27 replies to this topic

[Thunderbird]

Don't get excited - I don't (yet) own any Fleming firsts, but I think I do have the O F Snelling James Bond: A report in the original hardcover 1st edition.

My question is this; how do you tell if a book you have is a 1st edition, 1st printing? Will it state that specifically, or do you just go by the date and lack of reprint information?

Sorry for the dumb question.....

[Blue Eyes]

One of the things I recently learnt is that there may be a string of numbers, perhaps 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. This will indicate that it's the first printing because 1 is the first number.

Despite that, I'm sure someone will be able to expand on it.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Originally posted by Thunderbird
Sorry for the dumb question.....

No such thing as a dumb question, only dumb answers.

Anyway, what Dan says is how I also use to detect if it is a 1st printing, but I think most books generally say that it's a first pinting on the page where the print history is normally located. Could be wrong about that though, the print history may not be included until the second run.

[Thunderbird]

All it has is a copyright date of 1964, and the printer's name and address.

I have a feeling it is the reel-deel but I'm not sure. I picked it up for 15 quid (about 22 US) and I have seen 1st's on ABE for about 85 sterling. Not that I'm going to sell it...

I also have an early copy of Thrilling Cities, the rare Book of Bond by Bill Tanner aka Kingsley Amis, also the James Bond Dossier ibid and various copies of all the Fleming books, except, for some reason, CCBB!

[Mister Asterix]

Check Bondian.com. They have details of all of the first editions and will give you some clues on what to look for to tell if the book is a true first edition. For instance for The Man With The Golden Gun they list 4 different first British hardback editions. Listed as such:

from Bondian.com's listing of The Man With The Golden Gun

British hardcover editions

• London: Jonathan Cape. First British edition. 1st printing: 1 April 1965. [18s]
  Black boards, with a gun stamped in gold on the front cover. Jacket artwork by Richard Chopping. The stamp on the front cover is an extremely uncommon variant. The publishers recalled the printing upon discovering that the front cover stamp tended to unacceptably oxidize. The recall was not entirely successful, however, since copies of the book had already been sold in South Africa, Kenya, Australia and New Zealand.
  
• London: Jonathan Cape. First British edition. 1st printing: 1 April 1965. [18s]
  Black boards. Jacket artwork by Richard Chopping. Most likely the first state of the first edition, with the title all on one line on the title page (as in the uncorrected proof). White endpapers.
  
• London: Jonathan Cape. First British edition. 1st printing: 1 April 1965. [18s]
  [/1]Black boards. Jacket artwork by Richard Chopping. Most likely the second state of the first edition, with the title split between two lines on the title page.[/1]
  
• London: Jonathan Cape. First British edition. 1st printing: 1 April 1965. [18s] Image
  Black boards. Jacket artwork by Richard Chopping. The common state of the first edition, with green end papers.
  
• London: Jonathan Cape. 2nd printing: ...

[Thunderbird]

Yep, found it and it is a first edition 1st print hardcover. Excellent!

It's here: http://www.bondian.c...tml?id=41205368

[Thunderbird]

Incidentally, I also have a rare editor's proof of the Letters of Ann Fleming, which contains many letters to and from Ian. It's an interesting read - and insight into their relationship.

[Jim]

Interesting article in The Book Collector (or something like that - only bought it for the Bond cover, even if it did have that plastic charlatan on the front), which concentrates on the Gardner and Benson books and their respective monetary and artistic values.

Apparently the UK 1st Ed of "Cold" is worth something like

[Thunderbird]

Isn't The Book Collector the magazine that Fleming himself used to own? I know he did own one once...

[Jim]

Maybe - if I can relocate the magazine I'll confirm what the position is.

NB - the age of the book isn't a factor - the print run of Licence Renewed was apparently massive, so there are tons of first editions kicking about and even a good one is about a tenner

[Thunderbird]

I thought so - Buys the journal 'Book Collector' from Lord Kemsley (Summer 1955).

I wonder if it is the same one...?

[zencat]

[quote]Originally posted by Jim
Interesting article in The Book Collector (or something like that - only bought it for the Bond cover, even if it did have that plastic charlatan on the front), which concentrates on the Gardner and Benson books and their respective monetary and artistic values.

Apparently the UK 1st Ed of "Cold" is worth something like

[Jim]

Still trying to find it, Zenkie - think it was October (i.e. September) issue. What was most interesting was it's one of the very (very) few examples of non-fan generated writing about Gardner and Benson. It's as if they hadn't been marketed properly...

(The author of the article was very pro-Benson. He has turned me pro-Benson in so far as my first edition TND novelisation will pay my mortgage for two months!)

[Thunderbird]

If you hang onto it it might pay a whole year eventually...

[zencat]

I checked bookfinder and the TND novelization goes for 400/500 bucks. Amazing.

I'm going to go on a serious hunt for this mag as it's the first in-print price guide to the Benson and Gardner books that I've ever heard of. Any info would be greatly appreciated, Jim.

[Jim]

When I find it, I'll let you know - moving house at the moment; magazine could be anywhere...

[zencat]

I love this topic.

I remember the soaring values of the GoldenEye and TND hardcovers caused a real run on the TWINE hardcover in '99. There were rumors that it was "sold out" pre-publication...copies started selling at $150 right out of the gate... But now the TWINE hardcover is very common and has not really gone up in value. I never heard what the print run was on this book, but it seemed to be much higher than the other titles. Ironically, there is a 2nd edition of the TWINE hardcover (in which the writing credits have been changed) and THAT'S the far rarer book.

Thus far there's been little hype (or panic) about the DAD hardcover, but this might be because of the over-reaction to TWINE. With first editions I've found only time will tell which become truly "rare."

(FYI: Thunderbird, I do own all the Firsts, US and UK, so feel free to contact me if you need any info.)

[Tehuti 004]

Anyone know where one might find some 1st editions?

[Thunderbird]

Rare book dealers - try http://www.abebooks.com

[Tehuti 004]

Thanks Thunderbird, but the problem with that for me, is that most of the good deals or books I would like, are in the US. And me being in the UK doesn't help.

I have found quite a few good deals in the UK, but as I said, the best are in the US.

[zencat]

Originally posted by Jim
When I find it, I'll let you know - moving house at the moment; magazine could be anywhere...

Hey, Jim, I tracked down the mag. It was the Nov. 2002 issue of Book and Magazine Collector. Here's a pic.

[Thunderbird]

[quote]Originally posted by Tehuti 004
Thanks [B]Thunderbird, but the problem with that for me, is that most of the good deals or books I would like, are in the US. And me being in the UK doesn't help.

I have found quite a few good deals in the UK, but as I said, the best are in the US.

[Tehuti 004]

Yeah I will try and get somthing from there. Need a bit more funding though.

[General Koskov]

This has got me interested in my just-bought-five-minutes-ago James Bond and Moonraker, which says 'First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape in 1979' and my book is a Triad/Panther paperback (with the painting of Rog flying up into orbit) which is an 'imprint' of Cape.

Anyway, I doubt this is a first, but I thought I'd ask anyway since i found some pretty neat editions of the Fleming books whilst looking for JBAM.

One was a MR paperback with a photo of some cards at a table with a leather chair in which some sort of sandwich (?!?!?) is seated, wrapped in a towel. Weird, but it made be think of buying it, so i guess it did its job!

[mrmoon]

I have various prints of all the fleming novels all twice and some 3/4 times. They range from prints in the 50's thru to the seventies, I think the earliest I have is a second edition (possibly third) of You Only Live Twice. Unfortunately no first editions but I do have some prints with pretty nifty cover art - can anyone enlighten me as to the rarest cover art of any of the fleming novels?

One of my favourites is an edition of the Live and Let Die novel released in 1973 to coincide with the movie, the cover artwork is here

front
http://www.artofjame.../lald_front.jpg

back
http://www.artofjame...s/lald_back.jpg

here are a few of the books I have - images from the wonderful www.artofjamesbond.com

http://www.artofjame...rbacks/lald.jpg

http://www.artofjame...erbacks/mr2.jpg

http://www.artofjame...erbacks/dn1.jpg

http://www.artofjame.../drnosignet.jpg

http://www.artofjame...acks/cr_pan.jpg

http://www.artofjame...cks/daf_pan.jpg

http://www.artofjame...ks/fyeo_pan.jpg

http://www.artofjame...acks/tb_pan.jpg

http://www.artofjame...s/tswlm_pan.jpg

http://www.artofjame...s/ohmss_pan.jpg

http://www.artofjame.../tmwtgg_pan.jpg

http://www.artofjame...ks/yolt_pan.jpg

http://www.artofjame...backs/mr_sl.jpg


I might see if I can find time to scan in some of my other fleming novel covers that aren't around on the internet.

[zencat]

Originally posted by General Koskov
This has got me interested in my just-bought-five-minutes-ago James Bond and Moonraker, which says 'First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape in 1979' and my book is a Triad/Panther paperback (with the painting of Rog flying up into orbit) which is an 'imprint' of Cape.

Anyway, I doubt this is a first, but I thought I'd ask anyway since i found some pretty neat editions of the Fleming books whilst looking for JBAM.

Sounds like what you have there is a first paperback edition of JAMES BOND AND MOONRAKER. Like it says, the hardcover first (which is the "true first") was published by Cape and looks like this:

[General Koskov]

Interesting that both James Bond, The spy who loved me and James Bond and Moonraker have such 'un-filmish' pictures for the hardcover editions, yet they are novelisations.

So that leaves me with the question: what's up with the lame DAD cover?

[zencat]

It is interesting, and it does make me mad that they don't do a more artist cover for the hardbacks anymore. They had their ******* together back in the '70s. Today it's all mega-marketing.