New CASINO ROYALE published in Poland

Ian Fleming's Casino Royale is published today in Poland by Skarpa Warszawska. The book was last published in Poland in 2006. Below is the cover art. Hopefully, the other books will follow soon.

Marcin Tadera of jamesbond.org.pl for the info and image.

GOLDENEYE getting a Cross Cult release in 2024

German publisher Cross Cult, who have been re-releasing all the John Gardner James Bond novels with new cover artwork by Michael Gillette, will release Gardner's GoldenEye novelization in June 2024. I love this cover!

Thanks to Double O Section and The GoldenEye Dossier for the alert.

COLONEL SUN reprinted in France

A new edition of Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis is published today in France by Cherche Midi with a translation by France-Marie Watkins. Originally published in 1968, Colonel Sun was the very first James Bond continuation novel.

You can purchase Colonel Sun at Amazon.fr.

Thanks to Club James Bond France on Facebook for the alert.

UPDATE: According to Kevin Bertrand Collette, this the same translation as the original 1969 release by Plon.

ONLY for you... 🎵

Check out this 1987 Italian paperback of Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only from publisher Oscar Mondadori. Great cover art.

I got this image from Peter Lorenz's wonderful Illustrated 007 - The Art of James Bond blog. Peter recently retired his blog, which is a real shame as he shared some incredible James Bond book artwork over the years. Happily, he left the blog online as an archive, so I encourage you to have a browse.

Thank you Peter for all your hard work!

Cross Cult to release DEATH IS FOREVER

Our friends at Commander Bond.net report that after after a six-year hiatus, German publisher Cross Cult will resume publication of the John Gardner James Bond novels next year. Below is the cover art for Gardner's 1992 novel Death is Forever, due for release on June 3, 2023.

Thanks to @CBn007 on Twitter for the alert. Click here to see more covers.

Greek HOROWITZ

Here are Greek editions of Anthony Horowitz's two Bond novels, Trigger Mortis and Forever and a Day, that use unique cover art. While I've seen plenty of variations of Trigger Mortis, most international editions of Forever and a Day stuck with the UK art. This one is a variation on that art to be sure, but it does lose the idea of the boat as bullet. Still, it's nice to see something different.

Will we get the announcement of a third Anthony Horowitz Bond novel this year? Or maybe a new author? We are well over do for something.

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS at 30

Today marks the 30th anniversary of The Living Daylights, Timothy Dalton's first film as James Bond. I attended the Royal World Premiere 30 years ago tonight, and it was an unforgettable experience.

Because it was an Ian Fleming short story, we never got a novelization of The Living Daylights. But this German paperback shows us what one might have looked like. This is a reprint of Ian Fleming's Octopussy that used Daylights poster art and sports the title Der Hauch des Todes (The Breath of Death), which is what the movie was titled in Germany.

I recently sold most of Bond foreign editions. But I held this one back to remember The Most Dangerous Bond...Ever.

Check out Birth Movies Death for an excellent overview of The Living Daylights at 30.

Michael Gillette does BARBAROSSA

German publisher Cross Cult continues to release the John Gardner James Bond novels with cover art by Michael Gillette that match his 2008 Centenary editions. Next up is Gardner's 1991 novel The Man From Barbarossa, due for release in October 2017.

Thanks to CommanderBond.net on Twitter for the alert. Click here to see more covers.

Steve Cole YOUNG BOND novels coming to Germany

Steve Cole's first two Young Bond novels, Shoot To Kill and Heads You Die, will be released in Germany in May with translations by Leo H. Strohm. Below are the (okay) covers.

Thanks to CommanderBond.net on Twitter.

UPDATE: It appears publisher KJB has decided to abandoned the above designs and will release the books with cover art based on the UK editions (below).

Selling International JAMES BOND novels on eBay

So I've decided it's time to thin out my Bond collection, starting with some of my international editions. I've always enjoyed collecting international Bond books because of the variant and sometimes unusual cover art. Some of these I have blogged about.

I've listed several sets on eBay, including a set of Turkish editions using original Roger Moore artwork and some German John Gardner paperbacks with excellent cover art. Below are links to my auctions. I'll be listing more, including English language titles, in the months to come. (Sorry, I'm only shipping within the U.S., no international.)

Thanks for having a look and for your interest.

12 Turkish James Bond novels by Ian Fleming

SOLD

9 German James Bond paperbacks by John Gardner

SOLD

6 German James Bond books by Raymond Benson

AVAILABLE

4 French Bond novelizations by Raymond Benson

SOLD

3 Italian Young Bond books by Charlie Higson

SOLD

4 German Young Bond books by Charlie Higson

SOLD

2 Finnish Young Bond books by Charlie Higson

SOLD

Dutch SilverFin by Charlie Higson

AVAILABLE

Hungarian SilverFin 1st hardcover by Charlie Higson

SOLD

French Double or Die by Charlie Higson

AVAILABLE

3 UK Young Bond novels by Charlie Higson

SOLD

You can view all my auctions HERE.

JOHN GARDNER German Bond paperbacks

Here is a collection of John Gardner James Bond paperbacks published in Germany. I've always enjoyed the original movie inspired artwork on the Heyne editions. Notice the publisher produced two versions of GoldenEye using different posters. They would do the same for Raymond Benson's Tomorrow Never Dies.

The books show above (in order) are:

Licence Renewed - published 1987

For Special Services - published 1984

Icebreaker - published 1988

Role of Honor - published 1987

Nobody Lives Forever - published 1987

No Deals Mr. Bond - published 1988

Scorpius - published 1990

Win Lose or Die - published 1991

Licence To Kill - published 1989

Brokenclaw - published 1992

GoldenEye - published 1996

GoldenEye - published 1996

I am thinning out my collection and selling many of my foreign language books, so I will be making several of these editions available on eBay soon.

UPDATE: I've now listed several of these for sale on eBay.

German SCORPIUS (1990)

Here's another interesting collision of the book and movie Bond. This is a 1990 German edition of John Gardner's 1988 continuation novel Scorpius. On the cover with have Roger Moore from For Your Eyes Only and Lois Chiles from Moonraker against what looks like The Living Daylights gunbarrel. A hot mess, but it gets the job done!

What kind of mission is this exactly?

Here's a 1986 Spanish edition of John Gardner's Role of Honor (Misión de Honor) with pretty unusual cover art. One might be justified in thinking this is a sci-fi novel and 007's mission here is a mission to Mars!

Title: Misión de Honor

Author: John Gardner

Year: 1986

Publisher: Grijalbo

Live and Let BARBAROSSA

Here's another cover from our friend Lukáš Berný in the Czech Republic. This is a Czech edition of John Gardner's 1991 novel The Man From Barbarossa using poster art from the 1973 Roger Moore film Live and Let Die. I love crazy book/movie mash-ups like this, especially on continuation novels. One wonders how many readers were disappointed that the book contained no Tarot cards or speed boats?

Thank you Lukáš.

From the CZECH REPUBLIC with Love

Here are several unique James Bond covers from the Czech Republic sent over by Bond collector Lukáš Berný from Prague. The first block of covers are from 1968-1992. While the use of Sean Connery is obvious, the eagle-eyed among you might also spot Timothy Dalton in the artwork.

Below is a newer series which, according to Lukáš, are now quite rare in his country. These were released by Delfin between 1997-2002. The publisher released the six Fleming titles picture here: Live And Let Die, Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker, Thunderball, From Russia With Love and For Your Eyes Only.

Thank you Lukáš!

From Russia With Love (1986) Italian paperback

Here's a 1986 Italian paperback edition of Ian Fleming's From Russia With Love from publisher Oscar Mondadori. One of my favorite covers.

A tale of three silhouettes

Here's another international James Bond paperback with cover features worth taking a closer look at. What I like about this 1990 Portuguese edition of John Gardner's Win Lose or Die is that two of three 007 silhouettes that grace the cover were never used on the Berkley paperbacks of the 1980s (and later on the Benson paperbacks).

The silhouette on the right you'll recognize as first appearing on the U.S. paperback edition of License Renewed and later on the John Gardner hardcovers. But those other two never found their way onto any book as far as I know. I especially like the one on the left that shows Bond reaching into his jacket. You'll also notice that the "James Bond" title treatment is from the Berkley editions, and the background is similar to that used on the UK hardcover of Scorpius, so this is an interesting combination of elements.

And if you think I'm silly for obsessing on silhouettes, check out: SILHOUETTE-GATE.

Happy Holidays to all.

Mixed BOND

James Bond with Sean Connery's head and Roger Moore's body gazes out at us from the cover of a 1991 Italian edition of Scorpius by John Gardner. I like the title treatment with the scorpion and the Avante Carte logo behind OO7. And Bond against a light streaked marble wall kinda recalls SPECTRE.

Scorpius was John Gardner's seventh James Bond novel. It was first published by Putnam in the U.S. on May 9, 1988. UK publication by Hodder & Stoughton was on June 2, 1988 (one of the few Bond novels to be published first in the U.S. first).

Finnish TRIGGER MORTIS

Check out the cover for the Finnish edition of Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz from publisher Karisto. It certainly does its own thing. Although it does use blueprint feature as seen on the UK edition.

With thanks to James Bond The Secret Agent, the new Swedish Bond blog by Stephan Bäckman.

More JOHN GARDNER covers by Michael Gillette

Here are two more Michael Gillette covers for new German editions of John Gardner's Win Lose or Die and Brokenclaw. These will be released in March 2016. You can get more info at publisher Cross Cult.

Win, Lose or Die

Brokenclaw

Gillette did the cover art for the 2008 Centenary editions of the Fleming Bond novels, and well as a German reprint of Colonel Sun.

Thanks to Simon Gardner.