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.

Coronet "Dr No" And "From Russia With Love" Cover Variations

For the first time in the 1980's a series of James Bond paperbacks was published that not only featured the original 14 Ian Fleming titles but also many titles by continuation authors.  This fine series was published by Coronet, and there were two titles in particular that stand out to me for their variant covers.  

The first is "Dr No.  Almost all printings of this title feature a spider on a black background.  That is, except for the now well known 9th edition which features a woman's hand (Honey Rider's ?) holding a knife on a blue background.  A full explanation for this anomaly can be found on The Book Bond website.  

However there are also other subtle variation covers for this Coronet title.  They all relate to the author's name at the base of the cover.  The standard text is grey embossed, but there's also white embossed and grey flat (the latter two being 14th printings).  I have found no explanation for these changes which appear to be more than just printing errors. Regardless, the four covers all have the same barcode: 9780340418994 00599 and ISBN: 0340418990.

The other Coronet title with cover variations is "From Russia With Love".  While there was no completely different cover image published, there were again changes made to the author's name text at the base of the cover.  All editions of "From Russia With Love" feature what looks like a Faberge Egg exploding.  But while almost all covers have grey embossed text with the barcode: 9780340425626 00599 and ISBN: 0340425628 strangely the 6th edition has metallic looking silver foil flat text with the barcode: 9780340723418 00599 and ISBN: 0340723416.  Even the spine on this edition has the silver foil !

I'm really curious about these cover variations and why they exist.  I wonder if there are more subtle differences for this Coronet series out there ?  And I'm also puzzled if Coronet was prepared to play with cover text styles why they didn't fix a glaring mistake with this series in subsequent printings, the omission of the image from the spine of "Live And Let Die", the only cover as such ?

I will be keeping an eye out for any further cover differences in this series.  But I would like to thank John F. who sent me an email in 2012 alerting me to many of these cover variations.  It has only taken 10 years to acquire them all.

"Silverfin" ESL Edition

Tonight I visited Dymocks book store in Camberwell to pick up a new addition to my book collection.  A week ago I'd ordered an ESL (English Second Language) copy of Charlie Higson's young James Bond adventure "Silverfin" and earlier today I was alerted my special order had arrived.

The book is only 64 pages so it's pretty thin.  Published in 2021 by Penguin in the UK, it's basically a savagely abridged black-and-white graphic interpretation of Charlie Higson 2005 novel.

I've checked the web and this appears to be the only book in this series so far, but hopefully more will follow.

Finally, I could have easily ordered the book from an on-line book site however it was great to have supported a family owned business instead.

"For Special Services" Berkley/Charter Variations

Another day... another parcel.  

This time it contained a copy of John Gardner's "For Special Services" published in the US by Berkley in 1986.  

As far as I'm aware the four different slight cover variations below are all that were available for this title from Berkley/Charter in the 1980's, but I'm sure I'll be proven wrong.

1) Berkley - International Edition - RRP $2.95 - December 1982 with the cover tag-line

"The International Bestseller - Now In Paperback".  Publisher details top right.

The following three copies all have the same cover tag-line "The New York Times Bestseller".

2) Berkley - RRP $3.50 - April 1983 - Silver silhouette.  Note also the slight change of position of the silhouette compared to the other covers here. Publisher details top right. 

3) Berkley - RRP $3.95 - June 1986 - Black silhouette.  Publisher details middle left.

4) Charter - RRP $4.50 - July 1987 - Black silhouette.  Publisher details middle left.

And here's the four covers together: