The Two Faces of 007 (or, When Licensors Have a Quiet Word...)

Apropos of nothing much (other than a framed copy of the first version now being in stock in the Little Shop), here's a tale of the perils of dealing with Danjaq/Eon, the owners of the James Bond cinematic franchise.

Back in the 1970s, the ubiquitous Geoff Love (& his Orchestra) recorded an album of Bond theme cover versions. The LP cover was a rather bonkers piece of 'greatest hits' art, with several scenes, and actors, recognisable from various Bond films. The then-current Bond Roger Moore is front and centre of course, plus there's Ursula Andress (painted from a still from Hammer's She rather than from Dr. No, if I'm not mistaken), Sean Connery and even Telly Savalas. There's also the Aston Martin DB5, which is red, for some reason.





As this was not an 'official' release (just 'cover' versions remember, not original soundtrack recordings), the record label presumably did not get their artwork approved by the various necessary parties. Stern words were then no doubt exchanged, leading to this rather hilarious revised cover for later printings of the LP...





The DB5 is still red though... and they don't seem to have bothered repainting dear old Telly. Speaking of whom, any mention of Telly Savalas immediately necessitates linkage to this:

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'!

Vintage Pan Covers That Were

After the Vintage Books Covers That Never Were from a couple of weeks ago, here's a selection of covers from the aforementioned recently arrived shelfload of old Pan paperbacks. They have such a distinctive look, and seeing a bunch of them together only increases their appeal. There are, of course, some hardcore Pan collectors out there, none more hardcore than the curator of this mighty website, which is the (endlessly browsable) last word on the subject.

The covers below include Audrey Hepburn as painted by Sam Peffer (aka Peff), one of the best known Pan artists, particularly remembered for his James Bond work. In the years before Connery, Peff's Bond (complete with the unruly curl and vague resemblance to the American singer Hoagy Carmichael, as stipulated by Fleming in Casino Royale) was arguably *the* public image of 007. You can read more about Peff and see some of his Bond covers here.

There are also some covers by J. Oval, aka Ben Ostrick, who has been mentioned on this blog before...

Vintage Book Covers That Never Were

The Little Shop is now home to a shelfload of vintage Pan paperbacks (or will be once I've sorted them out). They're wonderful old things, all sporting covers of the 'they don't make them like that any more' variety. Except, they do. Thanks to some enterprising fans and artists, 'vintage-style pulp paperback covers for books which never had them originally' has become a very entertaining little artistic subgenre.

Speaking of Pan paperbacks, a fellow calling himself Honeypot Designs has repurposed some original art (mostly by Sam Peffer) to create some cracking James Bond covers for titles which were never in Pans of that era:

He's also done some rather good Richard Chopping pastiches. Here's the one for Solo, the most recent Bond novel:

For Doctor Who fans of a certain age, the novelisations by Target Books are possibly even more fondly remembered than the actual programmes themselves (certainly, the special effects were always better), and many talented Whovians have busied themselves providing covers to more recent stories which never got the Target treatment. There's scores of them on the web, but here's a small selection. I especially like the way that some of them change the title of the original episode to something more 'exciting', just like Target used to do:

A final mention has to go to Timothy Anderson, who has created some bang-on pulp covers for Blade Runner and Star Wars, plus poster art for the original trilogy reimagined as spaghetti westerns. Here they all are (and if you want copies for your wall, all these and more are available at his Print Store).

The Man With the Gilt-Stamped Gun: When a £100 James Bond First Edition Is Worth £10,000

The Jonathan Cape UK first editions of Ian Fleming's James Bond books are some of the most collected of all modern firsts. Even though Fleming's prose has in places become frankly somewhat dated, in both style and sensibilities (Judi Dench's M would no doubt call Fleming himself a 'sexist, misogynist dinosaur', let alone his creation), the physical books remain beautiful objects, and classics of design, especially the ones with dust jackets by Richard Chopping.

While a mint set of all 14 books as first edition, first state copies in jackets will set you back tens of thousands of pounds, there are slightly more affordable ways of building up a set that will look the same, thanks to later impressions and even modern facsimile editions of the early books.

Anyone entering the dangerously seductive world of Bond collecting will soon become immersed in the mass of arcane trivia which surrounds the first editions, and their all important 'first states': the very first copies off the presses, minus the subtle changes which were often made even during/within a first print run. Got a first edition of You Only Live Twice which says 'May 1964' on the copyright page? Then it's a not a true first. That just says '1964'. If you want a proper, first state edition of Live and Let Die, then you need one where the dust jacket has the illustrator's credit missing. Technically, the Book Club printing of From Russia With Love, not Jonathan Cape's, is the 'first impression' of that novel, because the Book Club actually used a set of sheets printed, and then rejected by Cape for being of too poor quality. They actually have the Cape imprint on the title page, but copies of this Book Club edition are worth a fraction of the 'true' Cape first. 'Go figure', as Bond would certainly not say.

As the popularity of the Bond books increased, so did the first print runs. While the first, 1953's Casino Royale, was only 4,728 copies (many of which went to libraries), the penultimate book The Man With the Golden Gun in 1965 had a whopping 82,000 copy initial printing. It's hardly surprising then that firsts of Golden Gun are still plentiful, and can be had for under £100 in very good nick. If you ever come across a copy in a charity shop or boot fair though, always slip off the dust jacket and check the front board. Like Charlie and his ticket, you're looking for a glint of gold...

While it's the most common of all the Fleming firsts, it has possibly the rarest 'first state'. The first few copies off the presses – and no one knows the exact number, though it's said to be only in the hundreds  – had a golden gun stamped onto the front board, like this:

Due to faults in the process, or the fact that it just cost too much (sources differ), the gun was dropped for the rest of the printing. So, if you can find one, you've got one of the rarest Bond books of them all, worth upwards of £10,000 in fine condition. This 'really fine' copy is £15,000! You could buy an actual gun made of actual gold for that, surely...

It's not from the film of Golden Gun, but to finish, this is for my money the best Bond one-liner of them all...

For Your Eyes Only, 1st/1st Great Pan edition, 1962 ... and a brief rumination on James Bond film titles UPDATED FOR 2019!

"Urbane savagery" says New York Herald Tribune. That's as good a two-word description of Bond as any I've read.

With Skyfall about to hit cinemas (and already getting rave reviews), this week's book is another Pan edition, though unlike the Goldfinger copy I previously blogged about, this one's a first printing, a 1st/1st of the For Your Eyes Only paperback. It's not mint, and a previous owner decided to tear the bottom corner of page 149/150 off, but it's a solid book for the price I'm asking for it. THIS IS NOW LONG SINCE SOLD.

A quick google of the cover artist, J. Oval, reveals he was actually called Ben Ostrick, and used to live in my old stamping ground, Clapham Common. Here's another of his pulp covers for Pan, as seen on the excellent Pulp International:

No, I'd never heard of it either. Or the movie version.

Though I must have seen a few on the TV, For Your Eyes Only was the first Bond film I saw in the cinema, when it came out. It's actually my favourite of the Roger Moore Bonds for that sentimental reason alone, though it is quite highly regarded by fans, and Moore himself, because after the post-Star Wars silliness of Moonraker, it was a stripped back, quite violent film, with less Moore (s)mugging and a bit more, well, urbane savagery. This scene is about as 'hard' as dear old Sir Rog got in any of his films:

 

... and in case it comes up in a pub quiz, always remember that For Your Eyes Only is the only Bond film to date in which the singer of the theme song (the so-80s it hurts Sheena Easton) appears on screen during the opening credit sequence. Yes, Madonna has a (rubbish) cameo in Die Another Day, but you don't see her on screen singing the (also rubbish) 'feem toon.'

Die Another Day was the second 007 film to have a non-Fleming title seemingly created by a James Bond Film Random Title Generator (an idea so good I had to check whether there was one, and of course, there is), the first being Tomorrow Never Dies. I suppose there's also Connery's 'unofficial' Never Say Never Again, but I always thought that had the requisite slightly bonkers Fleming ring to it. Licence to Kill, Goldeneye and The World is Not Enough are not named after a Bond novel or short story, true, but they have a Fleming connection (the meaning of 'double O', the author's house in Jamaica and Bond's family motto respectively) and are at least cool titles.

Skyfall is another non-Fleming title, and while it's easier to work into the lyrics of a song than Quantum of Solace was (though radio funsters Adam and Joe managed it), it's still verging on bland. The trouble is, there's only a handful of remaining unused Fleming short story titles, and I can't see any of them getting past marketing and onto the poster:

'The Hildebrandt Rarity' (sounds boring, or too German)

'Risico' (sounds like a board game)

'007 in New York' (what, he doesn't go anywhere else for the whole movie?)

'The Property of a Lady' (men won't want to see this movie)

I imagine marketing weren't too keen on Quantum of Solace at first, but probably didn't want to admit they had no idea what it meant, and besides, once they realised they could do this with the '007' on the poster they were happy:

If the producers want to keep it old school Fleming for the title next time around, I agree with the fans who think there's one obvious choice: use Blofeld's alias from You Only Live Twice.

James Bond will return, in... Shatterhand.

2019 UPDATE: IT LOOKS AS IF HE MIGHT, ACCORDING TO THIS ARTICLE IN THE GRAUNIAD, HERE

Goldfinger, Great Pan paperback edition (and a Moonraker melange)

A 'bread and butter' book this week: nothing to set the world on fire, not especially rare, but a nice copy of a collectable book, and an excuse to link to this (the best ever deployment of the line "Good evening Mr Bond").

I'm not a James Bond collector, luckily, as it can be an expensive business. Dustjacketed firsts are a mainstay of UK Bookfairs, and copies of the early ones in really good nick go for silly money. Add a Fleming signature and we're into the stratosphere. Bond never seems to go out of fashion, but after that Olympic cameo, and with the 50th anniversary of the first film adaptation, Dr. No, and a new movie, Skyfall, both coming up this year, I imagine the book collecting side is in pretty rude health.

I suppose there must be people out there who have gone beyond the hardback firsts and now want to collect all editions of every Bond novel (an endless task, surely), but one of the first stages on that journey must be to assemble a shelf of paperback first editions. It's by no means easy (true first printings of the paperback of On Her Majesty's Secret Service are ridiculously rare), but if you're not fussy about getting a 1st/1st – the copy I'm selling this week is a 1st/5th, for example – then you can find copies without having to break into Fort Knox (see what I did there?).

Then again, this book might find a buyer who is not a Bond collector. This chap collects Pan paperbacks. His wonderful website is both a testament to a rather scary obsession, and a very useful research tool. He's only got three Pans left to go before he has a full set. I rather hope he never makes it. (What will he feel like if he did?)

For Bond collectors though, here's the paperback motherlode: Piz Gloria (named after the location used for Blofeld's mountain base in O.H.M.S.S.) has nearly 500 different covers to pore over.

By way of illustration, here are the covers, in no particular order, for Moonraker alone (or Too Hot to Handle, as it was first called in the USA... )