Bluestone & Bond Books

Last Sunday, a day after the book fair in Mornington, I visited the north of the City while on a book hunt.

Many areas north of Melbourne still feature the blue cobblestones laid more than a century ago when the area was first developed.  And as I drove from secondhand bookstore to bookstore they seemed to become more prominent. 

First stop was Howard Bolton Bookseller in Northcote.  As always Howard greeted me upon entering his charming little store.  Full of plenty of hardback first editions and hundreds of great quality paperbacks, it wasn't long before I found a paperback to purchase (see end of this post).  It was also great to see other people inside scouring the shelves too.  Just a final note, this store is open only on weekends and also only accepts cash.

Next stop was Already Read Bookshop in North Fitzroy.  I only took one photo inside the store as it's very compact, and it was busy with plenty of other people also looking for books to purchase.  The Crime & Thrillers section was still near the front cash register, but as the store is so well organised, they would have been easy to find anyway.

After a short drive I ended up at Through The Looking Glass bookshop in Fitzroy.  Yet again another busy secondhand bookstore full of people, which was great to see.  

Heaps of paperbacks and hardbacks, some stored low and others high.  There was also a glass cabinet near the entrance which included a couple of Jonathan Cape Bond hardbacks as well as some book club editions.  I haven't previously visited this store but I'll definitely return soon to see what new acquisitions they might have for sale.  The owner was very friendly and explained they also have two other stores in Sassafras and Belgrave.

Next up was Brunswick Seconhand Books in... Brunswick.   There's a table of cheap paperbacks out on the street, and up a short flight of stairs are four or five rooms full of hardbacks and paperbacks of all categories.  

This store had lots of older paperbacks available as well as plenty of modern titles.  The shelves were packed but well sorted and the rooms separated the categories.

There were also plenty of customers browsing the shelves, although I did manage to avoid them in my photos.

Second last stop was Golden Bowl Books in Coburg, or at least that's where it was last time I visited.  This time there was just an empty store.  According to their website they're now located at Market Fair Preston which I'll have to visit in the future.

Final stop, Lobos Collectables in Thornbury.   Sure they have some science fiction books in store, but I've never seen any Bond's.  However they don't have some Bond collectables and today was no exception with some Gilbert toys from the 1960's, many still on cards, and a few scale model Aston Martins.

And my sole purchase for the day, a copy of Ian Fleming's "From Russia With Love" published by Pan Books in 1976.  This book features in the Still Life Series.  It was in such good condition, and apparently unread, that I couldn't go past it.

Mornington Lions Club Book Fair

Every year my wife and I attend the annual Lions Club of Mornington Book Fair.  It's held in a big room full of thousands of books on trestle tables.  My wife loves attending because it's really well organised with great quality books alphabetised by author.

Entry is by gold coin donation (either $1 or $2) and the books are $3 each.  I'm not sure if it's because of the current "cost-of-living crises" however there were definitely more book hunters today than previous years.

While I've been fortunate to pick up a couple of Bond paperbacks in the past, even if they were doubles, I had no such luck today with only these two titles found which I left for someone else to purchase.

We did manage to purchase four non-Bond books for my father-in-law though and my wife picked up three books for herself.  So it was a successful book hunt for some... and I'll be holding out to visit again next year and hopefully have more luck myself.

The book fair continues tomorrow till 4pm.

Ps. I did score a snag in bread from the Lions Club sausage sizzle just as we were leaving.  Yum !

"By Royal Command" Puffin Books Postcard

Back in 2008 Puffin Books released a series of free postcards promoting many of their recent releases aimed at children and yound adults.  One of those postcards was for Charlie Higson's Young Bond novel "By Royal Command".  It featured a photo of the cover from the hardback edition, as can be seen on the example below that I recently acquired.

I'm not sure which book stores had these postcards available at the time.  Perhaps one of my readers might know?  Regardless I never saw them here in Australia.

Coincidentally, Charlie Higson's name has again hit the James Bond socials recently.  Just a few days ago, on April 1, Ian Fleming Publications announced that the next James Bond novel "King Zero" will be published later this year, authored by Mr Higson.  Here's an image of the cover...

A mysterious sounding title, and an interesting synopsis, make this novel's release a highly anticipated event.

Young Bond Promo Book

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...

Another 20th Anniversary Edition From Puffin Books

Charlie Higson's first Young Bond novel "SilverFin" was released 20 years ago this year.  To celebrate this event, Puffin Books have released not one but two anniversary editions almost simultaneously.

As previously mentioned the first edition was limited to just 300 copies, signed by the author and available exclusively through Ian Fleming Publications.

Then on February 3rd a general release anniversary edition was released.  I ordered my copy through the independent book store Benn's Books in East Brighton and it arrived in great condition last week.

Here's some photos of the later edition featuring a cover design based on a previous design by Kevin Walker.

And here's the two editions side by side for comparison.

It's amazing that Puffin Books have published two different 20th anniversary editions.   I'm not aware of this happening before in the Bond literary world.  I've even created a new page on PizGloria.com to display the three anniversary editions now in my collection.  Let's hope this pattern continues for other Young Bond titles.

PizGloria Celebrates 14 Years !

Today is the 14th anniversary of the launch of PizGloria.com.  I'm both pleased and very appreciative to everyone who has visited my website and I hope you enjoyed your time there and found it an interesting James Bond resource.

As usual I've gathered some stats from Google Analytics (GA4) for the last 12 months.  In total 6,420 users visited the website in the last year with an average duration of 1 minute and 6 seconds.  Also, most visitors directly accessed the website (they weren't referrals).

And while I was gathering these stats two people were active users (one in the UK and the other in the USA).  Soon they were joined by a third person from the USA, and all three remained active while I gathered these stats, which took at least 10 minutes as I still find GA4 a little hard to navigate.

That's all the interesting stats I could find.

As for PizGloria.com itself, I'm currently in the process of making it appear a little more modern and fresh, so apologies if there's some features not working 100%.

And if you haven't visited in a while, feel free to check it out again soon as I've added several new pages in the last year (see What's New for more details).  Also, all new book covers scanned have the 3D book view.  Eventually I'll retrospectively rescan all my older books so they will all have the 3D book view.

Thanks again, cheers Baz

ps. Thanks to my beautiful wife too for putting up with my collecting and purchasing.  We have spent many hours together visiting book shops around the world and your patience is amazing!

"SilverFin" 20th Anniversary Edition Arrives

Back in December 2025 I posted that Ian Fleming Publications were releasing a new paperback edition of Charlie Higson's "SilverFin" to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its publication.  Today I received a copy of this edition in the mail, one of only 300 available.  

Published by Puffin Books, this edition has also been signed by Mr. Higson.  And the new cover design is, in my opinion, very mature looking for a "Young Bond" novel.  But you can be the judge from the photos below.  Personally I like it.

Merry Christmas 2025

Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope you had a great day with friends and family.

Santa was very kind to me this year as I received a few James Bond related books.

The first two presents were from my wife, two Raymond Benson proofs.  "Never Dream Of Dying" is from 2001 while "The Man With The Red Tattoo" is from 2002.  They're lovely additions to my collection and not that common.  They've also been signed by the author.

My second gift was from my parents, a Goldsboro edition of Vaseem Khan's "Quantum Of Menace".  This limited blue edition, again signed by the author, is a fabulous hardback.

"SilverFin" Graphic Novel Promo Item

Ian Fleming Publications has announced the release of a special 20th anniversary paperback edition of Charlie Higson's "SilverFin".  Published by Puffin Books, this "Young Bond" novel will be limited to just 300 copies, each signed by the author.  It also has this fresh new cover as seen below.  I've already ordered my copy, so if you're interested I suggest you reserve yours ASAP as they look like they're disappearing from the shelves fast.

Coincidentally, I received these promotional items yesterday after purchasing them online recently.  They were printed in 2008 when "SilverFin" was first published as a graphic novel (shown in the centre).  

This copy has been signed by the author Charlie Higson and artist Kevin Walker.  

I have a few "Young Bond" promo items now and plan to create a new page on PizGloria.com displaying all these items soon.

"Quantum Of Menace" Paperback Available

I recently discovered online that Australian book stores were listing the trade size paperback of Vaseem Khan's "Quantum Of Menace" as now available.  So Thursday after work I visited my local "Dymocks" and "Cook & Young".  Neither were physically stocking it yet.

Next I visited "QBD", which had already closed for the day, and though their security roller-door I could see copies on their shelves.  I managed to grab this photo.  The book in question is left of centre, featuring a red cover with a large white "Q".

It felt like I was getting closer...

Then I visited the books section in "Big W"...

... and couldn't believe how many copies were available for sale.  Two separate stacks existed in different locations on their shelves.  I counted 20 copies !

I can't recall the last time I saw so many copies of one James Bond related novel in a store.  I checked and as suspected this edition was printed in Australia.  Expect to see an update to the Australian Editions page soon.

Either the publisher has high hopes for this novel, or there was an ordering mistake, but regardless I hope "Quantum Of Menace" does well in Australia.

Visit To Dymocks Melbourne

The team at my work had an early Christmas lunch today in the City.  Afterwards I had some time to visit the Dymocks Melbourne store.  

I had a search in the Fiction and Crime/Thriller categories but couldn't find any of the new Raymond Benson, Vaseem Khan or Kim Sherwood novels featuring James Bond characters.  I've heard Kim's second novel from her Double O Series is having a second paperback printing, but it appears the other two novels haven't made it from the UK yet.  

There were still plenty of Ian Fleming novels though, including the latest hardbacks from Ian Fleming Publications which I haven't seen on Australian shelves before.

There were also a couple of film related books about Bond as well as the latest edition of John Pearson's "James Bond - The Authorised Biography".

It's great to see so much Bond on Aussie shelves at the moment with more to come.

And finally, a couple of photos of the soon to be opened Metro tunnel:

Raymond Benson And James Bond Are Back !!!

Raymond Benson wrote six James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003, plus three film novelisations.  Many consider his interpretation of Bond an update for a new generation of readers.

22 years later Raymond has re-entered the Bond literary world with a new novel titled "The Hook And The Eye" featuring the character Felix Leiter originally created by Ian Fleming.

Last week I received a copy of this novel signed by the author himself.  The book was published by Ian Fleming Publications and generously sent from the U.K. by another Bond book collector, Peter C.

Another paperback with a really interesting cover design (plus a great bookmark) to add to my collection.  And the reviews I've seen online from people who've already read the novel have been very positive too.  Let's hope this is the first of many Felix Leiter novels from Raymond Benson, and I think it's great to have him back.

Second Time Lucky

In January of this year I found a copy of a book for sale online I'd been hunting for several years.  Prior to handing over my credit card number I'd studied the photos and asked the seller the usual questions: Any inscriptions?  What's the spine like?  Is it ex-library?  Needless to say the copy they'd promised was not the copy that arrived...

... and luckily they offered me a full refund.

Fast forward to last month and I finally found another copy for sale.  It arrived a week ago and upon opening the well packed parcel I discovered there were no library stamps this time!

Published in the U.K. by Mammoth Books, "As Good As Gold" was written by Dave Morris in 1993.  It was released to coincide with the James Bond Jr. cartoon series on TV screens at the time.

There were several other children's books published featuring this character in the early 1990's.  All are included on PizGloria.com but this is the only "Choose Your Own Adventure" type book released.

Here's the two copies I now own, however the ex-library placeholder on the left can go now.

For further details I created this new page on my website.  Apart from colouring books I believe I now have all the James Bond Jr. books ever published.