"Forever And A Day" Promotional Items

When a new James Bond novel is released I'm always curious what promotional material accompanies it. Flyers, postcards, stickers, bookmarks, pins, pens, mugs, keyrings... Unfortunately since I live in Australia I've only been able to acquire a handful of these items over the years. Instead I've had to admire them through web searches of book launches overseas or pictures from other people's Bond collections.

That was until late last week when I received a complimentary copy of Anthony Horowitz's "Forever And A Day" in the mail from Penguin/Random House in the UK. It's the standard Jonathan Cape first edition hardback with a smart cover design by Kris Potter. However this one also came with a few pieces of promotional material. Firstly there was an A3 size book flyer. It arrived a little worse for wear, but that only inspires me to find a better copy. Next was a British European Airways ticket belonging to James Bond followed by postcard to "Monique" from "M".  Finally there was a plastic wallet for business cards etc.

While these items are great, the highlight of the promotional material available has to be the new limited edition paperback of Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale" from Vintage featuring a cover designed (again) by Kris Potter. This promotional item wasn't complimentary, instead I had to order it from the UK via my local Dymocks Bookstore. And boy is it a nice cover, reminiscent of the "bleeding hearts" on the first edition dust jacket from the 1950's designed by Fleming himself. All in all I think the Penguin/Random House marketing team has done a fantastic job promoting "Forever And A Day"...

... and not only that, in my opinion these two covers look great together.

A Visit To Howard Bolton's Bookstore

After visiting Yarragon the other week I also managed to drop in on Howard Bolton's book store in Northcote.

This is a great store.  It may be small in size but it has hundreds of books on it's shelves.  I'm yet to visit without finding a handful of Bond paperbacks on the shelves, and I wouldn't doubt there's another box of Fleming's out the back.  But Howard's store is more than Bond.  It's quality literature and rare titles.  This includes a wall of hardbacks, many of which are first editions or hard to find titles.

Howard specializes in finding books for customers and other book sellers.  He often spends his weekdays searching for books, and then on the weekend opens his book store to the public.

If you do decide to visit his store in Northcote, immediately on entering you'll either find Howard behind his glass counter covering a first edition in protective plastic, or helping another customer find a book on the shelf.  He'll greet you warmly, ask if you need a hand and then leave you to your own devices.  The books are in great condition and very reasonably priced.

And Howard certainly knows plenty about books, authors and other book stores.  In fact he's been pressing me for years to visit the book shops in Castlemaine (another blog post coming soon) and has plenty of stories to tell.  If you live in Melbourne, or are visiting, this store is a must.

Here's a photo of the Bond paperbacks on the day I visited.

Annual Yarragon Book Fair 2018

Last Saturday morning we set off on our annual trip to Gippsland for the Yarragon Book Fair. My wife and I, her sister and parents endured a wet and wild two hour drive before we arrived at the little town.

Despite the interesting weather a large number of people also made the same journey to attend the book fair organised by the local fire brigade.

As usual the hall and adjoining rooms contained thousands of books. My father in law, an avid reader, filled his self-imposed one bag quota within five minutes while I searched for Bond books. I managed to find these five paperbacks, two of which I found in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section.

I ended up purchasing the movie tie-in version of "The Man With The Golden Gun" shown above. It's not a perfect copy, but definitely hard to walk past for just $1 !

After finishing our hunt we then walked around the corner to the local cafe where we had a delicious lunch. I can't speak highly enough of the home made sausage rolls. They're fantastic.

Two hours later we were home and hosed, after another enjoyable afternoon in Yarragon. But we will return...

Here's a couple more photos I took while in Yarragon. The town has some great gift and art shops, cafes and bakery, and is well worth a visit.

A Couple More Additions

In the last week I've acquired two new James Bond books for my collection.  One I received in the mail.  The other was a surprise discovery during a routine visit to Dymocks bookshop in the City.

The first book which arrived from the UK was a hard back copy of "Forever And A Day" written by Anthony Horowitz and published by Jonathan Cape.  This edition is sold exclusively by Goldsboro Books, has blue edges, includes the author's signature and is limited to just 750 copies.  It's a lovely copy and is the third copy I now own of this title.  My previous blog entry includes the other two.

The second book was a paperback version of Ian Fleming's "Dr No" published by Vintage Books.  It was reprinted as part of a new "Heroes And Villians" series.  The cover is a little unusual, as is the size of the book, but it looks great when shown with other matching covers from different authors.  This is the only Bond title included in this set.

And finally, here's a photo of the entrance to the City Dymocks store which is undergoing renovations and I might say already looking great.  I was in the City with my wife and sister-in-law to see a fantastic performance of "The Wizard Of Oz" at the Regent Theatre.  No relevance to James Bond but I've included some photos anyway.