John Gardner Sniper Series Purchase

One of my favourite John Gardner - James Bond paperback series is the Sniper series, named because of the sniper sight that appears on each book cover.  When this set was published by Coronet Books in the UK around 1986, Mr Gardner had only completed the five titles which are included: "Licence Renewed" (white cover), "For Special Services" (red cover), "Icebreaker" (black cover), "Role Of Honour" (blue cover) and "Nobody Lives For Ever" (teal cover).  

Meanwhile in Canada, General Books (linked to Coronet in the UK) concurrently published this series.  The covers of each title by General were almost identical to the Coronet printings, except strangely for "Nobody Lives For Ever" which had a red colour cover instead of teal.  So while there are five titles in this series there are six different covers to collect.

I've previously written a post about this series when I purchased a second Coronet copy of "Nobody Lives For Ever".   Today's post is inspired by the purchase of a second copy of "For Special Services".  It's not in quite as good condition as my current copy, but it's unread with a lovely condition cover and at just $16 it was hard to refuse.

Now I have two titles of a second series of this lovely set.

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.

"For Special Services" Berkley/Charter Variations

Another day... another parcel.  

This time it contained a copy of John Gardner's "For Special Services" published in the US by Berkley in 1986.  

As far as I'm aware the four different slight cover variations below are all that were available for this title from Berkley/Charter in the 1980's, but I'm sure I'll be proven wrong.

1) Berkley - International Edition - RRP $2.95 - December 1982 with the cover tag-line

"The International Bestseller - Now In Paperback".  Publisher details top right.

The following three copies all have the same cover tag-line "The New York Times Bestseller".

2) Berkley - RRP $3.50 - April 1983 - Silver silhouette.  Note also the slight change of position of the silhouette compared to the other covers here. Publisher details top right. 

3) Berkley - RRP $3.95 - June 1986 - Black silhouette.  Publisher details middle left.

4) Charter - RRP $4.50 - July 1987 - Black silhouette.  Publisher details middle left.

And here's the four covers together: