Raymond Benson Hardback Arrives

Today I received a first edition hardback of Raymond Benson's last James Bond adventure "The Man With The Red Tattoo" published in 2002 by Hodder and Stoughton.

Unfortunately the dust jacket is a little creased but I really can't gripe too much for the AU$12 I paid.  

In all the years I've been visiting Australian secondhand book stores I've never seen a copy of this hardback on the shelves so I reckon it's pretty rare here.  I really like the dust jacket too.

Finally, here's a photo of the rear flap which shows images of Mr Benson's five other Bond adventures.

Berkley Paperbacks Arrive

Earlier this week I received seven James Bond novels printed in the U.S. in the 1980's by Berkley Books.  I already have copies of these editions in my collection however this lot sale contained books that were described as "unread in fine condition", and on opening the box I was pleased to see the books were indeed so.

Six of the titles are by Ian Fleming, with one by John Gardner.  As soon as I can I'll scan these covers and replace the images on my website that aren't in as good condition.

I like this series simply because of the matching covers by different Bond authors.  There aren't many series featuring this crossover, the last by my recollection was a series of covers by Michael Gillette where further Robert Markham and John Gardner titles were released by the German publisher Cross Cult.  Sadly I only have one German continuation novel which is shown below.  They were all numbered in order on the spine too with this title being 15.

Lastly, if you'd like to know more info about the Berkley/Charter U.S. covers I refer you to this post by Jon Cox on The Book Bond website which was written in 2011.

PS: You may notice on the photos of the Berkley Books there's a hole punched in some of the covers.  This designated these books as remainders (ie. unsold stock) that had been returned by the bookseller to the publisher and they would have later been sold at a cheaper price.  Living in Australia any Berkley/Charter Books without these remainder marks are extremely rare.  The images of the covers on my website "may" have been photo-shopped to remove the remainder marks.

Mornington Lions Book Fair

This afternoon my wife and I visited the Mornington Lions Book Fair.  It's an annual book fair but our first visit.  

We arrived an hour before the doors closed for the day, but there was plenty of time and apparently we missed the crowds.  

The first thing we noticed was how amazingly well organised the book fair was.  There were hundreds of books in the brightly lit hall and large alphabetic letters on the trestle tables to separate the books by author's surname.  My wife and I found a number of James Bond novels or books around the character:

And I ended up purchasing these two hardbacks for $2 each.

My wife also picked up a few books and considered purchasing this title.  I'm not sure if I should be concerned !

The Mornington Lions Book Fair continues tomorrow until 4pm.  And as you can see there are plenty of Bond novels still available for anyone contemplating a visit.

Yarragon Annual Book Fair 2022

After two years absence (due to the global pandemic) the annual Yarragon Annual Book Fair returned this weekend.  My wife and I, along with my parents-in-law and sister-in-law travelled to the small Gippsland town to browse the second-hand books being sold to raise money for the local fire brigade.

On entry to the hall we were all amazed by the number of people who had also made the same journey.

My wife and I perused the many boxes of books and found the following Bond novels...

As I'm a little OCD I decided to group all the small Bond novels together in case another Bond collector decided to visit the book fair.  I only noticed the accidental position of "Never Say Never" above them when I was taking the photo.

No new Bond novels to add to my collection today however I purchased the following three unread paperbacks that were a bargain at just $1 each to add to my doubles box.

The book fair continues tomorrow, and in one years time I will return as optimistic as ever.

Ian Fleming Pan Books Variant Cover... Not !

Near my work is a small fashion pop-up store where the owner has generously placed a small box of books outside on the footpath for anyone to take for free.  I've already picked up a 1960's paperback copy of "For Your Eyes Only" similar to this one earlier this year.

Yesterday as I walked past and had a quick peruse through the box, as is my rutual, I noticed a black spine with the yellow Pan Books logo.  Immediately I thought it might be a "Colonel Sun" paperback as that is the only Bond paperback I could think of with a matching spine.  The corner of another book lay on top however I glanced the name "Fleming" and was excited.  I shuffled the books around thinking perhaps I'd found a variant Ian Fleming cover... and then uncovered this spine (Note: I moved the book for this photo):

And here's a photo of the cover:

Sadly no mystery Ian Fleming Pan Books variant today !

Malvern Toy Fair & Book Hunt

This morning I attended the Malvern Vintage & Modern Toy Fair.  Lots of action figures, lots of Star Wars, lots of toy cars... but unfortunately not much James Bond.  This is all I could find:

Sadly nothing grabbed my fancy.

Afterwards I visited Lobos Collectables in Thornbury where I noticed this "Diamonds Are Forever" lobby card.  Not sure if it's from 1971 but I thought it was good value for $15.  It was a difficult decision but I decided against buying it.

The real reason I visited Thornbury was to visit Howard Bolton Bookseller next suburb along in Northcote.  It was my first visit in about a year. 

As soon as I opened the front door Howard was behind his counter cheerfully greeting me.  And his store looked great.  

As usual he had some fine condition Bond paperbacks on his shelves.

I decided to buy two paperbacks.  The Pan "You Only Live Twice" is a paperback 1st and the Triad Panther "Colonel Sun" was in great condition.  Both books look unread.  They will go into my box of paperback doubles.  

I noticed as I was leaving there was a box set of Penguin Ian Fleming titles.  I didn't take a photo but it was this set (which I already have).  I don't see this set available for sale on shelves very often.

Finally I returned to Thornbury to visit Fully Booked.  

I was ready to be met Rallou and her husband Tadhg behind the counter however I forgot Full Booked isn't open on Sundays !  I managed to grab these photos anyway:

I will return to Fully Booked some time in the near future, on a day that does not start with the word "Sun".