James Bond 1st edition rebinds: Finished!

Peter Crush
Feb 3
4 min read

Updated: Feb 6

My seven-year journey to create a complete 14-book 1st impression rebind set is complete:

The James Bond first edition rebind set has finally been completed

This is a blog I've been waiting to write for some time!

It marks the completion of a seven-year project to create my own unique set of James Bond first impression rebinds.

But, in a welcome change from the norm, this week's blog is going to be as succinct as possible (words-wise), because I really let the images below do the talking.

But for context, and to fill new readers in quickly, this set has been building up gradually.

It's grown by a book or two per year, and it first started when I bought this badly damaged first impression of Casino Royale (see below):

Not the best outer, but the inner pages were in fabulous condition

At the time I didn't know that this one book would set off a quest to produce a whole set.

All I knew was that buying this particular copy of Casino Royale had to happen, because almost instinctively I realised it needed rescuing from an uncertain fate.

Ex-library, already stripped of its original boards, and in poor outside condition (see picture left), I knew something should be done to re-purpose this book and make it once more into an object of desire - particularly as the pages internally were all remarkably clean.

When I got my Casino Royale back, I was in love with what I had created.

Almost immediately it created an itch to do another, and then another. The rule I decided to work to was this: Only rebind books with poor condition boards (that didn't matter if they were discarded), but which had great inside pages. By the time I'd done the first three/four, I knew the inevitable was going to happen - that I was far enough down the track to 'have' to carry on.

And so it was, that the decision to see if I could try and perfectly mimic the cover art of each of the 14 books in gilt, on full, thick-grain leather, and housed in a beautiful slipcase - was made.

My goal was, steadily, and over time, do the next book, and then the next book.

They were all done in publishing order.

If you've seen my previous blogs, you'll know that to add the gilt and foil to each book involves creating bespoke aluminium blocks that exactly mirror the cover art, as well as the lettering on the spine.

One can't just download these fonts - they all had to be digitally re-drawn.

In fact, each time a new 'jacket' was started, a process began about the level of detailing necessary/needed to produce artwork that faithfully reflects each title:

Before revealing all the books below, here's some things I encountered/learned along the way:

The artwork gets progressively more complex: Compared to the predominantly type face-heavy cover art of the first three books, by the time we get to the final three, the artwork is incredibly complex - almost too complex for a clean gilt stamp.
The set has evolved: The basics have remained the same, but after a few books in I decided to pick out an extra colour in red foil. This appears on the red rose in Goldfinger, the carnation on The Spy Who Loved Me, the diamonds on the playing card on Thunderball. And of course, the red hearts on Casino Royale. I felt these made the books 'pop'. They are more complex to produce - an extra block is needed, and it also needs to be precisely lined up otherwise the book binder needs to start again.
I added a front board motif where applicable: Because I replicated the cover art on the front board for my first book, Casino Royale, I felt the rest needed to follow in a similar vein. But there were some books where I felt I should push the boat out a bit. So OHMSS has the ski 'swish' on the board instead of the cover art; You Only Live Twice features the distinctive Japanese script; while I couldn't 'not' have the Golden Gun to the front boards of The Man With The Golden Gun, could I? These books obviously all require an extra aluminium block to be machined. It means that there are many books in the set that require three different blocks per book.
The gilt is hard to maintain a consistent colour: Produced over the length of time it was, means the gilt can be a little less/more golden depending on the book. Some gilt stocks used on the earlier books were no longer available more recently, so there is some slight inconsistency - but I think it rather nicely mirrors what Cape used to do with the original hardbacks, which was to use slightly different foil colours during the first impression print run if certain stocks ran out.

If you like what you see below, and would like to commission your own set - I now have all the blocks I need to finally be able to offer this service.

I can work with you to produce your own set, to a specification of your choice, using the plates to recreate either the spine or full jacket artwork, on cloth or leather, with or without slipcases.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss this further.

email: enquires@jamesbondfirsteditions.co.uk

OK, enough with the explanation. I think the books can now do the talking for themselves. Here they all are, presenting together for the first time: