Back in 2007 a London newspaper included a promotional “book” for free with every copy sold. The title was "The Young Bond Rough Guide To London". Small in size at just 15cm x 11cm, and comprising only 64 pages, this promo item published by Puffin Books has become highly sought by collectors.
The promo book was given away as a tie-in between the publication of the Young Bond novels "Double Or Die" (January 2007) and "Hurricane Gold" (September 2007), both written by Charlie Higson.
Since I first became aware of this promo item in the early 2010's I've searched for it. Here in Australia I'm not aware of any Young Bond promo items ever being available, so my searches have been limited to the internet and book hunts when I've been lucky enough to visit the UK.
It's taken several years but today I finally managed to acquire a copy of this elusive promo item. Being so thin, thankfully the item was extremely well packed.
And here's some photos sans packaging...
This promo item arrived in great condition after it's journey by international mail from the other side of the world. Unortunately though it does have one fault, someone has written a previous sale price on the inside front cover. Sure the writing is in grey lead and can easily be erased, but the price itself is the problem... just GBP 20p. I definitely paid a little bit more than that; postage alone was GBP £12.50! Oh well, the book is safely in my collection now.
I'll be creating a new page on PizGloria.com to display all the Young Bond promo items in my collection. More details soon...
