James Bond, eh? 007 Is Out Of Copyright In Canada, And What That Means

Here's an interesting one. In Canada, copyright in a book expires just 50 years after the author's death. Ian Fleming died in 1964. So, as of January 1st 2015, the James Bond books entered the public domain in Canada.

So, if you want to publish your own editions of Fleming's novels, go right ahead. If you want to publish your own Bond stories, feel free. (They have to be based on the Fleming books only mind, you can't include anything created for the films, so Blofeld can't have a white pussy, for example.) And if you want to put on a stage adaptation of Casino Royale, as a mate of mine in Victoria is actually doing next month, the Ian Fleming Estate can't stop you. But only if it's in Canada (or one of the other countries where the term is 50 years). The minute whatever you're doing is available outside those territories, in the UK or Europe for example, where the term is 70 years, or the USA, where it's 95, you can expect some serious Cease and Desisting.

Quite what the Estate will make of the book pictured above, surely just the first of many new 'James Bond, eh?' titles, being advertised on Amazon.ca, a website visible to people outside Canada, who can (presumably) also order it, remains to be seen...

The publisher ChiZine says:

An anthology of collected stories from various Canadian authors, based on Ian Fleming's fourteen published Bond novels, edited by Canadian genre authors Madeline Ashby and David Nickle. To be published in Canada only.

'Published' in Canada only: fair enough. It's not listed on Amazon.com or co.uk. But will Amazon.ca ship copies outside Canada? And even if they won't, if I get my mate to send me a copy, will it be seized by customs?

There's also these fan fiction novels by Mike Sparks. I wonder if the Fleming Estate Powers That Be have had a quiet word about not shipping copies outside the country?

In the meantime, any Canadians who fancy getting all 14 Fleming Bond books on their Kindle can now do so, for very little outlay.

The first Bond novel was re-titled for this first US paperback edition.
Moonraker became 'Too Hot to Handle'!

How To Buy A Set Of James Bond First Editions For Less Than The Price Of A New Car. Or Indeed House.

The short answer is that you can make me an offer on this lot... Are they all first edition, first impressions? Of course not. That would be tens of thousands of pounds... I'd be happy to part with these for very considerably less than that...

Casino Royale, Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun (with its super-rare gun stamped on the front board) are First Edition Library facsimiles. The rest are all Cape 1st/later impressions (apart from Thunderball and Octopussy, which are 1st/1sts) with good quality repro jackets.

The real draw is the condition. All of them are clean and sharp, and there's only one name inscription (in You Only Live Twice). None are ex-library, which is pretty remarkable, as the vast majority of these later hardcover printings often ended up in libraries (if James Public wanted to buy a copy, they'd get one of the PAN paperbacks). If later printings of many books are anything to go by, then I'd wager that several of these later impressions had *lower* print runs than the first printings, so technically some of these could be *rarer* than the 1st/1sts! Hey, it's a point of view.

The Gardners and Bensons are all 1st/1sts (bar No Deals, Mr Bond, which is a 1st/2nd), all in VG+ to Fine condition, and some, as you'll see, are signed. Actually 4 of the Bensons are, though I've only showed one.

These'll be going on eBay soon as three big lots (all the Flemings, all the Gardners, and all the Bensons + the latest three novels), but in the meantime feast your eyes...