Melbourne (Unofficial) Secondhand Book Trail - Part 1

I've always wanted to create a Melbourne (Unofficial) Secondhand Book Trail page on my website.  It's still a goal of mine.  And when I do these will be the first four book stores on that list:

1) Fully Booked, Thornbury

This awesome book store is operated by husband and wife team Tadhg (pronounced "Taig") and Rallou. It contains a wide selection of quality books and is extremely well organised.  The prices are very reasonable and the owners both enthusiastic and knowledgeable.  As you can see below they always stock plenty of James Bond books with their "SpyFi" and "Bond, James Bond" categories.  Definitely has to be the first stop on any secondhand book trail in Melbourne.

2) Allsorts Books, Northcote

An eclectic store, Allsorts Books is just a short drive down the road in Northcote. The owner Paul has been in the book trade for many years and can always be found behind the counter ready for a chat or to give advice on books.  This store contains many books however I've always managed to find one or two Bond paperbacks hidden on the shelves so get ready for a little book shifting... it may prove very worthwhile !

3) Brown & Bunting Booksellers, Northcote

Another husband and wife team, Travis and Benita, own and operate this store.  Located just steps from Allsorts Books this store couldn't be more of a contrast.  Glass cabinets, shelves of first editions and plenty of space to browse, bookphiles could easily enter this store believing it sold brand new books.  The store is well organised and maintained.  It also often has both Bond hardbacks and paperbacks on the shelves as shown below.

4) Howard Bolton Bookseller, Northcote

Located just a short distance away down the back-streets near the local railway station is Howard Bolton Bookseller.  For a relatively small store it packs a big punch.  A wall of hardbacks, many first editions, fill the large shelf on the right as you enter.  Elsewhere hundreds of quality paperbacks sit neatly on the shelves around the rest of the store.  The owner, Howard, is a wealth of knowledge about books and the book trade as he has been dealing with them for many years.  He always has a large number of Bond paperback books for sale, and occasionally other Fleming titles such as first edition "Thrilling Cities".  Miss this store at your own peril, although be aware it only opens on Saturdays.

Also, don't forget to check out Retro Active and The Book Grocer on High Street in Northcote.  You may be surprised and find some book gems there too.

The Melbourne (Unofficial) Secondhand Book Trail continues here with Part 2.

"From Russia With Love" ESL Book Arrives

I received another English Second Language James Bond book in the mail today.  This is the third ESL Bond book I've received in almost as many weeks.  This particular copy of "From Russia With Love" was printed by Oxford University Press in 1978 and is the last cover in this set of three books.

Missing Aston Martin DBS + Trigger Mortis On Oz Shelves

My Mum contacted me a fortnight ago as she'd read that a real James Bond car was temporarily on display in a building near the City until mid-September.  The car in particular was an Aston Martin DBS's featured in the film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".

So last Friday during my lunch break I drove to the VACC building to check out the vehicle.  I've seen this car twice before: once at Armageddon Expo 2012 when I also met George Lazenby and the other time at the "Designing 007 - 50 Years Of Bond Style" Exhibition in 2013.  The car is owned by fellow Melburnian, Sigi Zidziunas, and from my recollection of the conversation I had with him in 2013 he's owned the car for several years after importing it from Portugal.  He quickly gained provenance and has displayed the car at a number of conventions and exhibitions. And I have to say... every time I see this car it looks fantastic.

Unfortunately though I wasn't to see it that Friday.  Mid-September arrived a little early and the car had been removed from display on Thursday, September 10, the day before my visit.  I still managed to grab some snaps of the lobby where it was parked just 24 hours earlier.  (Maybe I could just photoshop it in !)

Here's some snaps I took of the same DBS back in 2013 at the "Designing 007 - 50 Years Of Bond Style" Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum.  There were actually two identical DBS's used during filming of the 1969 Bond film but I'm not sure where the other one is located.

Fortunately I was not completely out of luck last Friday.  This English Second Language copy of "For Your Eyes Only" published by Longman in 1982 arrived in the mail.  This is one of several ESL books I've purchased recently.  I think I'm getting close to collecting them all now.

With some warmer weather arriving last Saturday my wife and I decided to drive to Mornington. As well as visiting a few gift shops we also dropped into Farrell's Bookshop.  A great independant book store with a wide variety of new books I was pleased to see copies of  the newly released Bond novel "Trigger Mortis" by Anthony Horowitz on the shelf.  This was the first time I had physically seen the book.

 

 

We also travelled just down the road to the second-hand store Books By The Bay where many Bond paperbacks sat on the shelf but unfortunately I had them all.  Still it was good to pay a visit.

And finally... I noticed this pile of "Carte Blanche" books on a shelf in a local department store.  They were 25% off but considering "Trigger Mortis" has just been released and this book was published in 2011 I'd be increasing that discount.

Visit To A Couple Of Book Stores

Just a quick blog entry about some book stores my wife and I visited last weekend after having lunch with my sister-in-law who's recovering from her recent stroke.

The first store we visited was Roycroft Antiquarian Booksellers - Abra Card Abra in Kew.  After sliding the heavy glass door open and entering the store I was surprised to see Marion absent from behind the counter.  Concerned, I was told she was on holiday for a well deserved break.  I asked the gentleman filling in for Marion his name and he told me it was Lloyd and he owned the store.  After many years of visits it was great to finally meet him and introduce myself.  I explained about the PizGloria.com website and this blog (and my attempts to promote second-hand book stores including his own) and he thanked me.  When I asked about the James Bond books on the shelf upstairs he said he wasn't aware of any new acquisitions.  I checked and he was right.

The second store we visited was Sainsbury's Books in Camberwell.  There were a couple of Bond paperbacks on the shelves but unfortunately I had them both.  Always a nice store to visit though.

And finally here's a photo of the cover of last months auto-club magazine; RACV's Royalauto.  They did a special feature on James Bond vehicles with the RACV staff selecting their favourite vehicles from the films.  

They were also lamenting the fact that silver Aston Martin DB5's once registered in this state (Victoria, Australia) have been purchased by overseas buyers and shipped from our shores.  Oh well, at least we still have one of two Aston Martin DBS's which featured in the film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (although this article made no mention of this fact).  Hopefully more on this DBS later...

Very Quick City Book Hunt

I'm currently in the City with my wife typing this blog entry during intermission of a theatre production of Baz Luhrmann's "Strictly Ballroom".  So far... so good.

We parked miles away and then walked to the theatre.  On our way we passed a couple of book stores so we quickly dropped in.  No luck this time but I grabbed some snaps (as usual):

And here's some photos of the City:

Oxford Learning James Bond Book Arrives

Today I received another James Bond book in the mail.  This one is an Oxford Progressive English Readers copy of "From Russia With Love".  The funny thing is I had actually expected the book to have a different cover, so when I opened the envelope and pulled the book out I was pleasantly surprised.  In fact I'd never seen this cover before, and what's more when I reviewed my books on the PizGloria.com website I realised I already had two other books in this series.  So now I have three similar covers and I guess I'll have to add a new page to my website!

Here's all three of them including the one I received today:

Weekday Bookshop Stop

While out driving at lunch today I stopped by "Out Of Print Books etc" in Caulfield South.

I've been visiting this store for years which is operated by Ken and his son.  Today Ken allowed me to take a photo of him too.  He told me to make sure not to forget the "etc" in the store name.  Apparently everyone forgets the "etc" !

 

I ended up purchasing this excellent unread copy of "Dr No" published by Pan Books in 1972.  I'm pretty sure I already have this edition, with the coloured Pan logo in the top left hand corner, however I'm sure it's not in a condition as good as this.  A great find if I say so myself.

Weekend Book Hunt

Last weekend I drove around Melbourne to visit a few book stores and managed to purchase another James Bond book.  

The first store I visited was "Abra Card Abra - Roycroft Antiquarian Booksellers" in Kew.  (Sorry, I couldn't decide which photo to use below so I used both).

A while ago the owner decided to move the Bond paperbacks from the paperback section downstairs to the hardback section upstairs.  I thought it was an interesting and intelligent move.  In fact these are the only paperbacks on the upstairs fiction book shelf.

Unfortunately I had all these books, but this nice first edition of John Gardner's "Icebreaker" was calling my name so I couldn't refuse.  It's the second copy of this particular hardback I've bought in as many weeks.

The second store I visited was "Howard Bolton Bookseller" in Northcote.

I always enjoy catching up with Howard and discussing books and book stores.  As usual he showed me some Bond books that weren't on his shelves, and I took these photos of a copy of Ian Fleming's "Thrilling Cities" and of the books on his shelves.

Next up on the book hunt was "City Basement Books".  

I always walk down the stairs into this store with my fingers crossed.  I remember making a number of great purchases in this store when it was located just around the corner on Elizabeth Street.  No luck today though. 

And now some snaps of other stores I visited during my travels that day.

"Bradstreet's Books", Hawthorn (second-hand)

"Readings", Hawthorn (new books)

"Dymocks", Prahran (new books)

"Readings", Malvern (new books)

"Jeffreys", Malvern (new books)

"Books In Print", Malvern (new books)

"Corner Lamp Books", Moorabbin (second-hand)

"Dymocks", City (new books)

"Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookseller", City (second-hand)

"Reader's Feast", City (new books)

"The Merchant Of Fairness", Balwyn (second-hand)