FOR YOUR EYES ONLY was released in Sweden.

The release, by publisher Bonniers, led to some problems when the last Roger Moore film was released in 1985. Let me explain why.

When FOR YOUR EYES ONLY was released the different short stories where not titled. They were only chapters.
Also the story QUANTUM OF SOLACE was missing in the Swedish version.

But the biggest difference was that the book was not called FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. It was called FROM A VIEW TO A KILL. The same title as the first short story within the book.

So in 1981 when the Swedish distributor United International Pictures (UIP) where to release Roger Moore's fifth film FOR YOUR EYES ONLY the Swedish film title was FROM A VIEW TO A KILL.

No big problem so far but I guess you can figure out where this is going.

In 1985 the final Roger Moore film were to be released and it was at first called FROM A VIEW TO A KILL and sometime before the release they removed the FROM and only called it A VIEW TO A KILL. Since that title had already been used in Sweden two Bond films earlier UIP was now having a problem.

So they decided to change the title completely in Sweden and came up with the title LIVING TARGET for A VIEW TO A KILL.

Since I have started re-reading the Fleming novels I must confess that since QUANTUM OF SOLACE has never been released in Swedish, I have actually never read that story. It is nice to know that I still have some unread Fleming material to look forward to.

Has any other country had the same problem with titles already used or being changed for some reason. It is one thing to make up an entire new title for a film. That happens a lot even today. But to have used a title for a franchise four years to early must be quite rare.

Below you can see the first edition for the Swedish version of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. If you truly know your books you will notice that the eye on the Swedish version is not the same eye as on the UK first edition. I prefer the Swedish eye much more. It has a far better paintjob.