New "Dr No" ESL Copy

Like all book collectors there are several books in my collection that I hope to eventually upgrade to a better copy.  One of those is an ESL (English second language) copy of "Dr No" published by Hutchinson Bulls-Eye as it has several creases down the centre of the front cover.  So when I saw a cheap copy of the same book for sale online the other day I snapped it up.  Free postage was a bonus, probably because the book is so thin.

My new copy arrived last week.

Here's a photo of both copies, the copy on the left with the obvious cover creases.  I have also updated the cover image on PizGloria.com.  I'm glad to no longer have to search for this cover now.

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.

A Couple More Additions

In the last week I've acquired two new James Bond books for my collection.  One I received in the mail.  The other was a surprise discovery during a routine visit to Dymocks bookshop in the City.

The first book which arrived from the UK was a hard back copy of "Forever And A Day" written by Anthony Horowitz and published by Jonathan Cape.  This edition is sold exclusively by Goldsboro Books, has blue edges, includes the author's signature and is limited to just 750 copies.  It's a lovely copy and is the third copy I now own of this title.  My previous blog entry includes the other two.

The second book was a paperback version of Ian Fleming's "Dr No" published by Vintage Books.  It was reprinted as part of a new "Heroes And Villians" series.  The cover is a little unusual, as is the size of the book, but it looks great when shown with other matching covers from different authors.  This is the only Bond title included in this set.

And finally, here's a photo of the entrance to the City Dymocks store which is undergoing renovations and I might say already looking great.  I was in the City with my wife and sister-in-law to see a fantastic performance of "The Wizard Of Oz" at the Regent Theatre.  No relevance to James Bond but I've included some photos anyway.

South Australian Holiday - Part 1 of 2

Back in October of last year my wife and I drove to South Australia for a short holiday.  The trip took 8 hours and when we arrived in Adelaide there had been a major storm the night before and the power to the City had only just been restored.  Fortunately during our entire holiday we didn't encounter any of this bad weather so we were very lucky.

Our hotel was located just near Rundle Mall which had plenty of fine shops for my wife to visit.

While walking around this beautiful City we visited Adelaide Central Market.  This is the location of Central Market Books and the owner's name is Barry.  I spoke to him for a while and then checked out the James Bond books on his shelves and ended up purchasing two.  One was "Ian Fleming: The Man With The Golden Pen" by Richard Gant.  I'd seen this book before but I didn't have this particular copy.  The second book was a Pan copy of "You Only Live Twice" by Ian Fleming covered in the rare movie tie-in dust wrapper.  The wrapper wasn't in great condition but still a great purchase none-the-less.

We then continued walking around the busy market and came across another second-hand book store named Adelaide's Pop-Up Bookshop. The owners were really nice and very informative.  I ended up purchasing a Pan Books "Casino Royale" by Ian Fleming (second edition) and a Jonathan Cape copy of "The James Bond Dossier" by Kingsley Amis.

Leaving Central Market we then made our way to Michael Treloar Antiquarian Booksellers.  This is a really well maintained book store with lots of rare books.  I spoke to one of the gentleman behind the counter and was informed that the only Fleming they currently had on their shelves was a Jonathan Cape first edition of "You Only Live Twice".   It was a nice copy but I let it go.

Just five minutes walk from Michael Treloar's store is Adelaide Booksellers.  On entering the doorway there are stairs to the right which lead down to a subterranean basement.  The store is really clean and well organised, however there were no James Bond books on this visit.  And as is the owner's prerogative, on asking if I could take some photos of his store he replied "No", so I could only take these photos below.

New Morning Books is only a short walk from Adelaide Central Market and is well worth a visit.  There are loads of books, all well priced and the books cover a huge range of subjects.  I managed to find the three James Bond novels shown below.  This is definitely the type of store where anything could be lurking in a wrong spot on a shelf so it took us a while before we finally left.

A photo of central Adelaide including the tram to Glenelg.

Our walk in Adelaide literally went full circle.  We ended up at the Antique Market directly over the road from the Central Market where we'd started.  As usual there were a lot of books in the back room (somehow this store is linked to Michael Treloar's store I believe) and I ended up purchasing this really nice copy of the Pan movie-tie in of "Dr. No" from 1962. 

There ended our book walk of Adelaide.  I've got to say it's a great city to visit.  It's very quiet, relaxed and has some interesting old architecture.  

My wife and I then drove to Kangaroo Island and visited some other towns and second-hand book stores in South Australia which are detailed in Part 2.

Jonathan Cape "Dr No" Received

Back in March my brother visited a second-hand book store and found a hardback copy of Ian Fleming's "Dr No" on the shelf.  He managed to purchase it for $40. Recently he dropped it off at my house and I paid him for it.

So now as I have the book in my possession I can add some photos.  It's a Jonathan Cape second edition published in 1958, has a dancing lady under the dust jacket, and the back of the dust jacket has a little foxing.  But overall it's a great book purchased at a bargain price, especially as the book is almost 60 years old.