Firsts: Where Bond is seemingly being sold by fewer and fewer dealers...

The UK's largest rare book fair was a blast. But there was one very large observation: the fact Ian Fleming seems like it's being sold by a shrinking pool dealers (and high end ones at that):

Another year, another fantastic Firsts show.

To those that love books, but have still never been, Firsts – the UK’s largest rare and antiquarian book fair – it’s an annual event that is well worth the entry fee.

After a champagne-filled opening night last Thursday, the three-day proper book selling bonanza finally closed, having welcomed thousands of visitors at London’s Saatchi Gallery.

But this year I feel forced to have to sum it up in two very different and contrasting ways.

One is really positive.

But the other (with my more biased Ian Fleming focus), is less so…. and possibly not in the way you might think:

First the good news..!

Undoubtedly, this fair was a blast.

Set across three floors, hosting close to 100 of the UK’s very best dealers, there were items galore.

Each year is themed, and with this year’s one being ‘Revolution’, items up for sale included a rare letter by one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Thomas Paine (1737-1809) - presented by Shapero Rare Books.

Also on display were maps from the Revolutionary War (including a Plan of Boston and its Environs drawn by an engineer in Boston in October 1775), and key political texts – such as a first edition of the scarce album “Patrioty, Album politique et allégorique de 1850” (from Harrison-Hiett Rare Books). Not to be outdone, other sellers had other evolutionary material of their own, including items from the suffragette movement.

It other words, what was on display was a riot. All the very best, rarest, most interesting and sought after items you’re likely to come across. (Oh, and there was also a fantastic speaker programme too).

Now the less good news…

But I say all of the above with a slightly heavy heart.

For there was something that I noticed more this year than in my previous years as a visitor – the fact that for collectors of Bond/Ian Fleming, despite there being some fantastic stuff, I was seeing it from the fewest number of sellers that I can remember.

I repeat, the quality was - as ever - superb. But the apparent consolidation into such a small number of sellers is something I think we need to be alert to, even slightly worried about.

Let me go into this in a bit more detail.

Every year, Firsts treats us to some really great Ian Fleming material. It never fails, and if you’ve read my previous write-ups of this fair, you’ll know that Bond is one of the few constants you can count on.

They’re always on the shelves because most of the time, the density of Fleming on display is a sign of the health of the book market. Fleming is a sure bet. Dealers know they’ll sell any stock they have of it, and so they don’t want to come without at least a few to offer in their cabinets.

But while there was epic stuff on display I can’t remember a previous year where what’s on offer had been boiled down into down to such a small number of sellers.

What I observed – and it’s only influenced by what I saw - was this: Bond is now starting to become the preserve of only a few, and very top-end dealers.

Here’s what I saw:

Shapero Rare Books (above), kicked this sensation off.

With the largest stand in the whole show, collectors were immediately met with a giant vintage Thunderball poster, and it signaled that a good haul would soon come into vision.

And there they were – fantastic examples: Two very clean first impression examples of Dr No and Thunderball (although they were priced at an eye-watering £3,500 and £1,250 respectively). More about prices later…

Above: A superb full set on display from Maggs Bros (let's ignore that You Only Live Twice is upside down!)

Not too far away on the first floor, was a fabulous full set of James Bond books offered up by Maggs Bros of Mayfair (above). Yours for £130,000. Noteably though, it's a set where any of them sold individually would have been regarded as excellent. There were no duffs here; no books that let the side down (which is what usually happens when sellers try and put a whole set together).

After this, we were left with the offerings of John Akinson Rare Books, Peter Harrington, Adrian Harrington, and then Jonkers, Lucius, and finally Whitmore Rare Books.

Here they all are below.

John Atkinson:

Atkinson still has some of the books he was hoping to sell as a complete set for something like £1.5 million a few years ago.

The examples on display were nevertheless remarkable.

It included this inscribed copy (left) of Casino Royale to one of Fleming's former flames, Lisl Popper. 

He also had this separate full set for £85,000 (below) - quite a difference compared to the Maggs set (but I wouldn't class all of them as being in fine condition):

Jonkers:

Jonkers might not have been able to compete with John Atkinson on the signed copies front (although it did have one signed Live and Let Die, and a limited edition On Her Majesty's Secret Service - see below), but in my opinion, this Henley-based bookshop had the best display of the nicest condition books out of any dealer this year.

Everything was in ultra fine, almost perfect, and untouched condition - remarkable really considering how old they now are.

As well as there being a fabulous gold-gilt board 1st state The Man With the Golden Gun, the absolute star item had to be this below example of Casino Royale - priced at a cool £60,000 on its own! This is possibly the best example of this book that I've ever seen.

It was accompanied by this utterly superb copy of Live and Let Die (above) - looking as fresh as the day it was printed, priced at £30,000. And next to it was this similarly straight from the box, striking Moonraker, priced at £25,000.

So that's a total of £115,000 for just the first three books!

3) Peter Harrington

Always guaranteed to have a great selection on show, Peter Harrington had a clutch of great books - two of which were signed - and one was the book we all want - Casino Royale - see close up below - priced at £45,000.

4) Adrian Harrington (or Harringtons)

Here's just a small selection of what Harringtons had on display - stall manned by the effervescent Jon Gilbert, author of the Ian Fleming bibliography. Books came with its range of distinctive presentational boxes. Note the You Only Live Twice rare movie-tie-in paperback with loose wrapper - on sale for £1,250.

5) Lucius Books

York-based Lucius books had a great display, including a first impression of Live and Let Die, a signed On Her Majesty's Secret Service as well as this signed US Casino Royale, inscribed to American-writer Paul Gallico:

6) Whitmore Rare Books

Last but not least from the big dealers, was this signed limited edition of On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

This particular copy, offered up by US-based Whitmore Rare Books, was complete with its original glassine cover (rarely found), and is number 98.

So, interestingly, I make that four copies of this book - from a set limited to just 250 copies that were on display at once, all under the same roof at Firsts.

This represents some 2% of all the estimated surviving copies (200) thought to exist.

Great books - but why we should also be slightly worried....

As the pictures above show, in my mind it's not the quality of what was on offer that was the problem - it was the fact that Bond seems to be concentrated into the preserve of fewer and fewer sellers.

I tried by absolute hardest to see if any other sellers had anything on display. Tom Ayling (Tolkien and antiquarian book specialist) had a few - but these were from a consignment, and not his usual thing.

Apart from this, I found just two other first edition Fleming books for sale that were being offered up by anyone other than those already mentioned above. They were a The Spy Who Loved Me, and a rather hidden Octopussy & The Living Daylights - which I had to actually pull out to reveal (see pics above).

I asked one dealer - specialising in modern firsts (ie a seller I would expect to want to have some Fleming), why he didn't have any. And his response was it was not for lack of trying.

He simply said: "Selling them is the easy part; it's getting them that's difficult."

Don’t get me wrong. I understand Firsts isn’t the centre of the universe, and there are other sellers out there, and there are Flemings that ‘can’ be bought and they are available.

But on the showing from last week, I sensed that any collectors wanting the really good stuff were facing the prospect of fishing from an increasingly shrinking pool – and paying for the privilege – with the prices on show being very high in my opinion).

And this can’t be good news for the average collector.

It’s possible of course, that Fleming can’t be the sole focus of some of the more generalist booksellers exhibiting – which could explain their lack of stock.

But with these same dealers acknowledging Fleming will sell at Firsts, I have to take their account that getting books is harder at face value. I’m sure they would be buying Fleming if they had the chance to – especially if it’s an author they can count on their being strong demand for.

So what do we make of all this?

If the good stuff really is getting condensed, and isolated to just a handful of key sellers, this lack of competition is not good.

If buying Bond to sell is difficult for the average bookseller, then this problem is only going to get worse. It will increasingly ‘only’ be the big players who can afford to buy the best books, and they’ll be elbowing out the competition.

They’ll be keeping prices high too, because they can afford to sit on stuff for longer if it doesn’t sell.

Enter JamesBondFirstEditions!

I think it’s only fair to blow my trumpet now!

There’s the six or seven big sellers of Bond featured above, who pretty much have the market to themselves, and the buying power to hoover up the best books that come to light.

But I’m going to be plucky enough to say that I believe my name should now be added to this list of top Fleming sellers.

I am (I hope), blazing a trail, by being the tenacious hunter, finding the books they miss, and filling the vacuum that’s forming, to not totally leave the market to just the very few high-end sellers.

I’m just as high end (quality-wise), and while I might not have the signed or association copies, I believe I can (and ‘am’) competing in both the quality and certainly the price stakes.

I believe - that as a Fleming specialist - I find and present great (and very much better than average), regular first impression books.

I will tell you a secret – I actually sell to some of the sellers mentioned above, because my prices are still good enough for these high end sellers to turn their profit with their own well-heeled clientele.

My closing thoughts are these: Based on what I saw at Firsts, if the market is left to the really big players, James Bond first editions have the potential to become out of the reach of ordinary sellers.

I’m hoping my efforts mean that’s not happening – just yet!

In the next few weeks I'll be listing a whole new load of books. Keep an eye out. There may be something you want, at a price you can afford.