Two More Non-Bond Fleming Books Arrive

Two more non-Bond Ian Fleming books arrived today in the post: "Thrilling Cities" and "The Diamond Smugglers".  Both are reprints published by Vintage Books in the UK.

I think these covers look great, and the use of the title text bears some similarities to the Vintage 007 series released last year. (I had to check the spelling of "bear" in this case and surprisingly it is correct - not "bare" as I originally typed !)

These two titles were also recently published in the US by Thomas & Mercer, so it's great to have them concurrently available in both the US and UK book markets.

Japanese Blog Links To Piz Gloria

I was searching the web the other day and came across a Japanese blog that has a couple of links to PizGloria.com.  Unfortunately I can't read Japanese but according to Google Translator the blog is titled "Road to Advanced English" by Eigo Kobako (click here to see it).  The subtitle is "English learning notes of a middle-aged office worker to explore the trivia, background and circumstances of words and expressions".

The blog entry in question discusses the punctuation of two of Ian Fleming's James Bond titles.  The first, "From Russia With Love", has the appearing/disappearing comma in the title (ie. "From Russia With Love" versus "From Russia, With Love").  For the second title, "Dr. No", Eigo has commented on the full-stop (period) being present on some covers and absent on others.  There's also a reference to the use of the abbreviation for "Doctor".  As you can see there are images of the Jonathan Cape dust-jackets on the blog, while the two links to my website are used to show the differences in the paperback titles for both novels.

I'm really glad to see my website used in this way.

Arigato (thanks) Eigo Kobako !

French Book About The Film "OHMSS"

I often receive emails from visitors to PizGloria.com and am very grateful indeed.  One such email I received last week was from Pierre H.  It turns out Pierre wrote a book in 2009 about the release of the film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and in it discusses the film's strong links with Switzerland.  The book is titled "James Bond au service de Sa Majeste la Suisse" and is currently only available in French.  

The synopsis is as follows:

Epic, unique, singular… there are many words to describe On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, one of the most intense and original films of the James Bond movies series.

Following the 40th birthday of the movie, this book is an invitation to a fascinating submersion into the heart of the Swiss Alps, to meet people who have helped the movie to become the single and lovable film it is.

Through rare evidence and sometimes never-before-seen documents, the author (after 2 and a half years of passion and investigation) describes the epic of OHMSS’ Swiss shooting.

You will find that the names of the heroes are not so much George Lazenby, Diana Rigg or Telly Savalas, but Annelis Stähli, Ruedi von Allmen, Heinz Brunner… and many more!

While I am obviously promoting this book I do not own a copy, nor will I be receiving any kick-backs for doing so.  I'm just happy to help other Bond fans, and especially more so if it's to promote a book written about Bond.

For more information about this book there's a website where you can purchase it: Club James Bond France, and also Pierre has his own blog which can be found here.

Hope this helps Pierre !

"007 - The Bond Girls" Nail Polish

I noticed this "007 - The Bond Girls" nail polish the other day while at a department store with my wife.  I knew there was a men's fragrance available but didn't realise there was also a women's nail polish too.  My wife didn't end up buying any though. 

UK Pan Collectors Website

Many years prior to creating PizGloria.com I used to use the Pan Paperback Collectors Website as a reference site to cross-check what Pan books I was missing from my own Bond collection.  So it only seemed fair that when the opportunity arose I try to help Tim from the aforementioned Pan website with his own collection.

Last year Tim was missing four Pan books.  This year just two.  So for both of my visits to Clunes I kept my eyes open for his missing books.  Unfortunately no luck, but as a bonus he mentioned my website on his own blog.  In case you haven't already seen them here's two blog entries from Tim's website from the last two years, each related to my visits to Clunes.

May 9, 2013 

                   

May 8, 2012

Tim's website and blog are also a great way to learn about the history of Alan Bott, the founder of Pan Books, as well as early Bond cover designs and artists.  If you haven't already you should take a visit.

"SilverFin" Proof Arrives

Today I received a 2005 Charlie Higson "SilverFin" proof copy in the post.  It was also enclosed in it's original silver foil bag which I didn't even know existed until I saw the book for sale on the web. There are still a few Higson paperbacks missing from the PizGloria.com website, and many of them are proof copies, so I'll be keeping an eye out for them on other book sale websites.

I'll try and scan the cover and add it to the website ASAP. This is the second Higson book I have in silver foil, the other being a first (paperback) edition of "Double Of Die".  If anyone knows of any other please feel free to let me know.

 

Clunes International Book Town 2013

For the second year in a row my wife and I visited a town named Clunes, approx two hours north-west of Melbourne.  The town has now been recognised as an International Booktown, of which there are only 17 in the world.  The most famous of these is Hay-on-Wye in the UK.

As well as having many permanent book stores, once a year the town has a two day festival on the first weekend in May.  Last year over 18,000 visitors attended the festival, significantly increasing the town population from the usual 1,500.  And tens of book sellers from other parts of Victoria, including book stores I regulary visit here in Melbourne, also set up their stalls.

This year my parents visited the town with us, which meant there were even more eyes looking out for Bond books.  As usual I took plenty of photos, and I've included more than a handful below.

This was the Bound Words book stall.  The owner recognised me from my many visits to her Hampton store and told me she unfortunately had no Bonds with her.  So to the next book stall I went.

Not all books were second-hand.  This stall sold cheap remainder books which included almost the entire set of the There Is Only One Bond series published by Vintage.

A Punch & Judy show for the kids.  "He's behind you!  He's behind you!" and he'll scare the shit out of you for the rest of your life.

Clunes was used in many town scenes in the Heath Ledger film "Ned Kelly".  Unfortunately the film wasn't great so you probably didn't see it.

Once a busy goldfields town back in the 1800's, it's still possible to book a tour to pan for gold.

The closest I've found so far to a movie-tie-in for the latest Bond film !

Not all books made it to the book stalls for sale.  Maybe next year this one will be luckier.

Even the old mining school was chock full of books.

Poets reading their prose.

This was the only Bond book I purchased.  I already own the same cover however this was a better copy.

Overall it was a great day.  Thousands of second-hand books.  A few Bonds, almost all shown in the photos above.  And my wife and parents enjoyed a trip to the country.  It was great to spend some time together too, and I really appreciated their searching in an attempt to increase my collection.

And lastly, a couple more photos as we left the town to give an indication of how rural it is.

The train line does go to Melbourne, but this was the start of a long cargo train.  So we had to drive home instead.