Piz Gloria Website Launched Two Years Ago Today

Today marks the second anniversary of PizGloria.com being launched on the web.

I've looked at my blog entry from the site's first anniversary and it appears I promised to post more stats about the website upon reaching year two.  Well here they are from Google Analytics for the past two years:

Year 1 - Jan 24, 2012 to Jan 23, 2013

Year 2 - Jan 24, 2013 to Jan 23, 2014

So after comparing the two years the basic summary is:
1) The number of visitors has marginally increased from year 1 to 2
2) The time spent on the site and the number of pages visited has decreased from year 1 to 2

There's also been a slight decrease in the number of new visitors over returning ones:

Year 1 - Jan 24, 2012 to Jan 23, 2013

Year 2 - Jan 24, 2013 to Jan 23, 2014 

One thing not stored in Google Analytics is the current number of covers shown on the site that I own.  As of today there are 571 covers shown, while there are also a few more unpublished prototype covers shown on the site which I wish I owned !

Anyway, thanks everyone for visiting PizGloria.com and contributing to the stats above and I hope you'll return again soon,

Cheers Bazeer

"Casino Royale" Penguin Covers Infinitum ?

I received three copies of "Casino Royale" in the mail today.  All three books were published by Penguin and have slight cover variations.

 

I do already have the book on the left which is part of the Richie Fahey US Retro Centenary Series, however the other two are new to my collection.  Both are movie tie-ins, one stating "Soon to be a major motion picture" and the other "Now a major motion picture".  Until I found them on the web I'd never seen these two covers before.

The addition of these movie tie-ins to the PizGloria website brings the number of copies of this cover with small variations to six.  Five were published by Penguin in the US and the other in the UK.  So while using the word "infinitum" in the heading of this blog entry might be a slight exaggeration, the question is, how many more of these covers are still out there?  A quick Google search brings up the two cover images below that I've always categorised as prototypes.  Now I'm wondering if they actually exist?

Keep Hunting For Those Gems

When considering purchasing Ian Fleming first edition Bond novels most people would go straight to the web.  And I have to say I'm guilty of purchasing many books on-line.  However it's important to still keep visiting the little second-hand book store or op shop just around the corner.

Case in point are three Jonathan Cape hardbacks I purchased over the Christmas holiday period.  All three books shown below were found in op shops and second-hand book stores for less than AU $25 each.  Two are Ian Fleming first editions and the third is a 1963 reprint of "All Night At Mr Stanyhurst's" by Hugh Edwards with an introduction by Ian Fleming.

"The Man With The Golden Gun" is ex-library with the usual markings inside.  There is also a square mark on the back of the dust jacket, so it's definitely not perfect.  However for $25 I thought it wasn't too bad for a book released in 1965.

"Octopussy And The Living Daylights" was purchased for $20 and is in extremely good condition for another book almost 50 years old.  I think I now have four copies of this hardback, and this is close to being my best copy.

I've been searching for a copy of "All Night At Mr Stanyhurst's" for several years now.  Obviously the only link with Bond is the intro by Ian Fleming, but it's one of those items I've always wanted in my collection. So I was rapt when I found this copy.

 

So in summary, don't forget to keep visiting those second-hand book stores and op shops... because there are still gems to be found if you look carefully enough.

A New Year And More Books

A very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.  Hopefully Santa brought you some cool Bond books and collectables.

Over the Christmas period I managed to take some time off work to relax, and also to do a bit of book hunting.  Hopefully I'll bring you some pics soon which includes buying some cheap Jonathan Capes that I found for sale.

Meanwhile here's some books I received in the post over the holidays.  The first is a hardback first edition of William Boyd's "Solo".  This is the Waterstone's red edition which includes Boyd's own signature and the date of release - "26/9/13".  I've read on other websites how cool the dustjacket and cover is with the addition of the bullet holes, and now holding it in my own hands I couldn't agree more.  It's also great to see the Cape logo on the side again.

I also received a US "Uncorrected Advance Proof" edition of "Blood Fever" by Charlie Higson published by Miramax Books / Hyperion in 2006.  I know I've mentioned this before but as a collector the number of cover variations for the "Young Bond" novels is daunting to say the least.  I'll try and scan this cover and add it to the website ASAP.