Book Hunt Two

Last weekend I visited the Bookhouse on Fitzroy Street, St Kilda.  I haven't visited this second hand book store in years.  It's a really neat store with an eclectic array of books that suits the St Kilda culture.  The owner, Ben, is a friendly bloke up for a chat, and there's also a great website to browse the store online.

There's an interesting glass display cabinet at the back of the store.  I contains heaps of photographs and letters that the owner of the store explained he'd found in the books acquired for sale.  I'd never thought about the fact that bookmarks take many forms, and often those bookmarks could be accidentally left in an old book that eventually makes its way to a second hand book store.  One letter was even from the wife of a past Australian Prime Minister, Hazel Hawke, wife of Bob who was leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1983 to 1991.

And finally, to the Bond paperbacks.  Among the Mystery/Thriller section near the back of the store were 3 Bond paperbacks.  I did have them all, but I have to remember to visit this store again more often.

Book Hunt One

Over the past few weeks I've visited a number of second hand book stores .

The first was Out Of Print Books in Caulfield South.  There appears to have been a turnover of Bond books since last I visited in January of this year, as this time I counted 8 paperbacks for sale.  The bloke behind the counter was friendly as always.  When I asked he said he didn't have any other Bond books in the store that he was aware of, but then remembered a Penguin "Casino Royale" displayed in the window.

I then walked up Glen Huntly Road to the next store.

On entering Syber's Books I was immediately greeted by the owner sitting behind his counter.  As always he was loading book descriptions for sale on the web.  I made my way to the fiction section but alas there were no Bonds.  I did ask the owner and he explained they were being held at Penny Syber's Book Store on Chapel Street.  I made a quick trip around the store (just in case) and took a number of photos displaying the huge number of organised books available. 

A week later I visited Abra Card Abra Roycroft Antique Booksellers in Kew East.  There were a few old 60's paperback Bonds sitting among the huge collection of old Pans downstairs, and upstairs there were 8 hardbacks.  No new purchases though.

Downstairs...

Upstairs...

My wife and sister-in-law (SIL) were with me on the day we visited some bookstores in Kew.  I left my wife and SIL at Readings Bookstore, the great independant book store selling new books, and ran up the road to Bradstreet's Books...

.. but it was closed.

Returning back to the car near Readings I found my SIL had purchased a motivational book by Tony Robbins.  At least she had been lucky !

"Designing 007" Tickets Go On Sale

For anyone here in Australia, don't forget that tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow for "Desiging 007: 50 Years Of Bond Style" at the Melbourne Museum.  Here's the new wesbite to promote the event.  Looks good !

 

 

"SkyFall" Premieres Again

A third wave of "SkyFall" promotion is occurring at present here in Melbourne.  First was cinema, then DVD/BluRay and now Pay TV (aka Cable).  "SkyFall" premiered on Foxtel this month and huge billboards adorned with Daniel Craig's image have appeared, along with posters at bus shelters and displays at shopping centres.  Here's a few photos.  Unfortunately I missed out on the bus shelter posters, they pulled them down before I could take a photo but they were similar to the billboard below.

 

 

 

Yarragon & Red Door Book Shops

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, after spending some time at the Yarragon Book Fair I then made a visit to the Yarragon Book Shop.

So after a delicious lunch at a cafe with my wife I quickly walked to the book store while my wife sat patiently in the car.

As soon as I walked in the owner, Peter, remembered me and asked how my Bond collecting was going.  I told him it was a little quiet at the moment, but I was still looking.  After a quick browse I found a US hardback copy of Benson's "Zero Minus Ten".  (Unusually I didn't take a photo!)  Peter then showed me two paperback Bonds he had at the front counter.

Immediately I saw the copy of "You Only Live Twice" I noticed the wrapper/dust-jacket.  Peter also pointed this out to me.  Despite already having a copy of this movie tie-in dust-jacket I decided to purchase this copy too due to its relative scarcity.  It is slightly damaged, I suspect by silverfish, but it was still a great find.  "The Man With The Golden Gun" was also a better copy than my current copy, so I bought that too.

I quickly made it back to my wife with my new found bounty and we headed off on our journey home.

But our trip home along the Princes Highway was briefly interrupted by a visit to the Red Door Book Shop in Warragul.  My last visit to this store was on a Monday when it was closed (see the bottom of this previous blog entry for a couple of photos if you're interested.  My wife and I had just spent the weekend in Metung.)  This time however it was open.

 

As soon as I walked in Wayne, the owner, greeted me and asked if I needed any assistance.  I told him I was looking for Bond novels and he remembered I was the person with the Piz Gloria website.  He told me he still had it bookmarked on his computer while I followed him to his Bond paperbacks.

The Red Door Bookshop has a wide variety of books, all in great condition.  Wayne also knows a thing or two about books and interesting covers.  He said it was fine to take a couple of photos, even offering tips on the best angles in his store and the use of his ladder to give a different view.

 

Finally, just before I departed Wayne pointed out his Gardner/Bond hardbacks.  He also showed me a UK first edition in paperback of "Moonraker" he had for sale.  Unfortunately I had them all.

After I bid Wayne farewell, my wife and I then started on the rest of our journey home.  I'm certainly lucky to have such a tolerant wife !

Saturday Book Fairs

Last Saturday my wife and I visited two book fairs.  The first was an annual event at an Anglican Church in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh.  We managed to find a Christopher Wood "James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me" and a James Bond "Fact File" released around the time of the film "Licence To Kill".

 

 

We then drove about an hour and a half to the town of Yarragon, where they also have an annual Book Fair over the weekend.  At a guess I would say there were about 2 to 3 thousand books for sale at a price of $1 for paperbacks and $2.50 hardbacks with all money raised going to the local fire brigade.

Looking from the main road toward the building on the right holding the book fair.  The locals in Yarragon are very friendly !

 

 

 

The main room.

The back room.

The only Bond we found at the book fair.  My wife found this one but unfortunately I already had this edition.

Overall no luck at either book fair, but the Yarragon Bookshop was next stop for a visit.  To be continued...