James Bond The authorised biography first edition

Added to my collection is the UK first edition of JAMES BOND - THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY by John Pearson.

The book was published in 1973 and cost £2,75 new at the time.

John Pearson had a few years earlier written THE LIFE OF IAN FLEMING. A lovely book about the author of the James Bond series.
According to Wikipedia, JAMES BOND - THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY, was never a commissioned novel by Ian Fleming Publications (Glidrose Publications at the time).

The book was therefore the first James Bond book not to be published by Jonathan Cape but instead Sidgwick & Jackson. Even if the story was not commissioned  by Glidrose Publications, John Pearson still needed their approval for the novel to be published. The copyright is therefore owned by both Ian Fleming Publications and John Pearson for this story and this might be the reason that we never see it included with the rest of the books nowadays.

This might also be the reason the book has such a poor layout on the first edition. Maybe they were not allowed to draw James Bond on the dust jacket. As they are not allowed now.

If you have not read this book I highly recommend that you do. I truly enjoyed this novel and have very fond memories of reading it. It was the first James Bond novel I read in English and when I had finished reading it I decided to start reading all the other books in English for the first time.

If anybody knows more about how this book came about please feel free to comment below. I would love to hear it.

If you wish to read this highly enjoyable book you can buy it here on Amazon UK. I myself have a few of the different releases of this book and will soon sell a few of them on my Ebay Page.

Not much to get exited about with this cover design.

The one time James Bond went to Sweden

Many of the worlds James Bond fans often get a visit from 007 either in the novels or the films. If you are British then you know that James Bond is your guy, doing all the dirty work for your queen and country.

If you are Swedish, like me, then you do not have that connection. James Bond has never gone to Sweden in any film and probably never will. You see the films only take place in countries and cities that MGM and EON Productions can benefit from. Countries with big amount of inhabitants that can lead to big box office sales when the film is released. A clear example of this is the car chase in SPECTRE that was set in Rom and the pre title sequence for the same film set in Mexico city.

No in Sweden there only live 10 million people so I am (sadly) quite certain that a Bond film will never take place here.

But 007 has been to Sweden once in the books. It was actually his mission here in Stockholm, a few meters from my day job in Old Town that Ian Fleming decided that James Bond should assassin his second victim. A mission that would give him his so famous double 0 status.

Ian Fleming tells the short story in the first novel Casino Royale on page 163.

"The next time in Stockholm wasn't so pretty. I had to kill a Norwegian who was doubling against us for the Germans. He'd managed to get two of our men captured - probably bumped off for all I know. For various reasons it had to be an absolutely silent job. I chose the bedroom of his flat and a knife. And well, he just didn't die very quickly
For those two jobs I was awarded a Double 0 number in the Service".

And that is it. That is the only time James Bond has been in Sweden. The above episode in Stockholm was later picked up in John Pearson's excellent James Bond book called James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007. In that book the assassination by James Bond in Old Town, Stockholm, is a hole chapter. The only problem is that Pearson writes that Bond goes in to a bakery and buys a peace of a Smorgasbord. The problem is that a Smorgasbord is nothing you can buy a peace of. A smorgasbord is a table full a food that you can choose from. Just like a buffet.

In the 1980 when John Garner started to write the James Bond novels he blessed 007 with a new car. A Swedish SAAB 900 TURBO. But that's another blog post later on. 

A Swedish Smorgasbord

I did some Bonding in London recently

Jon Gilbert, Peter Burt and myself holding an early print of Casino Royale

As some of you may remember I spent a few days in London, England two weeks ago and I also did a blog post of what I had planed. Below you can find a small  recollection of what I actually did.

Thursday December 3.

I decided to head out to the Admiralty as quickly as possible since I wanted to have my picture taken in Room 39 where Ian Fleming worked during the war. This was one of the things I looked most forward to but as a Swede I did not know much about the building.
So when I arrived I was very sad to notice that the entire building was shut down since it apparently had been sold by the military to the government and the education department that was moving in. I actually rang the door bell but they re decorators on the inside said that there was absolutely no way for me to get inside.
I decided not to feel bad. If the education department are moving in I hope I will have better odds for a picture when I visit London the next time. The building is magnificent and to my knowledge Room 39 is on the first floor.

For the rest of that day me and the wife spent just taking it easy. Visiting some antique book shops and also Goldsboro Books. The pricing in these shops took me by surprise. The actual shop price for old Fleming books is far higher than it is on Ebay. And on Ebay the books do not sell at a lower price. According to the shop keeper at Goldsboro books there Thunderball print they had for sale cost £300 with a facsimile dust jacket. Now I paid 300 Australian dollars for my first edition with a near fine dust jacket. Goldsboro have a Thunderball first edition for sale now and they want £1500 for it.

Later that evening I had a date with Peter Lorenz over at Illustrated 007. He had to attend a work engagement so our dinner was off but we had drinks at the very classy Gilbert Scott. On my way to the bar I snuck in a book store on Charing cross and bought IAN FLEMING - A PERSONAL MEMOIR  by Robert Harling and also BOND Vs BOND by Paul Simpson. Both were review copies and at a really good price. The second book would normally be something I would not buy since we had these books over and over again. But this one contains a lot of info on the books compared to the films with some rare photos. It looks as a good read.

Friday December 4.On the second day in London I wanted to visit Peter Harrington books that specialize on old rare books. They have two shops in London. One is located in Fulham road and the other is located at Dover Street in Mayfair. There I was helped by Rob Sandall who showed me some of the Ian Fleming books that I had never seen in person and will never have in my collection like the limited edition of ON HER MAJESTYS SECRET SERVICE.
Back in 1962 Ian Fleming and Jonathan Cape decided to print a 250 limited edition numbered and signed version of the book a few weeks prior to the actual release.

Later on that day it was time to visit the only filming location of the Daniel Craig era that has made me curious. I took the wife with me and went to Notting Hill and No. 1 Stanley Crecsent. This is the actual address that were were used for external shots of James Bonds apartment in the latest film SPERCTRE. Sadly the building was being renovated just were Bonds living room windows are. I just must mention how I love that the apartment has hardly any decorating and that it looks like Bond has just moved in. Its a nice touch for a man always away on a mission.

After the visit to James Bond apartment we took a walk down to Portobello Road Market were there actually was a lot of Fleming Books trading hands.

Later that evening me and my wife were on our way to check out the Winter wonderland in Hyde Park I passed a big door that I recognized. A second later I saw the big sign saying that this was the Eon House. The door to were all things James Bond is being discussed and negotiated. A picture had to be taken. The address is Picadilly 138.

Saturday December 5.

On Saturday it was an early wake and then of by train to Royal Tunbridge Wells. There I had made an appointment with both Jon Gilbert who is an expert on James Bond literature and also have many books for sale at the Adrian Harrington book shop.
I had also made an appointment with Peter Burt and his lovely wife Jackie Burt.
I did not buy any books in the shop but I did buy a copy of the Ian Fleming painting that looked fantastic. It will be pure joy to build a frame for it soon.

After the visit to the book shop me, my wife and the Burts went to a pizzeria to have lunch and I hope they enjoyed themself as much as I did because we sat there for many hours, not talking about James Bond, but about life itself. It was a great conversation and actually the highlight of the
trip. Who knew that I and Peter would have so much of our childhood in common. I believe it got us both thinking  about why we are collectors and why others collect as well. Can it be so that we all are very much alike?

Sunday December 6.

Not much time on Sunday to do anything. We made a quick visit to Camden market but nowadays this is highly overrated and I cant advise anybody to actually go their unless you wish to buy junk and pirate goods.

Then off to the airport and rush back home to Sweden and reality.

Below you can see some pictures from my trip.You can click on them to make them bigger.

What a great book I am currently reading!

I am not a quick reader. As you might have noticed on my spelling I have a mild version of dyslexia. Therefore I am extra happy when I have finished a book and can start on a new one. Most people seems to enjoy the ending of a book but for some reason I enjoy the beginning of books the most.

Anyhow, I finished reading Trigger Mortis a few days back and decided to jump right into THE LIFE OF IAN FLEMING by John Pearson. Pearson was Ian Flemings personal assistant when Fleming worked at the British newspaper The Times.

The book was published in the UK in 1966 by Jonathan Cape and was also released as a book club edition that same year. In the US it was released as a paperback with the different title ALIAS JAMES BOND - THE LIFE OF IAN FLEMING. Trying off course to take advantage of the James Bond heydays taking place at that time.
I will not reread this book but apparently the book had to be changed after the Jonathan Cape first edition was released since Thunderball Producer Kevin McClory alleged that parts of the biography were untrue regarding the novel and film rights to Thunderball.

I do enjoy this book a lot. I thought that since it came out in 1966 I would have a hard time with the English language but it works fine to read even for a foreigner.

This is a typical book that I would only collect a first edition, read it, and then dont collect further editions. But I really like the US cover design and the UK book club editions. If you wish to buy one of these versions they are all available on EBay and do not cost much compared to others. Click HERE for a EBay link. Just make sure to get your hands on a first edition of the book.

THE LIFE OF IAN FLEMING was such a great book that John Pearson was offered to write a James Bond novel in 1972. In 1973 the fictional biography:  James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 was released. I read that book earlier this year and I absolutely loved it. If you have not read it, you should. Its great but a hole new blog post in itself.