"Forever And A Day" Paperback Purchased

On April 4th the paperback edition of Anthony Horowitz's latest James Bond novel "Forever And A Day" was released in the UK.  It always takes a little while for UK books to reach Australian shores, but the other week I managed to purchase my copy from Robinson's Bookshop at Chadstone.

Tonight I scanned the cover and updated the PizGloria.com website.  Here's a link to this title.

I also visited a number of other book stores simply because I love books and it's always good to see what's going on.  Sorry the photos are so dark but I visited the City one night after work.

The Book Grocer, City

Hill Of Content, City

The Paperback Bookshop, City

Robinson's Bookshop, City

City Book Hunt Before Comedy Show

Last weekend my wife and I visited the City for the final weekend of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.  We saw a fantastic show and can't wait for the festival to begin again next year.

While in the City we also visited a couple of book stores.  The first was Dymocks where I found copies of Anthony Horowitz's new paperback format version of "Forever And A Day".  I couldn't purchase a copy at the time as we were about to have dinner before the show so I had to leave my copy for another time.

Then we visited Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookseller.  There were no James Bond novels on the shelves however I did find a first edition of Kingsley Amis' "The James Bond Dossier".  I always enjoy visiting this book shop.  It's definitely a quality store.

No books this visit but it was great to have a quick City book hunt.  I would have liked to have visited Basement Books too but unfortunately it had closed earlier in the afternoon.  Next time I guess...

Vintage Market In Moorabbin

Hidden within a small industrial area of Moorabbin is Erstwhile Market selling retro and vintage items.

I stumbled upon this place a few weeks ago and on my first visit was glad to see a few second hand books for sale, as well as toys, pictures and clothes.  The market is located in a large warehouse at 12 Horscroft Place (near St Kilda's AFL training ground), the people running it are both friendly and helpful, and have been operating the business for about 15 months.

I found these two Bond books among the books for sale.  I hadn't seen this John Gardner hardback omnibus before, and while I didn't buy it as I concentrate on paperbacks, I thought the image of Bond on the cover was interesting.

No purchases for me today but when I'm in the area again I'll definitely be dropping in to see what new books they might have.

Melbourne Book Market At The QV

According to a recent survey the Queen Victoria Market has become the top attraction of tourists visiting Melbourne.  Last Sunday my wife and I visited Shed A at the QV where the Melbourne Book Market takes place over the Summer months.  While exploring each of the book stalls we managed to find a number of Bond novels but unfortunately there were no new ones for my collection.

Here's some photos of the book fair anyway:

The QV Melbourne Book Market is on every Sunday until April 14, from 10am to 4pm, and is well worth a visit.

And finally, on a funny note I noticed this ad for a clothes washing detergent at the local supermarket yesterday.

"Diamonds Are Forever" Arrives

Yesterday I received this copy of "Diamonds Are Forever" in the mail.  It was published by Hutchinson in 1989.  I already have a copy in my collection however as these type of books are used for educational purposes my original copy was ex-library and so a bit worn. When I found this new copy available on-line at a very cheap price I thought I'd buy it as a replacement.

I have a number of educational books in my collection I'd like to replace due to their covers being badly creased or laminated, so this is just the start.  I'll try and scan this cover and add it to PizGloria.com as soon as possible.  Please click here to see other Ian Fleming titles published by Hutchinson.

Visit To Howard Bolton Bookseller

Yesterday I made a visit to Howard Bolton Bookseller in Northcote.

On entry I found Howarf standing on a ladder organising some books on a high shelf.  He immediately recognised me, smiled and said "Hi".

After he descended he asked about how the PizGloria.com website was going and showed me a copy of "The Man With The Golden Typewriter" for sale, displayed in his glass front counter.

Obviously I took a look at the Fleming section of his books and took this photo.  Unfortunately I had all the books this time.

It was only a quick visit but it was great to catch up with Howard again.  No luck this time but I'm always optimistic of picking up another book on my next visit.

Piz Gloria Website Launched 007 Years Ago Today

Today is the 007th anniversary of the launch of PizGloria.com.  Oh how time flies !  It seems like only yesterday I was sitting in a restaurant with my wife explaining to her what I imagined my website would look like, but not knowing how I'd go about creating it.  Somehow I jumped that hurdle and got a website up.

A quick visit to Google Analytics reveals the following statistics about PizGloria.com:

- During the last seven years there have been 20,478 visitors

- Almost 210,000 pages have been viewed

- The average visitor spends 3:22 minutes on the website

- On average each visitor views 6 different pages during their visit (this is a weird one because it's pages per session and each visitor has 1.71 sessions per visit)

I'm so pleased that people are still visiting my website and using it as a reference for their own James Bond collections, or just because they are curious.  I still have ideas on how I can improve the website.  Adding the "Tour Covers By Publishers" buttons last year was a start but there's more I'd like to do if I had the time.  However at the end of the day it's the book authors (especially Mr Fleming), cover artists and publishers who deserve the most gratitude, because it's their hard work on display here and I am just a mere collector.

Thankyou everyone for taking the time to visit both this blog and the PizGloria.com website. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Cheers Baz