Is this Bond set so bad, it’s now good?
The Jove set of 8 James Bond books divides collectors. But could its unabashed 1970s-1980s design actually be what makes this arresting set newly appealing to collectors today?
The real annoyance with collecting James Bond books, is that whether it's due to complicated publishing rights, or just plain disinterest (or sales), to see a set through to the end, there exists a whole host of incomplete/partial sets from various different publishers. Started probably in good faith, they are united in their incompleteness and all hint at what could have been.
Of all the many ‘what-could-have-been’ sets, my personal favourite is the excitingly-illustrated US Macmillan Jerome Kuhl-illustrated books, some of which are shown below:
Just seven of the James Bond titles were designed in this edition, leaving many collectors (myself included), bereft of what would have been a visually brilliant, and completed set.
Since then, there’s been everything from the Young Reader ‘Bulls-eye’ paperbacks of the 1970s (again, just seven were published), to the James Bond Classic Library (MJF Books) – where tantalizingly, 12 of the 14 were produced [why not just do them all?] – and lots more in between. Even when a full set was finally out, who can forget the anxiety that Folio Society put us all through, leaving collectors waiting four years for its final book in the Bond collection to come out?
The Jove set
But there is one particular set that is not only an example of one of these partial sets (here just eight of the 14 books were produced), but it is often described as the worst looking of the lot.
The set in question is by Jove Books, published in the early 1980s, by arrangement with Macmillan, featuring illustrations by Barnet Plotkin.
They comprised eight titles (Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Love, Dr No, Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only).
And finally, after several years trying to hunt down excellent examples of these difficult-to-find books in the UK, I've managed to assemble the complete set - a shown in the picture below:
But here's the thing. Now that I see them, are they so bad that they are actually good?
To today’s eyes, these gaudy illustrations, featuring a Cary Grant-looking Bond dressed in questionable 1970s fashion, busty girls, scream extreme tackiness (and they might even have done so when they originally came out).
Most obviously they feature the character of Bond himself (which was not allowed in the UK by Glidrose Productions, the company who controlled the literary rights Ian Fleming's works [now Ian Fleming Publications].
Stylistically, they are redolent of Roger Moore’s portrayal of Bond in the 1970s, but now that I’ve assembled this difficult to acquire set, I have to now say they have something about them that certainly makes them different from every other Fleming set, and for that reason, I think they ought to deserve a better reputation.
So what can be said about these books?
If you look online, the first thing to conclude is that there is virtually no publishing information or information about these books of any sort – which to me, also adds to their mystique.
Desk-based research reveals these books were published out of sequence, appearing between February 1980 (first with Goldfinger) till Moonraker (in July 1981).
We know ‘Dr No’ (the correct UK title) was fully-spelled out as ‘Doctor No’ (as US books often did).
We also know the penultimate book – For Your Eyes Only – became a quasi movie-tie in book, with additional front cover blurb indicating the new film was out.
The full publishing information is as follows:
Goldfinger - February 1980
From Russia With Love - March 1980
Diamonds Are Forever - April 1980
Doctor No - May 1980
Live And Let Die - June 1980
Casino Royale - July 1980
For Your Eyes Only - June 1981
Moonraker - July 1981
Beyond this, there is almost no information on this interesting set. We don’t know why only these eight were made, why they chose the titles they did, why the publishing order was the way it was, and why the run was stopped when it was.
We don’t know print runs either – although anecdotally I’ve been told that Live and Let Die is the most rare/uncommon of the set.
We know they cost $2.25 from the labels on some of mine (the equivalent of $9.15 today).
But now I have a full set in front of me, is there anything else we can glean?
The answer is yes, and here are my observations:
1) First and second impressions
You won’t find any information online about the print runs of these titles, and many have assumed they were produced as single printings.
What I’ve found however, is that of the eight that I have, two are second impression books. These are – perhaps understandably – Casino Royale, the debut novel, and From Russia With Love, known to be JFK’s favourite, and the title that really saw Bond take off Stateside.
If I were a betting man, I would say that while it’s possible the other six titles could also have second printings, my guess would be that they do not, and that these two books were the only titles that were popular enough to get a second print-run.
If anyone has evidence to the contrary, do let me know.
2) Inconsistent printing lines - and what they tell us
It’s certainly possible that Jove hoped the books would be popular and that they anticipated future printings of the books. For what you do notice is that most of the books have 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 print lines, indicating later impressions were expected.
Ten-to-one print lines appear in Live and Let Die, Goldfinger, Dr No, and Diamonds are Forever - see some of these examples below:
However, they don’t appear in every book.
In Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only, they simply say ‘First printing’ (ie written out). The 10-1 sequence has been dropped for these books.
This maybe makes sense, given that these were the last two books. Perhaps, by then, Jove might have known it wouldn’t be producing any other impressions, and so dropped to 10-1 sequence.
Where there were second printings, the inconsistencies continue though.
Casino Royale features a 10 down to two number line (see left).
This follows the standard rule that the lowest number represents that book's particular impression.
But in the second print of From Russia With Love, it gives a first printing date (written out) and a second printing date (also written out) – ie there is not any 10-2 sequencing.
There doesn’t appear to be a reason why this is, as books printed after FRWL revert to having the 10-1 sequence.
3) Other books available
What’s also interesting about the Jove editions is that on the preliminary page that lists previous books, they don’t list all of the previous Bond books Fleming wrote up to that point (like Cape did).
Instead it ONLY lists what it calls the ‘Other Ian Fleming titles from Jove.’
I guess this is Jove only wanting to promote the Fleming titles that they're actually printing.
So, in Goldfinger, for example, there’s no list of previous books mentioned at all, as this was the first book to be printed by Jove [ie there were no other Jove books to refer back to].
But after this, there’s weird things going on.
The second book to be published - From Russia With Love - should (in theory), only list Goldfinger as a previous Jove book. But is actually lists five titles (see above): Casino Royale, Diamonds Are Forever, Dr No, Goldfinger and Live and Let Die – even though these books haven’t yet been published by Jove at all (check the chronology above).
It seems that by book two, these were the planned books in the series (but not actually out yet).
In fact some of the books mentioned as being out wouldn’t actually be out for months. They are also listed alphabetically rather than in the order they would appear.
Next book Diamonds Are Forever (see above), also lists five books, but swaps out Diamonds Are Forever, for From Russia With Love.
It's only on the penultimate book – book 7 (For Your Eyes Only) – that Jove does finally list all the previous six Jove books. But unlike the earlier books, doesn’t list future book, Moonraker, the last book that would come out just a month later.
It must have known Moonraker was coming out, yet it didn’t list this forthcoming book like it had done in previous titles.
What else?
1) Each book features an enticing passage from the book
The very first page after the front wrapper (before the publishing information), features a rather nice touch – an actual passage from later on in the book itself.
It looks like each one has been intelligently picked to create reader anticipation.
Left is the passage chosen for Moonraker.
Full marks for picking this particular excerpt. I think it perfectly sums up the novel to come, and immediately sets the scene.
2) Fantastical blurb on the back cover:
What would usually exist as front flap blurb on a hardback book moves to the back cover, and typically (in just five or six lines), describes the book in outrageous typical US-fashion. Left is the blurb for Goldfinger.
For Moonraker, the blurb has Gala Brand (her name isn't actually given), described as as a ‘She-cop’!
Underneath each bit of blurb is the catchphrase ‘Bond Does It Better.’
3) A single-line punch line on each cover
Another interesting choice is a sort of ‘label’ designed into the top of each book’s cover.
It goes inbetween ‘James Bond’ in large letters at the top, and the name of the book below it, to engineer a plot summary and then the introduction to the book's title.
The large James Bond letters run into the first line of the two-line ‘label’, which says what James Bond must do, with the second line always reading ‘In the Ian Fleming Classic’, and which leads into the title of the book. See below:
So, for instance, in Moonraker (above), we have ‘JAMES BOND’ and then ‘Takes on “the bomb” in Ian Fleming Classic, Moonraker.’
For From Russia With Love we have ‘JAMES BOND is the target of a superkiller, In the Ian Fleming Classic, From Russia, With Love’.
And so on…
In this part of the design at least, there is clear consistency, and in this single describing line the book’s content is neatly (and interestingly) signposted, along with the name of the book.
So, what can we say about these books?
Like them or loathe them, these books are certainly visually arresting.
I think appreciation for them has grown, and will continue to grow over time.
Indeed, of all the covers that the Royal Mail could have used when it produced a set of six stamps celebrating different James Bond book titles [with each stamp showing four cover versions of the same title], it picked the Jove covers as one of the four cover types.
The fact a Jove cover appears on each stamp is interesting. I feel it's included because it highlights/indicates a new reader generation. The stamps below certainly show the evolution of the cover designs, and arguably represent each new generation's entry point into Bond.
For this fact alone, maybe we should look more kindly on this books. Sure, the illustrations are ‘of their time’ - or even a bit late – but they certainly excite the senses.
I think they actually illustrate Bond’s enemies very accurately (Drax, above, is correctly ginger-haired with a scar across his face), as are the illustrations of the female characters.
One thing for certain is that these books are hard to gather in the UK, and the set I've managed to assemble has taken considerable time to accumulate.
My set is for sale!
Like most of the books I sell, I've done all the hard work for you, gathering this hard to acquire set together over a long period of time.
You have the easy bit if you would like to own them!
If you are interested in this set – which are all in unread condition with un-creased spines do let me know. I am happy to send you more pictures of each book.
Price for the complete set: £175.00
You don't often see a full set, and certainly not in this good condition. You can be the beneficiary of all my hard work putting this group of books together.
Email me at enquiries@jamesbondfirsteditions.co.uk
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