I have to say I've always been impressed with Goldsboro Books located in the UK. Firstly they sell fine quality limited edition hardback first printings. Secondly the books are usually signed by the author (which is very cool). Lastly, and probably most importantly, the books are carefully packed for their voyages around the world.
It's been a while since I went on a book hunt. And it was also a double great day yesterday as it was my first day out of isolation after a bout of Covid.
First stop was Abra Card Abra Roycroft Antiquarian Booksellers in Kew. I've been itching to visit this book store for years.
The store was full of potential customers which was great to see. I checked out the old Pan paperbacks downstairs where I found a copy of "You Only Live Twice".
Then I moved up the old stairs, flicked on the light switch, and perused the alphabetised hardbacks there.
There were a couple of John Gardner - James Bond titles and an Ian Fleming omnibus, but sadly no Bond novels for me today.
Next stop was the Merchant Of Fairness in Balwyn. Well that was the plan anyway. I walked back and forth along the small strip of shops next to the Palace Balwyn Cinema before I came to the realisation this bookstore is no more.
Here's a picture from my last visit in 2017.
I've been visiting the Merchant Of Fairness in all its different locations in Balwyn for many, many years so this was definitely a sad occasion. I hope the smaller Merchant is still operating at the South Melbourne Market.
Last stop was a Vinnies Op-Shop which I've had some luck at in the past. The books are well organised and there always seems to be a large selection of new titles.
However apart from a copy of Anthony Horowitz's "Trigger Mortis" there were no titles for me today.
There was a strange moment for me though while searching through the books. For a second I thought I'd found a copy of the Penguin hardback "Quantum Of Solace" from 2008....
But it turns out I was wrong. Here's a copy of the rear of the aforementioned hardback from my collection:
Tonight I unwrapped the last of my birthday presents.
This parcel contained a Companion Book Club edition of John Pearson's "The Life Of Ian Fleming". First published by Jonathan Cape in 1966 it appears this book club edition was also published the same year.
John Pearson was also the author of "James Bond: The Authorized Biography" which is featured on the PizGloria.com website as a continuation novel. That book was first published in 1973.
Well that's the end of my birthday gifts from my wife... until next year anyway.
As a postscript to my recent post on paperback cover variations of "Icebreaker" published by Coronet I just wanted to mention a comment made by Kate in the United States who was selling one of the copies. When I explained to her that the books I had purchased would be travelling to Australia her response was "These were my Dad's; he would have loved the idea of them going to Australia. Enjoy !". I doubt she'll see this post however I believe they've gone to another good home.
I recently received three parcels of books from my wife for my birthday. When my wife had asked me what I wanted for my birthday I'd suggested just wrapping the parcels of books I'd recently received in the post. The books were the result of several dives down a series of rabbit holes while online shopping.
The first parcel of books were for a particular cover of John Gardner's "Icebreaker" which I discussed in my last post.
The second parcel also contained a John Gardner title published by Coronet-General Books, this time "For Special Services". The book is shown on the left in the photo below. These two books are identical except for one point; the silver title text. The cover on the right shows what the silver text should look like. The cover on the left has misprinted silver text.
Back in 1983 when UK publisher Coronet released John Gardner's third James Bond adventure in paperback format the cover featured a white skull on a black background.
Initially I thought all first paperback printings had exactly the same cover, but several years ago I read John Cox's The Book Bond during a discussion he'd had with Dan Gale and discovered there was a slight variant cover. This cover is now known as the "white fangs variant" and can be seen as a white area in both corners of the mouth of the skull.
In the photo below the left is the "white fangs variant" while the copy on the right is the standard version.
At the same time as Coronet published these books in the UK, they were also published in Canada as Coronet - General Books. Recently I discovered exactly the same printing variation occurred there too. And two weeks ago I received one of the copies in the mail. Here are the same covers from Coronet - General Books.
And just when I thought I had all variations of this cover a fellow James Bond book collector, Ian S., sent me a message explaining he'd found another variant. I managed to find the same cover for sale online and last week this copy arrived in the mail. As you can see below the title text for this variant cover on the left is a light blue colour. While the cover on the right (a duplicated cover from above just for reference purposes) is the usual metallic title text. Again this is a Coronet - General Books printing.
On Monday my wife and I both had a day off work, so we took my parents on a mystery trip to Bendigo.
Located in central Victoria, Bendigo is a two hour drive from the City. It was built during the gold rush of the 1800's and is now a bustling city itself with a population close to 100,000. It's currently also the location of the "Elvis: Direct From Graceland" exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery.
There were so many items on display; cars, clothes, LP's, 50's and 60's merchandise, photos and personal items belonging to Elvis. There was also a collection of books from his own library. Sadly there were no James Bonds novels among them.
We spent over an hour in the gallery and on leaving we all commented how good the exhibition was. Here's a few more photos:
