A Sign Of The Times

A couple of weeks ago I travelled to three second hand bookshops, on the continual hunt for more James Bond books to add to my collection.

First was Roycroft Antiquarian Booksellers in Kew.  I hadn't stepped into this store since late last year.  And it was great to see plenty of Bonds on the shelves, but unfortunately there were none for me today.

Next my wife and I travelled to Bradstreet's Books in Hawthorn.  I remember speaking to the woman behind the counter last year and she explained they would be closing due to the building being re-developed.  I didn't realise it would be so soon. Sadly it is no more.

Before...

Now.

Finally, I visited Sinbad Books in Carnegie.  I've been visiting this store for years but never really spoken to the owner, Rashad, until today.

I asked him about the usual pile of Bond paperbacks near the front counter.  All sold.  And looking around the store I could see there was something going on.  The stock in the store was dramatically reduced and several bookshelves were gone.  Rashad explained that after 20 years it was time to shut the doors for good; a sign of the times in the book trade.

So while this store exists today, with plenty of books on sale, unfortunately it won't be for much longer.  

I wished Rashad good luck in his future endeavours, and after mentioning PizGloria.com I gave him a card for my site which he said he was looking forward to visiting.  And with a sad heart I grabbed a couple more photos, including this one of Rashad, before leaving Sinbad Books for the last time.

My Wife Finds A Gem

My wife travelled to Hobart on Wednesday for work.  She had a very busy two days but fortunately for me she had enough spare time during one of her lunch breaks to visit a book store on my behalf.  Cracked And Spineless is one of my favourite secondhand book stores in Tassie and always has a few James Bond books on its shelves.

On the day my wife visited there were several Ian Fleming novels on the shelves.  So she sent me a photo and then a call.

For some reason I didn't receive the photo immediately so she ran through them over the phone. I kept saying "Yep, got that" and "Got that"... But when she mentioned the "Thunderball" movie tie-in and said it was in really good condition I knew it must be great.

So she bought it for me and here it is.  Pan Books, 14th printing, 1965 and looking as square and bright as the day it was published.  The spine is perfect as the book has never been read.  Definitely a gem of a copy, thanks to my fantastic wife.

Ps. Yes, I did check for a copy of the Domino letter but it's absent.  However it was only an after-thought anyway

Brother Finds A "Dr No" Hardback

I received a couple of text pictures from my brother the other weekend.  He was visiting the Mornington Peninsula (here in Victoria) and happened to stop at Frankston where he noticed a secondhand book store.

The first photo he sent was of a number of James Bond paperbacks.  From the spines I could see I had a copy of all of the covers so I didn't need to know more about them.

But my brother had also noticed a Jonathan Cape copy of Ian Fleming's "Dr No" on the same shelf and had sent me a photo of that book alone.

I immediately rang him to find out the price.  He asked the store owner who told him $80.  However the owner then said he'd take $40.  Wow... bargain!

I queried my brother about the printing details.  He told me it was a 2nd edition published in 1958.  He also couldn't find any obvious ex-library markings.  So I asked him to buy it for me.  

I'm not 100% certain the dust jacket is original (it looks pretty good in the photo) but I still think the book is a great bargain regardless.  Now I just have to catch up with my brother, pay him and check out the book myself.  Thanks bro.