Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$226.06 + shipping
Description: [James Bond] FIRST EDITION, bibliographer's copy. Small octavo (18 x 14cm), pp.111; [1]. Publisher's black cloth, gilt endpapers. Illustrated throughout. With Raymond Hawkey-designed 'reversible' book-jacket for work in the field; the pictorial dust-wrapper can be rapidly disguised as a bible. Price clipped, else a clean, fine copy. An unusual piece of Bondiana. Bill Tanner is a fictional character in the James Bond novel series, who holds the position of MI6 Chief of Staff; Fleming reveals that he is James Bond's closest friend in the service, and he was a regular character in the later continuation series by John Gardner. In 1965, Kingsley Amis wrote 'The Book of Bond' as a tongue-in-cheek manual for prospective secret agents, illustrated with examples from Fleming's novels. For this work, Amis used the pseudonym "Lt. Colonel William ('Bill') Tanner". From the collection of Ian Fleming bibliographer Otto Penzler, purchased by ourselves at Swann Auctions in 2010, with a pencil note to that effect signed by his bookseller friend and colleague Jon Gilbert. BMC No.1 p.4-13 'Fleming and Bond; Related Titles'. Ian Fleming The Bibliography pp.634, 644.
Seller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB, Royal Tunbridge Wells, KENT, United Kingdom
Price: US$871.94 + shipping
Description: [James Bond Reference] FIRST EDITION, ASSOCIATION COPY. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.159 [1]. Publisher's black cloth-effect paper over boards, with gilt titles to spine, and the pictorial dust-wrapper, based on the familiar Chopping 'trompe l'oeil' designs from the Ian Fleming first editions. Decorative bookplate, SIGNED by Amherst Villiers, also SIGNED by his daughter Janie Villers in our presence. Price clipped, else a clean, fine copy. Engineer Charles Amherst Villiers (1900-1991) designed a supercharger for the 4½ litre 'Blower' Bentley, the gearing for which was made by David Brown & Son [D.B.S.], prior to their acquisition of Aston Martin, a struggling motor company previously funded by Count Louis Zborowski. His friend Ian Fleming chose the 'blower' as James Bond's own vehicle, plus a company Aston Martin D.B.3 on assignment, and later consulted Villiers while writing Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, an adventure book about a vintage car based on Zborowski's 1920 Zeppelin-powered Mercedes. BMC No.1 p.4-13 'Fleming and Bond; Related Titles'. Gilbert, Jon; Ian Fleming: The Bibliography, page 592, see also Appendix A, page 634.
Seller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB, Royal Tunbridge Wells, KENT, United Kingdom
Kingsley Amis. The James Bond Dossier. Jonathan Cape, London, 1965.
Price: US$1085.08 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: A fine, signed copy of Kingsley Amis' analysis of the James Bond Novels. Signed by Kingsley Amis to a tipped in bookplate to the recto of front free endpaper: 'Signed for a member of the New Fiction Society'.'The James Bond Dossier' is Kingsley Amis' critical analysis of the James Bond Novels. This was the first formal literary study of James Bond as a character. It is also a literary analysis of Fleming's style and techniques.Due to Amis' commitment and respect of the series, he was later commissioned as the first continuation novelist for the James Bond novel series. He wrote 'Colonel Sun' under the pseudonym 'Robert Markham'.This work analyses the majority of the Bond canon, it only omits 'Octopussy and the Living Daylights' which was published a year later.A wonderful opportunity to own a signed copy of this first critical text on the Bond novels. In the publisher's original cloth binding. With original unclipped dustwrapper. Externally, fine. Dustwrapper is in an excellent condition. Light shelfwear to the extremities of the dustwrapper. Small loss to the head of front flyleaf and to the spine of dustwrapper at the word 'Bond'. A few light spots internally to the wrap. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright with just a few light spots to the front free endpaper. Near Fine
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom