The Last Parcel

Today is a sad day after the news late last night of the passing of a fellow James Bond book and memorabilia collector.

Back in 2012, the same year I launched PizGloria.com, I received an email from a fellow book collector, John F., who lived in New Zealand.  He sent an image of an edition of Ian Fleming's "From Russia With Love" that he owned as part of his extensive James Bond collection that was missing from my site.  From that point on the two of us frequently kept in contact, and traded / purchased books from each other.  And when I finally managed to acquire that missing edition I was quick to remind him of his first email to me.

A few months ago I received a parcel from John containing some items I'd purchased from him.  I delayed opening this parcel simply because I wanted to include photos of it's contents on this blog and I'd gotten a little behind in my posts.  Last night I learnt that John had passed away on New Years Eve, just 6 days ago.  This morning I opened the parcel knowing it would be the last contact I would ever have with him.

The items I purchased from John included 7 collectors cards released to accompany the Charlie Higson - Young Bond novel "Blood Fever" in 2006.  Also a small "bookmark" released as part of the "Choose a Title" promotion for the 2007 Young Bond novel which ultimately became Charlie Higson's "Double Or Die".

Finally, I received a copy of John Gardner's movie tie-in "Goldeneye" published in 1995 by Coronet.  This is the rarer paperback cover that features three script writers on the front cover instead of two.  I already had this edition but it was a lovely copy and very scarce.

These items may now reside in my collection, but they will forever be John's.   I shall miss our message chats and collection updates, as well as his interesting and informative contributions to the book collectors world in general.

Vale John.