Bond On The Bookshelf
A few thoughts on what constitutes a 007 library
A couple of social media posts about Bond books caught our attention this week for different reasons. But they both made us consider what exactly constitutes a 007 library.
Billy’s Bond Art posted some images on both Twitter and Instagram about kicking off a project to paint a picture of his bookcase shelves with over 100 James Bond books from his collection showing. We were honored when he posted that The James Bond Lexicon was one of the first books to be included.
A few days before we’d seen a post on one of the Bond Facebook groups (apologies we forgot to take a note of who posted it) of someone's “Fleming-reading” library in which they track down well-used and well-loved hardcover copies of the Fleming Bond novels as their regular reading copies. The photo showed a stack of books that had clearly been through the wringer - but we loved the idea that each book had its own personal history attached to it. These hadn’t been preserved to stay in mint condition, they had been read and loved, passed from hand to hand along their journey. We thought it was a lovely idea.
Over the years we’ve been lucky enough to visit the personal libraries of other Bond aficionados who are serious collectors with libraries that number in the thousands and include everything from pristine first editions, signed editions, historically significant texts, to every conceivable edition, and variant of the Bond novels published around the world.
This may be sacrilege, but last year we came to the conclusion that, although nowhere near the size of a serious collection, in fact, we didn’t really need 14 different editions of Casino Royale, and sold off many of my Flemings. Now we have just the Folio editions, the set of Coronet paperbacks we used as reference when writing The James Bond Lexicon (complete with scribbled notes in the margins), plus some odd editions that have special meaning, such as the UK Pan edition of OHMSS - the first Bond Alan bought for him self from a second-hand book store in Manchester when he was a teenager.
And of course all the comics and graphic novel collections - plus several shelves of continuation novels and non-fiction covering the worlds of Bond and Fleming. A total of just under 200 books.
That’s what works for us, it's just about the right size for our space, and our needs at the moment.
Of course, there are a lot more out there, and more Bond-related books being published almost every week it seems.
What makes a good 007 library? Whatever works for you.
Bond Briefing
A massive thank you to our first few rounds of subscribers. The reception and uptake of folks registering to receive this newsletter exceeded any expectations we had. It was a very humbling start seeing the names roll in as folks signed on.
If you haven’t yet subscribed, you can join your fellow Bond fans with a simple click on the button below. - Thanks
Alan J. Porter & Gillian J. Porter
Bond News
This week the International Spy Museum in Washington DC announced that it will be playing host to the latest iteration of the Bond In Motion exhibition from March 2024 to April 2025.
The exhibition features 17 iconic pieces from the EON Productions Archive and the Ian Fleming Foundation. Props, scale models, and clips from the films are also on show alongside cars, motorcycles, submarines, and more from the Q Branch garage.
Having visited the exhibits in London and Los Angeles in recent years, we are looking forward to visiting this one too later in the year.
Bond Reads
A round-up of thoughts on Bond-related books recently read or announced.
“James Bond: Kill Chain” by Andy Diggle & Luca Casalanguida.
Alan gave this graphic novel a reread in prep for a recent On Her Majesty’s Secret Podcast episode and had forgotten just how good it was.
This is how you do a contemporary Bond while still hitting all the right notes about what makes Bond, Bond. Whoever the next EON scriptwriters are they should study this graphic novel.
This is easily one of the most cinematic Bond stories while still getting to the core of who Bond is and why he does what he does, all set among a modern shifting political landscape.
You can order your copy via our online James Bond Book store
Bond Chronology
An extract from our current in-progress project. - A detailed chronology of the James Bond phenomenon from creation until today, one month at a time.
MAY 1952
12
Over lunch with his friend William Plomer, a reader and editor at the publishing company Jonathan Cape, Ian Fleming drops several hints that he has written a book. When Polmer realizes the truth he asks to see a copy.
17
While in New York, Ian Fleming orders a golden typewriter from the Royal Typewriter Company at a cost of $174.
Bond Blatherings
Our final episode of Bond Music: Six of the Best podcast with Alan and Jarrod Albriech is now online for your listening goodness as we wrap up almost five years of talking about the sounds of 007. - What a great journey it’s been. You can join us or our “Best of…” farewell episode right HERE
A few months ago we sat down with the folks at the James Bond Complex podcast to discuss our thoughts on Ian Fleming’s novel You Only Live Twice.
The podcast episode just went live this week - Just search for The James Bond Complex on the podcast platform of your choice or click below.
Bond for Sale
Looking for a few James Bond book ideas ? - How about checking out our dedicated 007 on-line bookstore?
Of course, there is always our own James Bond Lexicon which you can order from Bookshop.org just be clicking HERE or on the cover below.
If you would like a personalized, signed copy we still have a few copies of both the James Bond Lexicon and James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007 in stock. Just drop us a note at alan@jamesbondlexicon.com and we can get that fixed for you. (Sorry US only at the moment due to shipping costs)
Where to Find Us Online
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Forest Comics & Books - Our eBay store, which usually has a few Bond items for sale along with all sorts of other pop-culture-related goodies which can be found HERE
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Alan J. Porter & Gillian J. Porter