Monday, May 14, 2012

Full set of IAN FLEMING Vintage Classic covers revealed

The full set of the Classic Vintage Ian Fleming covers have now been revealed by Ian Fleming Publications. These have been leaking piecemeal onto Amazon etc., but here are nice high res images of the full set from our friends at IFP and Random House.

‘The Vintage Classics covers are designed to emphasise the cool and clever reputation of Bond. We wanted to evoke the heritage and era without being dated. The bold, colourful, film poster feel was inspired by Saul Bass. 
The Vintage designers created two to three covers each, and there was a real sense of excitement amongst the team to create one cohesive and iconic series look for such an iconic character. 
We chose ‘Vintage 007’ rather than ‘Vintage Fleming’ because we wanted to focus on Bond’s identity, firmly signalling that Bond is the preeminent spy within a genre that reaches back to The Scarlet Pimpernel and forward to Richard Hannay, Jason Bourne and George Smiley.’
         -Suzanne Dean, Creative Director, The Random House Group

15 comments:

  1. Nice clean designs, and I really like the type play. These would look great as posters too!

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  2. I like these a lot, except for Doctor No , which is super boring. It's like they kept it "secret" because the designer forgot to do Dr. No or something.

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  3. A brave but successful move not to include a single girl amongst these. I like them.

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  4. I think I need to see them in the flesh, though I am partial to at least Casino Royale, Moonraker, Goldfinger and Thunderball.

    They're growing on me.

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  5. Cool! I'll post a link on Spy Vibe. Design-wise, they kind of remind my of title-sequence graphics. I can image the lines in YOLT or MWTGG being animated across a screen. I like them but they don't quite say '007 adventure' to me.

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  6. My favorites are Thunderball and DAF. My least favorite, like Anonymous, is definitely Dr. No. That's just awful! Looks like a rough draft. All in all, they're not bad, but this isn't a set I'll have to collect. I'm still eager to see the modern covers...

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  7. It is said you can't tell a book by its cover. These designs in no way reflect the quality of the written word you'll find inside.

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  8. They do little for me either. Dr No is awful while Russia and Casino are the best of a very average bunch.

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  9. Can someone explain the Dr. No design? What is it meant to "be"? Ammo just being thick? Also isn't the book called "Doctor No" and it's the movie that's shortened to "Dr. No."?

    I say again, use the Richard Chopping hardback covers; iconic, sold millions, hasn't dated... The work's already done for you, Vintage, get licensing for next time.

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  10. As has already been said, now at least they admit it, sub Saul Bass. Hey, to me it demeans both Saul Bass and Bond quite an achievement. Depressing.

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  11. good question about the Dr No design. All I can interpret at this point is that the words evoke an abstract human figure. pretty vague and cartoony all around.
    -Jason (Spy Vibe)

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  12. Just hackneyed rubbish.

    Saul Bass has been done to death everywhere, and that particular style is just a small part of Bass' output - look at his work with Scorsese for instance. What they've created is actually like a sub-standard Bass pastiche. They're completely missing the point.

    As any CD worth his/her salt knows, pastiche is the first place to go when you've got no ideas.

    Why not try to do something original?!

    I'm really disappointed. Random House Creative should feel ashamed of themselves.

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  13. Replies
    1. I'm pretty sure quantum is part of For Your Eyes Only

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