Long Time Between Visits

Three weeks ago I drove to Grant's Bookshop in Cheltenham.  I hadn't visited Grant's since 2019, prior to Covid.  Grant's have hundreds of fine books in their warehouse premises, and that always includes Bond novels.

I was greeted with a friendly welcome as I entered the building and after asking about Bond novels was taken to a cabinet containing two Ian Fleming - Jonathan Cape firsts: "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball".  They looked great.

In the next room I found some cheaper Bond hardbacks as well as these paperbacks near the floor.

Plenty of Bond novels for sale, but unfortunately no purchases from me today.

My next visit was to Bound Words in Hampton, another store I hadn't visited in over a year.  I was anticipating walking into the store, seeing Ailsa sitting behind the front counter working on her computer.  She would then notice me and say "Hi.  We haven't received any new James Bond books recently but feel free to have a look anyway".   But today was different.  Sadly in my absence Bound Words bookstore was no more, replaced by a kids clothing store.

Here's a couple of photos of Bound Words from a few years ago:

A Few Previous Book Shop Visits

Here's some more book store visits I made prior to the covid lockdown here in Melbourne.  The first is Helena's Curiosity Shop in Bentleigh where Helena was most helpful in trying to find all of the Bond novels in her store.  We only managed to find the two shown but she assured me there were more to be found.

 

Next is Howard Bolton Booksellers in Northcote.  It was great catching up with Howard and browsing the Bond novels on his shelves.  Sadly I had them all but I hope Howard and his store is coping ok during these strange times.

Another book shop I visited was Bound Words in Hampton.  I remember Ailsa greeting me and commenting that she hadn't acquired any new Bond stock lately, but I had to look anyway.  There were five Bond novels on the shelves but none for me today.  I will return as soon as possible though.

Lastly, I've been reading some recent Facebook posts about Bairnsdale Bookshop with sadness.  Unfortunately this store permanently closed this week.  Bairnsdale is a fair drive from Melbourne so it's not local for me, but every time I visited Lakes Entrance or Metung I made sure to drop in.  Here's some photos from my last visit and also my last blog post of there.  I wish the store owners all the best for the future.

Secondhand Book Store Visit

I'm just on my way to the beach with my wife and sister-in-law on a beautiful Summer's day here in Melbourne.  And as we got closer to the beach I thought it might be a good idea to quickly drop in at Bound Words in Hampton.

Unfortunately no books for me today but what a fantastic day for a visit !

I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year filled with plenty of great Bond items to add to their collection.

Fantastic Find (Finally !)

On Saturday afternoon I was fortunate to visit Bound Words in Hampton.  It's a great secondhand store with a wide variety of books, and it's always clean and well organised.

As I entered the store Ailsa, who was sitting behind the counter, recognised me, smiled and said "Hi".  She then remarked "Sorry, but I don't think we have any new Bond's on the shelf".  I replied "That's a shame.  I'll have a look anyway... just in case".  And I'm glad I did because there sitting on the shelf was a copy of a book I've been searching for for at least a year.

It was a copy of "From Russia, With Love" published by Pan Books in the early 70's.  There are five books in this Pan White/Model series with a colour logo.  I already had four in the series but the fifth was proving elusive to find in good condition.

So to say I was stoked finding this copy in excellent condition was an understatement !  And as it completed the set I couldn't be happier.  I guess if there's one lesson collecting Bond paperbacks has taught me it's that there's always a book on a shelf somewhere that you don't have yet.

I'm hoping to scan this new addition to my collection and add it to the PizGloria.com website soon.