The first impression Moonraker I'm betting you've 'never' seen before
- Peter Crush
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
I'm willing to bet you've never seen this first impression Jonathan Cape Moonraker before - ever!
Ian Fleming might only have written 14 James Bond books, but what never ceases to amaze me is the sheer number of different printings there are and the almost endless variety of different sets and cover designs that have been created over the last 70+ years.
But every so often, it’s a Jonathan Cape book – one that shouldn’t be spectacular in any way at all – that crops up that takes even me by surprise.
Sometimes I spot a Cape that's not an advance binding, nor an uncorrected proof, or a signed copy. Nevertheless, it sits firmly in the category of ‘I’ve never seen this before’.
And if I haven’t seen it, I’m going to stick my neck out and introduce you to a book that I don’t think you’ve ever seen before either – the below example of Moonraker.
What’s different?
On first appearance, there is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s a first edition, first impression of Ian Fleming’s third novel, Moonraker.
While relatively rare, these books are still readily available (if you have the money), and first editions are especially-numerous when they come without their jackets.
No, what’s striking about this book is what’s been attached to it at the very base of the front board – a sticker that shows not one but two different logos at the same time: those of The Red Cross, and St John’s Ambulance.
As I’ve now discovered, the presence of this sticker marks this out as being incredibly unusual.
Other types of ‘Library’ books
Previously I’ve blogged about a number of interesting library editions that aren’t part of the usual public library system (and which if they are, tend to make these books less desirable).
They include the brightly bound Boots Lending Library books (typically all first impressions, and often bound ahead of the normal first impressions), as well as those that feature ordinary Cape cloth, but have their own shield-sticker (see above). Similar to these are the WH Smith Lending Library equivalents.
But while I’ve seen the odd hospital library book – typically just stamped with whichever hospital it was from (and stays in), this dual-logo'd sticker was completely new to me.
I decided to do some research about what exactly I had, and the story behind this book is (I think), fascinating.
The Red Cross/St John’s Ambulance: What I found out:
Hospital librarianship is often described as ‘bibliotherapy’ – the notion that literature given to the sick and wounded helps aid their recovery, by lifting readers’ spirits, helping pass the time, and generally improving their mood, mental wellbeing and ultimately their physical wellbeing too.
In the UK, wounded veterans had Helen Mary Gaskell (née Melville) – often know as May Gaskell (1853–1940) to thank for founding the British War Library.
It was a venture launched in 1914 to provide reading material to British soldiers fighting in World War I.
Gaskell was a "vivacious but unhappily married society hostess” who belonged to the aristocratic circle of friends known as the 'Souls, and with the help of her friend Lady Battersea – who donated her large empty London home near Marble Arch as a base, the British War Library formerly began operations the year the war started.
Initially the service was intended to provide material for the wounded in specific military hospitals, but the Admiralty soon requested that it be extended to those on active service too, including medical staff and coastguards. Gaskell's younger brother (Beresford Melville, former MP for Stockport), provided financial support to help get the service growing, including launching an appeal for donations of used books. This was actually the very first appeal of the war effort, and with free promotion by newspapers, reading matter reported started arriving in whole van-loads.
It’s association with The Red Cross and the Order of St John formed quickly a year later – as managing the service was expensive, and so the two charities decided to take over the financial burden of running it.
The post-war years
By 1935, more than half a million items were routinely being sent out per year, and during the Second World War the Red Cross and St John Hospital Library Service provided books, magazines and illustrated papers for Service patients in hospitals and convalescent homes at home and overseas.
Almost all of these were gifts from the public.
After the cessation of The Second World War, the British War Library then became known as the Hospital Library Service, where it continued to supply books to hospitals and sanatoria at home, as well as to military hospitals overseas.
The scheme was re-organised as a department of the Joint Committee of the Order of St John and British Red Cross in 1945 and continued its work within the National Health Service and with the armed forces.
By 1970, approximately 1,300 hospitals were being supplied and more than 3 million books were issued a year. There were 4,000 volunteers working in hospitals and at the 46 county depots around the country. It was only as recently as 1996 – due to rising costs and changing priorities – that full responsibility for the service was transferred from the Joint Committee to St John Ambulance.
My Moonraker edition
Donated just ten years after the end of the war, this book was probably being read at the height of the service's popularity.
Normally, it’s not possible to say for certain where the book originated from.
Some sources say it was ordinary people who donated books – seeing this as their charitable good deed for that year.
But research also reveals that publishers also donated books directly too. This means there’s every chance Jonathan Cape donated this book itself. (Alas, there is no reference in Gilbert’s bibliography of any such editions).
Unfortunately, I can’t say one way or another whether this was donated by Cape from new, or was donated by someone who purchased the book, read it, and then decided to give it to the hospital.
In fact this book is a slight enigma. We can’t also say which hospital it went to either, as there is no hospital stamp anywhere. All we do know is that it went to the Cheltenham Depot (see the rubber stamp over the bookplate, above), for distribution thereafter.
It’s worth saying that very occasionally, there are some more clues that these Hospital Library books do give up
Recently I saw this plate (see picture below) belonging to another Jonathan Cape Bond (but without a front board sticker).
It has the same inner bookplate, showing that it is the property of the St John and Red Cross Hospital Library.
But take a closer look, and you can see that this label has been stuck on top of a WH Smith Lending Library sticker.
In a similar vein to Boots, high street stationery chain, WH Smith & Sons ran a circulating library (between 1860-1961).
The edges sticking out from underneath the Red Cross/St Johns plate show just enough of the label for me to identify it.
Here – below – is what a normal WH Smith Lending Library sticker looks like.
My thoughts...
Although I’ve seen books with a Red Cross/St Johns Hospital Library plate on the inside front board before, this first impression Moonraker is unusual because I’ve ‘never’ seen one with an intact The Red Cross, and St John’s Ambulance sticker stuck to the front.
Boots Lending Library James Bond First Editions are often seen with their green shield sticker on the front, but as I say, I’ve not ever seen a Red Cross, and St John’s Ambulance sticker on the front board before.
Just in case anyone is wondering, it’s worth noting that this copy of Moonraker is ‘not’ one of the very early printings, where the ‘t’ of ‘shoot’ is missing. The ‘t’ is present, so it's from a later run of the first impression.
Still though, lots of questions remain!
How many first impression Moonraker books actually got sent to the Hospital Library?
If they were not routinely donated by Jonathan Cape, maybe the only books that did end up there were donated by the public – which would substantially impact the likely numbers that ended up there.
Linked to how many were donated is perhaps the bigger question of how many of those small number donated still exist today?
Of course, it’s impossible to tell on both counts.
The one thing I do definitely know is that in my decade or so collecting/selling James Bond books, I’ve never seen another one like it.
Could I have the only one? Maybe!
What feels so apt with this particular book, is how it actually mimics the story - which features main protagonist, Drax, a wounded (presumed British), soldier who convalesced in an army hospital. Readers who actually read this while recovering themselves will have no doubt recognised the similarity of their situation.
The best thing of all for me though, is that I love the fact that just when you thought you’ve seen everything, a book like this emerges to remind you that you have not!
It’s very possible more Ian Fleming novels did find their way to the Hospital Library Service, to then be redistributed thereafter.
The existence of this Moonraker gives one a tiny hope that there others are still out there, just waiting to be found.
I say keep your eyes peeled!
If you are interested in purchasing this arguably unique first impression, do get in touch. Email me at: enquiries@jamesbondfirsteditions.co.uk
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