Secondhand Book Store Visit

I'm just on my way to the beach with my wife and sister-in-law on a beautiful Summer's day here in Melbourne.  And as we got closer to the beach I thought it might be a good idea to quickly drop in at Bound Words in Hampton.

Unfortunately no books for me today but what a fantastic day for a visit !

I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year filled with plenty of great Bond items to add to their collection.

Terence Mountain Responds

Recently I sent a couple of questions to the actor Terence Mountain and was stoked when I received a response.  Terence, or Terry as he prefers, has appeared in many films and TV shows including "The Avengers", "The Saint", "Where Eagles Dare", "Lassiter" and "Biggles", as well as two consecutive James Bond films; "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "Diamonds Are Forever" (if only he'd given Mr Lazenby the same advice !).  Here's a photo of him in action during the pre-credit sequence of "OHMSS" with George Lazenby:

 

Baz - "Hi Terence, I was just curious how you're feeling about all this renewed interest in OHMSS almost 50 years after it premiered ?"

Terry - "Hi mate, thanks for your views. O.H.M.S.S. 1969 - (I feel) so lucky to have played in this film."

Baz - "And back in the 70's and 80's did you ever think that one day in the future this film would get the credit it deserved as one of the best films in the Bond series?"

Terry - "oo7 George Lazenby was great to work with.  Great experience.  Great fun.  And to think I still get invites to events. So lucky."

Baz - "Thanks heaps.  Much appreciated."

Terry - "Ok mate, my pleasure.  Thank you again for your message.   Regards and best wishes for Xmas, Terry Mountain"

And finally, here's some photos of Terry at the official opening of the 007 Walk Of Fame on July 31, 2015 at Piz Gloria, Schilthorn in Switzerland.

Attack on Piz Gloria - Part 2 !!!

Terry with Sylvana Henriques who played a Bond Girl in "OHMSS"

George Lazenby with his 007 Walk Of Fame photo

 

Terry with his 007 Walk Of Fame photo

Booktalk Cafe In Richmond

My wife and I travelled to Richmond on Saturday to visit Booktalk Cafe.  We drove along Swan Street but couldn't see the familiar blue sign hanging from the awning out the front.  Here's some photos of the store I stole from the web (Dixon's Recycled website) as I couldn't find any I'd taken myself.

And here's a photo of the inside of the store (again stolen from the web - NZ.PinInterest).

So when we parked and started walking and reached 91 Swan Street we found a different book store; Avenue Bookstore.  It turns out Booktalk Cafe, which was both a cafe and a secondhand book store, closed six months ago.  And now a new book store selling only new books has opened instead.

Sadly it seems we've lost another secondhand book store here in Melbourne.  But good luck to the owners of Avenue Bookstore.  I hope you do well and last a long time.

"Strike Lightning" Released In Oz

The third Young Bond novel written by Steve Cole titled "Strike Lightning" has been released in Australia.  The book is published by Red Fox and I really like the uniform covers designed by BlackSheep-UK.  I have titled this series of covers the Red Fox series.  Strangely the copy of "Shoot To Kill" shown in the link is still not available here in Oz with this copy purchased in Singapore by a friend.

I purchased this copy of "Strike Lightning" from Dymocks in Camberwell which is a regular haunt of mine.

Mountains Of Books Bookfair This Weekend

I'm currently sitting in a warm sunlit car having just scoured all twelve book stalls at the annual Mountains Of Books Bookfair in Ferny Creek, The Dandenongs.

 

There are hundreds of books on a wide variety of subjects for sale and when I arrived at 10am there were already plenty of like-minded people checking them out.

I managed to find several James Bond books for sale.

The book fair is open this weekend from 10am til 4pm.  I purchased two books - a 1964 hardback edition of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" by Ian Fleming with a nice dust jacket and also a non-Bond related non-fiction book - "Thylacine" by David Owen, which will soon become my bedtime reading.

Another Saturday Book Hunt

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I travelled to Northcote to check out the secondhand book stores.

The first was Howard Bolton Bookseller where Howard immediately greeted me as I entered the store.  He then showed me a 2013 Book World Night edition of "Casino Royale", published by Vintage, from behind the counter.  These editions are quite rare in Australia however I already had a copy so couldn't buy it.  He also showed me what I call his "secret stash" of books (excess stock he doesn't display on his shelves) but none for me today.  I will return again soon though.

 

Next was Brown And Bunting Booksellers just around the corner from Howard's.  Unusually I could only find five Bond's in the store today so I think they've been selling a few lately.

Finally I visited Paul at Allsorts Secondhand Books just a few steps down the road.  I managed to find four Bonds here but unfortunately had them all.

 

New Bookcase + Collecting 007

Almost 30 years ago, when I was still living with my parents, I decided to buy a cabinet to store my burgeoning James Bond book collection.  When it was delivered to our house I remember thinking how huge it was and how I couldn't imagine ever completely filling it.

As my collection grew over the years, so the shelf space in the cabinet gradually disappeared until finally I had to store the books two deep.  And then as my collection increased further the books not only filled the cabinet but also spilt into other bookcases.

After searching for another bookcase to buy, and realising there are few around nowadays, I decided to get a cabinet custom made instead.  I carefully placed my books in plastic containers, sold my old book cabinet and waited for another to be built.  Yesterday the new custom made one was installed.

So along with the photo of it below I'd like to add these fateful words; this book cabinet is huge and I can't imagine ever filling it !

When I've placed all my books in it I'll add another photo, but for the moment I'm just working out how high the glass shelves need to be and how I'm going to organise the books.

On another note, today my Q & A about Collecting 007 was published on The James Bond Dossier website.   If you're interested in reading it please click here.

Melbourne (Unofficial) Secondhand Book Trail - Part 3

After posting Part 2 a fortnight ago, here's Part 3 of what I've titled the Melbourne (Unofficial) Secondhand Book Trail.  This time I'm including the two remaining secondhand book stores existing in the Melbourne CBD:

9) City Basement Books, Melbourne

As you descend the stairs into the quiet peace of this book store it's easy to forget that just moments ago you were amongst the hustle and bustle of Flinders Street and the City.  This fantastic subterranean space is a relaxing maze of tall wooden book shelves; the perfect place to get lost in prose.  You'll either find Verity, the store owner, or Kerry, happily sitting behind the counter, always ready to offer their assistance or recommendations.  Despite the huge number and variety of secondhand books available, they're all well categorised and alphabetised, affordably priced and in great condition.  The novels range from vintage to recent, and when you're ready to venture back to the real world upstairs you'll be hard pressed not returning with at least one purchase from your underground adventure.

Addresses:
- http://www.citybasementbooks.com.au

- 342 Flinders Street, Melbourne

10) Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookseller, Melbourne

This antiquarian bookseller has been located on classy Collins Street since 1990.  It has a large and varied stock of antiquarian and secondhand books, some hundreds of years old.  Bibliophiles visiting Melbourne must add this store to their list of essential places to visit while in town as there are always plenty of first editions on the shelves catering to all budgets.

Addresses:

- http://www.kaycraddock.com

- 156 Collins Street, Melbourne

Church Book Sale, Camberwell

Up early this Saturday morning to visit the St Johns Book Sale on Burke Road in Camberwell which finishes at 3pm today.

The books have been neatly organised on trestle tables, cover a wide variety of subjects and as you would expect from a church book sale are very cheap.

I did manage to find one Bond novel for sale.  Just $2 but I left it for someone else to discover.

It was also good to quickly catch up with Rallou and Tadhg from Fully Booked secondhand book store in Thornbury who were picking up some books.

Chinese Theater Visit

My brother and his family are currently on holiday in the US and from the photos I've seen so far they're having a great time.  So at 3.45am this morning (Australian Eastern Standard time), and now just 7 minutes ago, my wife and I were woken by a beep from my phone.  And to my surprise he'd sent me this photo from the Chinese Theater in Hollywood:

Thanks Bro.