Diamonds Are Forever 1st Signet Paperback Printing

Diamonds Are Forever, Ian Fleming, 1st Signet paperback printing, United States, November 1961, originally priced at 50¢.

Signet was the second U.S. publisher to print Diamonds Are Forever in paperback.  The cover art for most Signet printings in the 1960's consisted of a small drawing on a solid-colored ground (in this case pink).  The Diamonds drawing is one of the few from these covers that isn't forgettable.  

Although it doesn't get all the details exactly right, this drawing captures Tiffany Case as first seen by Bond, in chapter 5 of the novel:

She was sitting half naked, astride a chair in front of the dressing table, gazing across the back of the chair into the triple mirror.  Her bare arms were folded along the tall back of the chair and her chin was resting on her arms.  Her spine was arched and there was arrogance in the set of her head and shoulders.  The thin black strap of her brassiere across the naked white back, the tight black lace pants and the angled thrust of her legs whipped at Bond's senses.  

"Skyfall" U.S. CD Single

"Skyfall", theme song to the film of the same name, sung by Adele, written by Adele and Paul Epworth, U.S. CD single, Columbia Records, 11/6/2012.

CD was one of the three formats on which the single was released, along with vinyl (which will be the subject of a future post) and digital download.  The CD single was released in the United States a month after the digital download, and three days before the film's U.S. theatrical release.

The cover art is cropped from the Skyfall U.S. teaser poster (which will also be the subject of a future post), with two additions: most of Adele's face, and a filter of aquamarine -- a color that prominently figures in the film's title sequence over which the theme plays.  And on the top left corner of the case, there's a superfluous sticker.

The CD single version clocks in at 4 minutes, 46 seconds.  Unlike on the UK release, there is no instrumental track.

The British singer-songwriter was the first female solo act to record a Bond theme since Madonna did “Die Another Day” a decade before.  Adele's song was popular with critics, the public at large, and Bond fans alike -- a win-win-win situation that hadn't happened in many years.

Firstly, and least importantly, her theme garnered generally positive reviews from critics, and won numerous awards, the most prestigious of which was the Academy Award for Best Original Song.  "Skyfall" was the first Bond theme to be nominated for that award since Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only" in the early 80's, and the first ever to win.

Secondly, her single sold well and received ample radio play -- unlike the last two Bond themes songs, “You Know My Name” from Casino Royale (one of the better modern themes) and “Another Way To Die” from Quantum of Solace (possibly the worst ever). The digital download hit #1 on the iTunes charts.  Then the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at # 8, immediately joining “Goldfinger”, “Live and Let Die”, “Nobody Does It Better”, “For Your Eyes Only”, “A View to a Kill”, and “Die Another Day” in the pantheon of Bond themes to reach the top ten of that chart.  The single has since been certified Platinum.

And lastly, and most importantly, her theme was a Bond theme.  "Skyfall" was the best and most Bondian since at least Sheryl Crow's “Tomorrow Never Dies” or Tina Turner's “Goldeneye”.  Her voice naturally lent itself to a Bond theme.  She fondly recalled Shirley Bassey without sounding like she was trying to sound like her.

Man with the Golden Gun 3rd U.S. Hardcover Printing

The Man with the Golden Gun, Ian Fleming, third U.S. hardcover printing, published by the New American Library, originally priced at $4.50.

This book was donated to us by one of our generous patrons.  Apparently our patron paid $10 for it, and apparently the bookseller believed, mistakenly, that it was printed in 1969.

Perhaps if the seller had known this printing was a few years older, it may have charged a little more.  Although the copyright page doesn't specify the year of this printing, there are three clues in the book that disprove that it was printed in 1969.

First, the copyright page shows that The Man with the Golden Gun was copyrighted in 1965. There's no way that Fleming's last Bond novel, published during the height of Bondmania, would have taken 4 years to reach its third printing.

Second, this printing lists all of the Bond books published up until that time.  If this was printed in 1969, the list would have also included Octopussy, which was published in 1966.  But this list ends at You Only Live Twice.

Third, there's an inscription in the book dated 1966.  

Presumably Bruce A. McLeod knew what year it was.

Monopoly 007 Collector's Edition

Monopoly, 007 Collector's Edition, 2006.

This, the first of three James Bond editions of Monopoly, was released a few months before Daniel Craig's first outing, Casino Royale.  The properties are the Bond films, in chronological order from Dr. No to Casino Royale.   However, because there are spaces for 22 properties on the board but there were only 21 films at that point, the cheapest property (Mediterranean Ave in the original game) is a generic "Double-0 Assignment."  Villains and Bond "Women" replace Community Chest and Chance, respectively.  Houses and hotels are renamed safe houses and headquarters, respectively.  And the tokens are the Aston Martin DBS, Odd Job's bowler hat, the 007 logo, the Lotus submarine car, the Acrostar plane, and Rosa Klebb's shoe. 

Here is where we would evaluate the game play -- if we had ever played it.  We would love to try it out, but that would involve breaking the seal, which would devalue what cost far more than your typical off-the-shelf Monopoly game.  Perhaps one day we may no longer be able to resist the temptation, and that may be the subject of a future post.  But for right now, the "O.H.M.S.S. Not to be opened until Officially Authorized" seal on this file remains unbroken.  

Goldfinger Bantam Paperback Printing

Goldfinger, Ian Fleming, Bantam paperback printing, June 1972 (according to a library stamp in the book, it was first due back on Oct 25 '72), U.S., originally priced at 95¢. 

For our first post, we went with this copy of Goldfinger, even though it's not a first edition or a movie tie-in edition or autographed.  We just picked it up at a used bookstore in Reno for a few bucks several years ago.  But this printing is noteworthy for two reasons. Primarily, because the cover, like the title sequence of a Bond film before political correctness set in, depicts the bare breasts (well, one breast) of a woman – presumably Jill Masterson, the golden girl. 

Additionally, this is one of the few printings of a 007 novel, after the theatrical release of Dr. No in 1962, to depict the character of James Bond on the cover – as someone other than the actor playing the part in the movie (in a tie-in edition) or as a silhouette, as we shall see in future posts.  He isn't actually supposed to be Sean Connery, although he resembles him. This was no accident, considering that Sean Connery played Bond in Goldfinger, and that this was printed only one year after Connery's last Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever, and the year before Roger Moore's first, Live and Let Die.  At this point (but not for much longer), in the eyes of most people, Sean Connery was still James Bond. 

As dated as this cover might seem, it's not nearly as dated as some others we're going to see from the late 1960's through the 70's.