Bond Presents For Christmas

Yesterday was Christmas Day and I was lucky to receive the two items below as presents from my wife. 

Both items were purchased from sellers in the U.S. and fortunately were well packed for their journey to Australia.

The first was a poster from Penguin promoting the Richie Fahey series from 2008 celebrating the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth.  It's linked to this series of books.

The second poster was created in 1982 by Putnam/Berkley to promote the simultaneous release of John Gardner's - James Bond continuation novels "For Special Services" in hardback and "Licence Renewed" in paperback.

I haven't seen the poster above before, nor could I find another copy anywhere else on the web, however I did find the following image below from the fantastic website/blog The Book Bond by John Cox which looks very similar.  All credit to John for this image.

Promotional material for Bond novels is difficult to find, especially in Australia.  I'm lucky to have these two items in my collection now thanks to my wife.  Well, to be perfectly honest, I did purchase them and then asked if she wanted to give them to me as a present for Christmas... but I'm sure I'm not alone here as a collector.

William Boyd's " Solo" Book Variant

I spend a lot of time searching for James Bond paperback cover variants online and in secondhand book stores.  Recently I've been concentrating on Coronet cover variations which I'll include in a later post.  As I was going through my Coronet books the other day I realised I didn't need to go too far to find my latest variant... it was already sitting on a shelf in my bookcase.

In April this year my wife and I visited the annual Yarragon book fair where I purchased "three unread paperbacks that were a bargain at just $1 each to add to my doubles box".   One was a copy of William Boyd's "Solo" published by Vintage in 2014.  The other day I finally noticed the size of this paperback differed from another copy of the same novel.  Perhaps other collectors were already aware but this paperback came in two sizes.  Here's the two books with their size difference:

I'm going to add this cover to the "Solo" page on my website soon however as the covers look almost identical it's going to be hard to differentiate between them on the screen.  But as seen in the photos above they have different barcodes and ISBN's.   I wonder if there are other book variations on my shelves still waiting to be discovered ?  I hope so.

Lego Speed Champions 007 Aston Martin DB5

A couple of weeks ago my brother messaged me with a link to a new Lego set he thought I might like.  So while out shopping with my wife last weekend I visited a toy store and spotted the same set.  The "Speed Champions" range features vehicles from cinema as well as modern racing cars.  And to my surprise it includes the Aston Martin DB5.  The box even features the 007 logo and scenes on the front and back are reminiscent of "No Time To Die".  Here's a photo I took in the toy store:

I left the store without purchasing it however when I got home I decided why not and ordered the Lego set as an early Christmas present to myself.  It arrived today:

And here's the box:

The Lego vehicle is obviously going to be much smaller and less detailed than the Lego set I received for my birthday a couple of years ago  (there's definitely no ejector seat in this one) but I'm sure the vehicle will still look great.  I plan to open the box over the Christmas break and once I've built it I'll post some photos.

The Spoils Of Adelaide

For anyone reading this blog you'll be pleased to know this is the last post from our recent trip to South Australia.

First here's what I call the "spoils" of our trip; the seven books I purchased.  I already have all of these titles but the covers here are either similar or an improvement on the condition of the existing copies in my collection.

The concentration on Ian Fleming's "Moonraker" was pure coincidence.  The Pan Books cover on the left is rare as it's the first and only printing with this cover from 1956.  The white Pan cover is a great copy.  

The orange Penguin "Casino Royale" was only published in Australia (along with a similar cover by Penguin for "From Russia With Love") so it's not common, especially outside of Oz.  The other two covers were too good condition to pass by.

Finally here's a Still Life series copy of Ian Fleming's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" from early 1970's.  There's no spine creases so I suspect it's never been read.  A paperback nearly 50 years old in this condition for sale at AU$14 is quite scarce so I couldn't pass it up.

That's the end of my Bond book purchases from South Australia, so now here's some photos from our travels:

On the road...

The blue lake, Mt Gambier, once a volcano crater

Umpherston Sinkhole (Balumbul), Mt Gambier.

Church and lake at a winery (Maggie Beer's) in the Barossa Valley.

A couple of beaches near McLaren Vale, some fisherman caves in the sand cliffs and a visit to a winery/craft beer brewery.

Random photos of the Pakistan and Indian T20 cricket teams who also stayed in our hotel for the Twenty20 International World Cup (eventually won by England).  One morning I even found myself in the lift with Virat Kohli who I'd watched on TV the night before scoring 50 runs.

Random photos taken while walking around Adelaide including Rundle Mall.

Chocolates bought while visiting the Haigh's factory.

Photos of the Adelaide Christmas Pageant.  I'd never heard of it before but it's obviously a big thing in Adelaide as it's been going for 90 years.

The journey home including a painted silo and a flooded river...

In conclusion, if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend visiting South Australia.  You may return with some great books but you'll definitely return with some great experiences and memories... the spoils of Adelaide.