Recently there has been discussion on the CBn forums about these two books, so I thought I'd post them here for those that have never seen them (or even knew that they existed). What you see here are UK hardcover editions of the two novelizations of the Roger Moore classics, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). These were written by screenwriter Christopher Wood, and actually carry variant titles, James Bond, the Spy Who Love Me and James Bond and Moonraker -- probably to differentiate them from the original Fleming books.
While these were also released as tie-in paperbacks with movie poster art, Jonathan Cape published these now exceedingly rare hardcover editions with moody jacket art by Bill Botten, who would later do artwork for John Gardner's For Special Services and Icebreaker. What's nice is the books themselves are the same size as the Fleming hardcovers (and Colonel Sun), so they look terrific on the shelf.
They are also darn good books.
Love those covers. The James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me Cape First remains elusive (or at least prohibitively expensive) to me, though I did manage to get a very good bargain on a very nice copy of James Bond and Moonraker years ago. I've also got the large-print hardcover of that published by New Portway, which has a decidedly less cool cover, but is still interesting. I don't know if New Portway published JBTSWLM or not. Do you, John? I've never come across one, at any rate.
ReplyDeleteThese need to be reprinted, even if it's just in an on-demand edition. These hardcovers are the only ones I lack.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any large print JBTSWLM, Tanner. Cool that you have the Moonraker one. Even I don't have that.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like even the soft cover versions are difficult to come by, at least the novelisation of "The spy who loved me". That is, you can find that book, but the price is insane! What about a new edition? It would be interesting to read as it makes it easier to understand the plot in the movie!
ReplyDeleteI have the US paperback editions of the 2 Wood titles but didn't even know there were HC editions! I am having enough trouble getting a copy of the Hodder & Stoughton HC of TOMORROW NEVER DIES by Benson. I have the other 2 but this one remains far out of my price range and I am sorry that the Christopher Wood HCs will also fall out of my price range.
ReplyDeleteI only have US book clubs of most of the Fleming titles but I have all the Gardner & Benson books in US 1st editions as I purchased them on release.
Randy