William Morrow - James Bond Set From 2023

Back in 2023 the U.S. publisher William Morrow released a new set of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.  Predominantly black in colour, these simple in design covers look much better in the flesh than they ever have online.

I tried to purchase the complete set last year.  They're not available on book shelves here in Australia so I had to order them from the U.S..  I chose an online book retailer, and when half the order arrived, most of the books were damaged.  I cancelled the rest of the order and the retailer kindly offered a full refund.

Roll forward to a few weeks ago when I reluctantly ordered the books again, this time through Readings Books, an independant book store here in Victoria.  Today the books arrived...

With great trepedation I opened the box and unwrapped the books one-by-one... and to my great relief they've all arrived safely.  Apart from some minor shipping bumps and scuffs  the books are still in excellent condition.  Eventually once I've scanned them all they'll appear on this page of my website.

Here's a few pics:

Addendum: It turns out I ordered the wrong copy of one title.  I'll let you work it out from the photos above.  Looks like I'll have to order a copy of the correct edition now.  Slightly frustrating but it was 100% my mistake !!!

Latest US James Bond Series

Back in 2024 William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins in the US, released all 14 Ian Fleming - James Bond adventures in a new paperback series.  The predominantly black covers feature the text "James Bond" at the top, then the book's title, the text 007 with colour images inside both the zeroes and then the author's name.

Compared to the cover designs for the Ian Fleming Publication paperback series released in the UK in 2023, I initially found these William Morrow covers slightly lacking in creativity, however I am warming to them.  No one can say they aren't bold in design.  

I also realised recently the cover font, while a little jarring at first glance, may have been inspired by the font used on this 1967 Italian poster for "You Only Live Twice".  But I guess that's a question for the cover designers.

Here's a comparison:

Two other Ian Fleming titles were also published with similar cover designs; "Thrilling Cities" and "The Diamond Smugglers".  At the time of writing this blog post I had already received a copy of "Thrilling Cities" by mail, however...

Since their release last year I've been trying to acquire this series.  But as I live in Australia they can only be purchased from the US and postage costs are prohibitive.  Finally I bit the bullet and purchased them online from a large book selling company, as it meant I would be saving hundreds of dollars compared to other book retailers.  Sadly they arrived not in a good way.  

Of the initial 9 books delivered, 5 were damaged enough for me to have to return them.  I was so disappointed.

Here's three of the titles I returned showing spine lean and scraped edges.  Not what you want for brand new books.  There were also several creases and bumps.  Sure they were readable, but I know I won't be reading them.  They arrived in five different thin cardboard parcels, and while I'm pleased the parcel material was environmentally friendly, it offered no protection at all.  A simple box stuffed with newspaper would have been so much more effective.

Ok, enough of my whinging.  The online company was very efficient in offering free returns and allowed me to cancel the remaining books which hadn't been despatched at that stage.  So no complaints there.  I guess I'll have to pay a little more to get the remaining books in the series.