Live and Let Die 16th Signet Paperback

Live and Let Die, 16th Signet paperback printing, August 1964, U.S., originally priced at 50¢.

Upon seeing Mr. Big in the flesh, "Bond at once realized that the photographs had conveyed nothing of the man, nothing of the power and the intellect which seemed to radiate from him, nothing of the over-size features."  Likewise, after reading Fleming's description of Mr. Big, the reader might feel that the cover art conveyed nothing of the man.  But that's more of a compliment to Fleming than a criticism of the illustrator.  Especially for a small drawing, it conveys something of the bigness of Mr. Big.  Although the cover is not as memorable as the cover of Signet's printing of Diamonds Are Forever, it isn't forgettable as are others from that publisher.

Roger Moore Coffee Cup

The image of Bond on the coffee cup is from the gun duel on Scaramanga's Island in The Man with the Golden Gun.  This is one of the museum's most recent acquisitions, a 2013 Christmas gift, which is quite appropriate considering that TMWTGG was released a week before Christmas in 1974 (after this movie, Tomorrow Never Dies has been the only Bond film released in December).  As tempting as it would be to enjoy coffee in this cup, or perhaps even a martini (stirred, not shaken), not even a pencil will ever touch the inside of this cup.  

Moonraker Bantam Paperback

Moonraker, Ian Fleming, Bantam paperback printing, March 1973, U.S., originally priced at 95¢.

We'll discuss the cover art depictions of the three main characters: Bond, Drax, and the girl, Gala Brand.

Firstly, Bond looks completely different than he does on the cover of Goldfinger printed less than a year before by the same publisher. His depiction here is the most dated and the most un-Bond-like we've covered so far.  He's badly in need of a haircut and a smaller bow tie. 

Secondly, we're assuming the bald mustachioed man is supposed to be Drax.  Evidently the illustrator never read the novel -- or even the description of Drax on the back cover.

Finally, Gala Brand appears like Tiffany Case on the Diamonds Are Forever poster.  We prefer Fleming's depiction:

  

Best of James Bond 30th Anniversary 2 CD Set

The Best of James Bond 30th Anniversary Limited Edition 2 CD Ultra-Set, EMI Records, © 1992.

At the time this was released, halfway between the six-year chasm that separated License To Kill and Goldeneye, this collection must have provided much-needed hope for fans that James Bond would return, and it was unquestionably the best Bond music compilation available.  We purchased our copy, one of the museum's earliest acquisitions, in the late 1990's, at the now-extinct Virgin Megastore at the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

The first disc contains the theme songs to the then-16 films.  Before the soundtracks were re-released with additional material on CD, before Napster, before YouTube, if you wanted most of the material on the second disc, you needed to own this collection.

The most memorable part of this set is not any of the tracks, however.  That honor goes to this line from the booklet, the most ridiculous thing I have ever read about a Bond movie: 

"A View To A Kill" is actually one of the better Moore episodes, a basically serious adventure story that offers some suspense and an edge of danger.

Octopussy 6th U.K. Penguin Paperback Printing

Octopussy & the Living Daylights, Ian Fleming, 6th Penguin paperback printing, U.K.

This edition contains four stories: "Octopussy", "The Property of a Lady", "The Living Daylights", and "007 in New York".

Among Fleming's Bond titles, Octopussy is the hardest to find, so when we stumbled upon this printing in a bookshop in Dallas last year, we nabbed it.

Penguin became the new Bond paperback publisher in 2002 in both the U.S. and the U.K., with different cover art in each country.

We would like to say that this cover art is the most forgettable that we've posted so far, but you can't forget what you didn't know in the first place, and we just don't know what we're looking at.  

Skyfall ticket stub

Skyfall ticket stub, 11/9/12, Regal Green Valley Ranch Stadium 10, Henderson, NV, $11.00.

The ticket says "advance" not because it was for an advance screening, but because it was purchased a day in advance.  11/9/12 was the theatrical wide release date for Skyfall in the United States and Canada; it opened exclusively in IMAX the day before.

Casino Royale Jove Paperback Printing

Casino Royale, Ian Fleming, Jove paperback printing, July 1980, U.S., originally priced at $1.95.

In February 1980, Jove became the new U.S. paperback publisher of Fleming's Bond books.  After having issued only the first 8 novels -- and non-sequentially, at that -- Jove's run abruptly came to an end about a year and a half later (Berkley quickly became the new U.S. paperback publisher).  The cover art, from illustrator Barnett Plotkin, is more reminiscent of a Bond movie poster than a Bond book cover, complete with a tagline.  Every cover features three characters: Bond (with one exception) in the center, a girl, and a villain, against a backdrop related to the storyline.  Roger Moore had been the on-screen Bond for 4 films over 7 years at this point, yet this Bond is clearly not Moore, although neither is he Sean Connery; he actually looks more like George Lazenby than either of then.  Nonetheless, the quality of Plotkin's illustrations is among the best from any Bond publisher.  I like his style, although I can't always say the same about the characters' clothing styles.  Although this was the 1980's, it was the early 1980's, and 1970's clothing styles were on their last leg.  

Casino Royale was the 6th Bond book that Jove published.  The main issue I have with this cover is not the depiction of Bond or the clothing styles (although Le Chiffre should not be wearing red pants with flared legs).  The issue I have is with the background and tagline.  The game played in Casino Royale is not roulette; it's baccarat.  It's one thing to have changed the card game to Texas hold'em in the movie.  But Texas hold'em is still a card game (and one that works better on screen than baccarat), and a card game is essential to the storyline.  It's essentially a character along with Bond, Vesper, and Le Chiffre.    I know -- I hope -- that roulette is only being used figuratively on the cover.  But the cover gives the impression that Jove and Plotkin never read the book they published and illustrated, respectively.