27 replies to this topic

[perdogg]

I know I am asking for a lot, but I am looking to chase down a lead to find hardback with dust jackets of the Jonathan Capes novalization at a reasonable price for my collection. I cannot believe that people are asking over $100, let alone over $5,000, for the HC w/ DJ of these two novels.

I will appreciate any help.

I have tried Amazon, Abe, Alibris, and ebay.

thank you,

[jrcjohnny99]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

[Jack Spang]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

This book doesn't have anything to do with Bond does it?

I got a hold of JB and MR and TSWLM but they are just paperbacks. Not interested in getting hardbacks. I'm not really a collector though.

[perdogg]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

This book doesn't have anything to do with Bond does it?

I got a hold of JB and MR and TSWLM but they are just paperbacks. Not interested in getting hardbacks. I'm not really a collector though.

This is what they look like

[

[Simon]

First time I have seen these covers.

How less could any covers look representative of the films they are meant to be portraying??

[Dustin]

Well, they are hardcovers, probably designed well before there was much PR material to show. If the publishers bothered at all. Hardcover film tie-ins were not a usual thing and they may just have settled with a generic design. The Moonraker one is very science fiction-y, almost in a 2000 AD fashion. I wonder what MR would have looked like had it followed that particular production design. The real film used a far less spectacular fashion for the space suits, coveralls and chucks, not really a futuristic image.

[David Schofield]

Well, they are hardcovers, probably designed well before there was much PR material to show. If the publishers bothered at all. Hardcover film tie-ins were not a usual thing and they may just have settled with a generic design. The Moonraker one is very science fiction-y, almost in a 2000 AD fashion. I wonder what MR would have looked like had it followed that particular production design. The real film used a far less spectacular fashion for the space suits, coveralls and chucks, not really a futuristic image.

As the Bond of these books is NOT Roger Moore, the style of Wood's writing deliberately more Fleming than EON (than even Gardner, Benson and Deaver), the more ludicrous elements of the films' plots omitted (particularly TSWLM), it is hardly surprising the hardback covers have little do do with movie imagery. And most oddly, considering they were novelisations, Glidrose/Cape went to considerable length together to make them "fit" with Fleming's series by publishing in hardback, along with Wood's writing of course.

And for those fans who just wanted a "book of the film" with Rog's smirking face on the cover, there was always the more prolific Panther paperbacks in the bookshops.

[Mr. Blofeld]

Glidrose/Cape went to considerable length together to make them "fit" with Fleming's series by publishing in hardback, along with Wood's writing of course.

In that case, why didn't they get Chopping to do the covers, or at least Chopping-inspired (as in the case of the five Gardner jackets after Chopping did LR)?

[Dustin]

Oh, I think there probably would have been a closer connection to images from the films if it had been possible. These two drawings have a decidedly "romance" air about them IMO, not really a staple diet of Bond iconography. They may fit into the Cape pattern size-wise but the cover art really makes them quite unique, the most unusual since Colonel Sun's and still outstanding today, some twenty continuations by different writers later.

[David Schofield]

Glidrose/Cape went to considerable length together to make them "fit" with Fleming's series by publishing in hardback, along with Wood's writing of course.

In that case, why didn't they get Chopping to do the covers, or at least Chopping-inspired (as in the case of the five Gardner jackets after Chopping did LR)?

Dunno the answer to that. Maybe they tried, maybe he wasn't available at the price Glidrose were prepared to pay. Maybe they just didn't give a about Chopping, as they appeared not to when they commissioned COLONEL SUN?

But they DID commission Bill Botten to do the harback covers, and Botten it was who followed Chopping on the Gardner Firsts after his one-off return to do LR, and maybe Botten didn't want to parody Chopping and felt like being individually creative, so go figure.

[zencat]

Unless you're lucky, you're not going to find these hardcovers cheap. They're pretty rare, especially TSWLM.

[jrcjohnny99]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

This book doesn't have anything to do with Bond does it?

I believe it has some focus on his writing of the Bond films; I dont own it so I cant speak to it at any length...anyone else?

[zencat]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

This book doesn't have anything to do with Bond does it?

I believe it has some focus on his writing of the Bond films; I dont own it so I cant speak to it at any length...anyone else?

Yes, I have it. It's an autobiography that focas mainly on his Bond work. He doesn't mention these novelizations, btw.

[jrcjohnny99]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

This book doesn't have anything to do with Bond does it?

I believe it has some focus on his writing of the Bond films; I dont own it so I cant speak to it at any length...anyone else?

Yes, I have it. It's an autobiography that focas mainly on his Bond work. He doesn't mention these novelizations, btw.

Zen; is it worth a purchase? any interesting insights into the screenwriting process?

[zencat]

You know, I really don't remember. I'm sure I posted my thoughts somewhere on these forums, but I can't never find anything using CBn's search.

[Terry]

You know, I really don't remember. I'm sure I posted my thoughts somewhere on these forums, but I can't never find anything using CBn's search.

IMHO, I believe JAMES BOND, THE SPY I LOVED is a worth while read if you would like to see the inside of how Bond films were made in the Cubby Broccoli era. Chrisopher Wood is an amusing writer and informs at the same time. I have the two afore mentioned hardbacks. Mine are used library editions and not in the best of condition. They are the same size as the old Jonathan Cape hardback editions which I always liked., they fit nicely in one's hand.

[DLibrasnow]

Zen; is it worth a purchase? any interesting insights into the screenwriting process?

The short answer is yes. There are some fascinating insights into the writing of Wood's two 007 movies together with discussion of some of the ideas that were not used (e.g. villain's base in a Norwegian fjord for example).

[Jack Spang]

Zen; is it worth a purchase? any interesting insights into the screenwriting process?

The short answer is yes. There are some fascinating insights into the writing of Wood's two 007 movies together with discussion of some of the ideas that were not used (e.g. villain's base in a Norwegian fjord for example).

Wow, those hardback covers are pretty original! Certainly better than the paperback versions I have (I'm reading JB and Moonraker now and enjoying it. I feel like I am reading about James Bond unlike with Deaver). I like the Moonraker cover. TSWLM is nice but it looks like a romance novel. The only hint we get that it's a thriller novel is the gun in the foreground. Strange. Quite surreal looking. I like that. They went to more effort back in the good old days.

I thought The Spy I Loved may have been an actual novel.

Edited by Jack Spang, 27 June 2011 - 12:53 AM.

[David Schofield]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

This book doesn't have anything to do with Bond does it?

I believe it has some focus on his writing of the Bond films; I dont own it so I cant speak to it at any length...anyone else?

Yes, I have it. It's an autobiography that focas mainly on his Bond work. He doesn't mention these novelizations, btw.

I think you might find ghe does, Zen, however briefly.

Remember he suggests how he dislikes the literary Bond but could write for the Roger Moore version but felt obliged to re-insert Fleming-Bond and the Fleming tone when he novelised Spy?

Highly recommended autobiog, with or without the "how we wrote Bond scripts by committee in the '70s" stuff. Wood has lived a very interesting life.

[Jack Spang]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

This book doesn't have anything to do with Bond does it?

I believe it has some focus on his writing of the Bond films; I dont own it so I cant speak to it at any length...anyone else?

Yes, I have it. It's an autobiography that focas mainly on his Bond work. He doesn't mention these novelizations, btw.

I think you might find ghe does, Zen, however briefly.

Remember he suggests how he dislikes the literary Bond but could write for the Roger Moore version but felt obliged to re-insert Fleming-Bond and the Fleming tone when he novelised Spy?

Well, thank god he did! That's interesting how he he dislikes the literary James Bond. I wonder why..?

[David Schofield]

These are actually super hard to find these days at any reasonable price;

Speaking of Wood; anybody ever get his book "The Spy I Loved"? and if so, any good?

This book doesn't have anything to do with Bond does it?

I believe it has some focus on his writing of the Bond films; I dont own it so I cant speak to it at any length...anyone else?

Yes, I have it. It's an autobiography that focas mainly on his Bond work. He doesn't mention these novelizations, btw.

I think you might find ghe does, Zen, however briefly.

Remember he suggests how he dislikes the literary Bond but could write for the Roger Moore version but felt obliged to re-insert Fleming-Bond and the Fleming tone when he novelised Spy?

Well, thank god he did! That's interesting how he he dislikes the literary James Bond. I wonder why..?

IIRC, it's because he didn't like Bond's 50s misoginistic/xenophobic attitude. He goes into quite a lot of detail about his views on it when he is approached to write a script for TSWLM, and contrasts between the Bond he likes - Rog's jokey version - and the one he doesn't by directly referencing Fleming's Spy novel.

As I said, Jack, definately a worthwhile read. I've read much crap on Bond in book form but Wood's autobiog is a fun read, if only because Wood seems such an interesting fellow. Bit like old IF...

[AMC Hornet]

I hate remembering that I had the chance to order these two books in '85 and I passed it up. Who needs hardcovers of novelizations? I thought at the time.

I actually held a copy of each back in '98 or so. My local library had them. If I'd been more aware and less scrupulous I would have borrowed them, 'lost' them and paid whatever replacement fee the library would have charged (which is probably exactly what someone else did when those copies disappeared not long after).

A word of advice from someone with bruises on his butt from kicking himself over this and other missed opportunities: money is a renewable resource - treat everything you want as a collectors item to justify the expense.

[Jack Spang]

"As I said, Jack, definately a worthwhile read. I've read much crap on Bond in book form but Wood's autobiog is a fun read, if only because Wood seems such an interesting fellow. Bit like old IF... "

Sounds like it! I'll see if I can get it in the library first. The only biography I have ever read is the one on Fleming by Andrew Lycett.

I can't believe I only oredered those two Wood novelizations a couple of months ago when I learnt about them back in 06. I've nearly finsished Moonraker and I am impressed how well Wood understands the Bond character. TSWLM must be something else! I really hope that the next author IFP hires will have a firm grasp on the protagonist. With Deaver it didn't even seem like I was reading about James Bond regardless of the fact that his interests and background history remained intact. He honestly almost seemed like a completely different person to me.

Edited by Jack Spang, 27 June 2011 - 10:07 PM.

[perdogg]

Glidrose/Cape went to considerable length together to make them "fit" with Fleming's series by publishing in hardback, along with Wood's writing of course.

In that case, why didn't they get Chopping to do the covers, or at least Chopping-inspired (as in the case of the five Gardner jackets after Chopping did LR)?

Dunno the answer to that. Maybe they tried, maybe he wasn't available at the price Glidrose were prepared to pay. Maybe they just didn't give a about Chopping, as they appeared not to when they commissioned COLONEL SUN?

But they DID commission Bill Botten to do the harback covers, and Botten it was who followed Chopping on the Gardner Firsts after his one-off return to do LR, and maybe Botten didn't want to parody Chopping and felt like being individually creative, so go figure.

I like the Chopping covers, eventhough a couple of them, Thunderball and from Russia with Love, really did not make sense. Why did Chopping have the Skeleton hand play blackjack on the cover instead of Chemin de Fer?

[AMC Hornet]

Why did Chopping have the Skeleton hand play blackjack on the cover instead of Chemin de Fer?

You're making an assumption there - it's just as likely to get a queen and ace (for a count of one) in Baccarat as it is in Blackjack.

As for FRWL, there's a whole story behind Chopping using Major Boothroyd's snub .38 (yes, the real Major Boothroyd) for a model. A murder was committed in England - with a .38 revolver - at the same time, and when the police interviewed Boothroyd, his excuse for not having it in his possession must have sounded rather far-fetched! Ultimately they proved that it was not Major B's custom S&W that did the killing.

Overall, that FRWL cover and Trevor Scobie's artwork for Nobody Lives For Ever are my two favorites.

Edited by AMC Hornet, 28 June 2011 - 04:30 PM.

[zencat]

Did a little ditty about these on my blog:

http://www.thebookbo...hardcovers.html

[clublos]

Large print on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...7-/200626101895

[Poor Man's JB]

I know I am asking for a lot, but I am looking to chase down a lead to find hardback with dust jackets of the Jonathan Capes novalization at a reasonable price for my collection. I cannot believe that people are asking over $100, let alone over $5,000, for the HC w/ DJ of these two novels.

I will appreciate any help.

I have tried Amazon, Abe, Alibris, and ebay.

thank you,

I'm sure you've already checked -- and that is where you saw the crazy prices -- but I know James Pickard has or had multiple copies of both and I'm pretty sure Black Cat Book Store did as well.