Potter & Potter major Bond book auction April 18

Chicago based auctioneers Potter & Potter are offering a wide selection of first edition Bond books from all authors in their upcoming auction on April 18. Potter & Potter are the leading magic auction specialists so I've had a lot of interaction with them on various Houdini items. They are an excellent auction house and I'm very excited to see them moving into Bond.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW AND BID ONLINE

You can order a catalog or download a free PDF from the Potter & Potter website.

UPDATE: The first edition Casino Royale sold for $19,000. A first edition Live and Let Die took $3,600, Moonraker $2,200, and Diamonds Are Forever $2,800.

The Folio Society releases The Spy Who Loved Me

The Folio Society has released their next illustrated slip-cased Ian Fleming classic, The Spy Who Loved Me.

The latest volume in Folio’s celebrated Bond collection features a unique twist: for the first and only time in the series, we witness the agent’s adventures through the eyes of another character. Observed by a woman who finds him both frightening and alluring, Bond is exposed in a way that the reader has never seen before – making The Spy Who Loved Me an essential read for anyone wishing to get under the skin of the famous secret agent. This edition features a smart binding inspired by the agent’s suits, and a series of exquisitely glamorous – and daring – illustrations by series artist Fay Dalton. For this edition we have also reintroduced Fleming’s original prologue, which had been removed from all modern editions of the text. In an unusual move by the author, this short introduction suggests that the manuscript had been left on his desk by Vivienne Michel, the character who narrates the book.

The Spy Who Loved Me Folio Edition is priced at $62.95 and is available now from the Folio Society website.

Also available are illustrated editions of Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger and Thunderball.

The Man With The Golden Gun on BBC Radio 4

A new radio drama adaptation of Ian Fleming's The Man With The Golden Gun will air on March 14, 2020 on BBC Radio 4. Below are details.

Ian Fleming’s psycho-political Cold War thriller, written in 1964 and dramatised by Archie Scottney. James Bond’s obit appears in the Times. But suddenly he’s back in London with murder on his mind. Brainwashed by the Russians? 

M gives him one more chance - terminate international assassin, Francisco Scaramanga.
Bond infiltrates the killer’s Jamaican HQ. But 007 has a conscience. Can he eliminate the butcher in cold blood? Will his cover be blown? 

A stellar cast includes Toby Stephen's return as 007. Cuban/American star Guillermo Diaz excels as psychopath Scaramanga and Janie Dee returns as Moneypenny, with John Standing as M and Moira Quirk as a feisty Mary Goodnight. 

Martin Jarvis directs and is the voice of Ian Fleming in a dazzling Caribbean soundscape with specially composed music by A-Mnemonic. 

Cast:
James Bond ….. Toby Stephens
Scaramanga ….. Guillermo Diaz
M ….. John Standing
Chief-of-Staff ….. Lloyd Owen
Moneypenny ….. Janie Dee
Townsend ….. Simon Templeman
Professor Gillian ….. Lisa Dillon
Tiffy ….. Monica McSwain
Mary Goodnight ….. Moira Quirk
Paradise ….. Seamus Dever
Gengerella ….. Tim Dekay
Hendricks ….. Matthew Wolf
Binion ….. André Sogliuzzo
Garfinkel ….. Darren Richardson
Ruby ….. Anna Mathias
Leiter ….. Josh Stamberg
Nicholson ….. JD Cullum
Doctor ….. Gilbert Glenn Brown
Matron ….. Inger Tudor
Cargill ….. John Cothran
Telephonists ….. Anna-Louise Plowman, Paula Jane Newman, Anna Lyse Erikson
Newsreader ….. Brian Perkins
Fleming ….. Martin Jarvis
Other parts by members of the cast 

Specially composed music: A-Mnemonic.
Sound Design: Mark Holden
Dramatised by Archie Scottney
Director: Martin Jarvis 

Producer: Rosalind Ayres
A Jarvis and Ayres production for BBC Radio 4.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

DR. NO in 1961

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd pluck down a paperback from my shelf to share. This is a 4th printing 1961 UK paperback of Ian Fleming's Dr. No. It's fun to think of this book in stores just a year before the movie version was released. After that, James Bond could no longer look like that chap with the gun below.

2020 Anniversary BONDS

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to another year of The Book Bond. 2020 marks a few anniversaries, any one of which is sure to make someone feel old!

60th Anniversary

Ian Fleming's For You Eyes Only 

Published April 11, 1960

A departure from the full-length James Bond novels, For Your Eyes Only is a stunning collection of five stories that sends 007 to Bermuda, Berlin, and beyond, and places him in the dangerous company of adversaries of all varieties.

30th Anniversary

John Gardner's Brokenclaw

Published August 2, 1990

During a vacation trip to San Francisco, James Bond confronts a complex espionage plot and his deadliest enemy yet--Fu-Chu Lee, an evil super-criminal known to both the underworld and intelligence agencies as Brokenclaw.

25th Anniversary

John Gardner's GoldenEye

Published November 1995

Once Xenia worked for the KGB. But her new master is Janus, a powerful and ambitious Russian gang that no longer cares about ideology. Janus's ambitions are money and power; its normal business methods are theft and murder. And it has just acquired GoldenEye, a piece of high-tech space technology with the power to destroy or corrupt the West's financial markets. But Janus has underestimated its most determined enemy. . . James Bond

20th Anniversary

Raymond Benson's Doubleshot

Published May 4, 2000

The criminal conspiracy called the Union has vowed its revenge on the man who thwarted its last coup - James Bond. As the Union's mysterious leader sets out to destroy Bond's reputation and sanity, 007 edges closer to the truth about their elaborate plan to destroy both SIS and its best agent.

Other anniversaries include Moonraker (65th), The Man With The Golden Gun (55th), The Quasimodo Gambit (25th), SilverFin (15th) and Trigger Mortis (5th).