James Bond Box Set Arrives

For some time now I've been searching for a Toby McFarlan Pond "Abstract Art Series" box set published by Penguin in 2004.  A few weeks ago I noticed an unopened set for sale on the internet for a great price.  So I purchased it and today it arrived in the mail.

The seller was located in the US, and despite the set having to travel half-way around the world it was really well packaged and arrived undamaged.  From a rough mental count this is my eighth box set of James Bond novels, but the hunt continues for more...

Weekend In The City

I've just spent a relaxing weekend in the City with my wife.  Although 'relaxing' probably isn't the most appropriate word to use considering we rarely sat down.  We spent one night with some friends, visited the optical illusions ArtVo, walked around the City, ate at some great restaurants and attended the closing night of the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

On Saturday we visited the Astor Movie Market where I saw a few nice Bond items for sale, although I didn't purchase anything.

Yesterday (Sunday) we visited the Dymocks store on Collins Street.  There were plenty of Bond novels on the shelves although no copies of the "Casino Royale" that cross promotes the new Bond novel by Anthony Horowitz "Forever And A Day".  I'll have to keep my eyes open closer to the release date.  It was also good to see some major work being done on improving the store.

We also visited City Basement Books.  They had a Cape hardback version of Gardner's "For Special Sevices" and a paperback Faulk's "Devil May Care".

Finally, here's a couple more snaps of Melbourne...

Etihad Stadium in the Docklands

The Yarra looking toward the lights of the MCG (an AFL game was in progress)

The Town Hall clocktower from our hotel window

Looking toward Bolte Bridge, again in the Docklands

A Sad Visit To Northcote

On Friday afternoon I drove to Northcote to visit a couple of secondhand book stores on High Street; Allsorts Secondhand Books and Brown & Bunting Booksellers.

While I parked the car I noticed a sign on the front window of Allsorts.  As I walked toward the store the sign became more obvious - "For Lease".  Allsorts Secondhand Books has closed.

I couldn't believe it.  Not even a book shelf remained.

I last visited Allsorts back in October last year.  The shop was full of books, and Paul was sitting behind his counter reading, always ready to offer assistance at a moment's notice.

Here's some photos from last October.  I could only find these two Bonds on the shelves.

Allsorts was a great book store.  It had a huge variety of books and they were disorganised enough to offer hope that you might find a gem or two after a bit of book shuffling.  Many years ago I found this Pan misprint copy of "On Her Majestys Secret Service" in this very shop (sorry, I know I've mentioned this book before but I wouldn't have this book if not for Allsorts Books).

Sadly this book store is no more.  But I'm sure every person who visited found a great book or has fond memories.

Here's a few more photos I've downloaded from earlier posts on this blog.  Here's Paul...

And here's a couple of snaps of inside the store...

Thankyou Paul.  I trust you are well and wish you all the best for the future.

As I said I also visited Brown & Bunting Booksellers.  As you can see there were a few Bonds on the shelf and I upgraded my copy of the Triad-Granada version of "Diamonds Are Forever".

Just as a late addition to this blog post, today I found this article published in April 2013 on a site called Weekend Notes about Allsorts Secondhand Books.  It's very complementary

Ferny Creek Collectables And Book Fair - Easter 2018

I have just left the Seventh Annual Ferny Creek Collectables and Book Fair in the Dandenongs and am sitting in my car in the carpark writing this post before returning home.

I arrived at 9am and immediately started browsing among the many stalls inside the hall.  Along with books the stalls also sell trading cards, souvenirs, jewellery, clothes, toys, comics... and I even saw some rear lights from a 1950's car.  Basically you name it it's probably here.

In my hunt for James Bond collectables I managed to find a couple of paperbacks as well as three Ian Fleming - Jonathan Capes, one of which was a "Dr No" first.  I purchased the copy of "Moonraker" shown.  It's a Re-Issued copy from 1958.

Here's some more snaps I took.  The fair continues today until 4pm and then tomorrow from 9am to 4pm.  Happy hunting!

Collectables And Book Fair This Easter Weekend

The Seventh Annual Ferny Creek Collectables and Book Fair is being held this Easter weekend. If you live in Melbourne (Oz) or happen to be visiting Victoria it'll definitely be worth a visit. It's being held in Ferny Creek in the Dandenongs, starting at 9am and finishing at 4pm both days.  Hopefully see you there

Large Print Michael Gillette Series

For several years now I've been collecting the Large Print series of Ian Fleming novels published by Clipper around 2006.

After much searching I recently managed to find a copy of "Live And Let Die" which brought my collection to 11 different titles out of 14.

Just a few weeks later I found a book lot for sale on the web that included 2 more titles I required; "Moonraker" and "For Your Eyes Only".  Unfortunately the seller wouldn't separate the 2 titles I needed from the 10 books in the lot for sale, so I also acquired a few duplicates.

But the exciting thing is now I've just one title to find to complete this set of covers created by Michael Gillette.  And when I do find it I'll add the first set of Large Print paperback covers to PizGloria.com

The Good & The Bad

I've been searching for a trade size edition of Kate Westbrook's "The Moneypenny Diaries - Secret Servant", published by John Murray in 2006, for several years now.  So when I discovered a secondhand bookstore in Queensland (Lawnton Books) had a copy I immediately purchased it.  The book arrived in the mail today.  It's the first new Bond cover I'll be adding to PizGloria.com in 2018.

Earlier today I visited "Out Of Print Books etc" in Caulfield and found that the store is closing down as the owner, Ken, is retiring. I've been visiting Ken's store for over a decade and have purchased many books from him. I'm very happy for Ken but it's still sad to lose another secondhand book store in Melbourne.

When I visited today the usual pile of Bond paperbacks had already been sold. However I uncovered a copy of Kate Westbrook's "The Moneypenny Diaries - Guardian Angel", published by John Murray in 2005. I already had this book in my collection but this copy was in too good condition to refuse.  Ken also allowed me to take a couple of photos of inside his store for posterity's sake.

To celebrate his retirement Ken has discounted all his stock by 50%. Congrats Ken and all the best for the future.

So overall some good and bad news, and by a strange coincidence I acquired two trade size "Moneypenny Diaries" paperbacks on the same day.

Piz Gloria Website Launched Six Years Ago Today

I've been very slack in my blog posts these last few months however today is the sixth anniversary of the launch of PizGloria.com so I thought I'd add a post for this special occasion.

During the last six years there have been 17,882 visitors to PizGloria.com which is really pleasing.  While the number of visitors has fallen from 3,380 in 2016 to 2,107 in 2017 I'm still very happy with the numbers.

As always I'd like to add a brief analysis of the stats:

- The average number of pages viewed per visit has risen from 6.84 in 2016 to 8.45 in 2017

- The overall number of page views fell from 39,385 in 2016 to 31,990 in 2017

- The average time spent on the site has risen from 3:01 minutes in 2016 to 3:17 minutes in 2017.  In 2012 the average was 4:43 minutes per visit/session but the site was new back then.

Here's the graphs:

So in summary I'd like to thank everyone who has taken time to visit both the Collecting Piz Gloria blog (sorry again for my slack-ness this past year) and the PizGloria.com website. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

Cheers Baz