The 'original' later hardbacks: The FELs
- Peter Crush
- 5 days ago
- 9 min read
Last week The Folio Society announced the final book of its James Bond set will soon be available. But here I take a look at the original later James Bond set: the mysterious FELs:
News last week that the Folio Society would finally be releasing the 14th and final James Bond book of its sumptuously-illustrated Fay Dalton set this October will no doubt have caused many bibliophiles to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Collectors used to seeing a regular announcement of one or two new Fleming titles per year have been nervously waiting for this very last book.
After all, 13-books in (at £40-odd a pop) is no small expense, and the near three-year hiatus between the last one and this one - Octopussy & The Living Daylights (almost as long as the gap between Bond films!), had caused some to fear the worst.
It's worth remembering the Dalton/Folio series was first launched way back in 2015. To complete it, with a maximum of two new titles a year, was already requiring collectors to exhibit patience in the extreme. They’ve also had to have nothing more than blind faith that the set they’ve been investing in for so long ‘will’ be completed. This is not always a given. As many collectors will painfully know, the history of James Bond sets is littered with many half-finished sets, or some sets barely started at all – a frustrating turn of events.
A plagiarism case brought against Dalton in early 2024 may well have added to the delay (not that Folio ever acknowledged this), and it will have caused additional anxiety that the set they’ve been assiduously collecting would be left agonisingly incomplete - one short, right at the death.
But while the Folio set will now be finished (hooray!) – this very good news reminds me of a much more elusive and mysterious earlier set.
And, it’s a set – until recently – that I admit to having ignored slightly: the First Edition Library (FEL) set.
Very little is actually known about these!
When I say it’s an elusive set, I don’t just mean elusive in print-number terms (for these do not 100% seem to be known - see later), but I mean it in actual information-terms of these books which faithfully recreate the original hardbacks in almost every way possible - whether it's from the fonts/layouts used, the dust jackets, the detailing on the boards, or (as close as possible), and even the cloth for the boards.
For it's a set of books that – despite its obvious beauty – remarkably very little is known about it (and not much can actually be found online either).
Jon Gilbert, in his Ian Fleming bibliography, only mention each one in passing in his summary of US ‘later hardbacks’, and merely says they were produced throughout the 1990s. He lists no print-numbers nor anything really about how they can into being.
So, I’ve decided to find out as much as I can about them, from different sources, and this is what I’ve found. (Note: The data may not be 100% correct, but I’ve cross-referenced where I can, and I think I can create something of a decent summary of this frustratingly under-known about book series).
So, here goes!
What we do seem to know is that these exact reproductions of the 14 Ian Fleming books (all in a bespoke slipcase), were part of the 112 titles in total produced by the US First Edition Library during the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Other books in the series included the great works of the 19th and 20th centuries, including The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Hucklebury Finn and the Grapes of Wrath.
All were produced using fine, acid-free paper, with exceptional attention to detail and colouring, making these exact replicas of the Jonathan Cape titles a superb and visually-appealing alternative to the originals.
It’s after this though, that the information trail becomes a bit more scant.
Sources suggest that in the 1990s, FEL ceased production of these books entirely, but as part of its wind-up, it sold some of its titles (49 of them), to Connecticut-based Easton Press. These comprised 35 books plus the 14 Fleming titles.
Easton Press should be a name that’s familiar to many Bond collectors – it being purveyors of fine leather-bound books. In 2005, in fact, it produced the more familiar 14 leather-bound set of the Fleming titles (see pic above).
Once more, information about Easton’s involvement quickly dries up.
It’s not known, for example, how long they carried on producing the slip-cased Cape facsimile editions for.
But what is known however, is that even though production switched from the First Edition Library to Easton Press, in the Easton copies of the books, the large FEL explanatory block on the title page was NOT altered or updated (see below) to show Easton’s involvement in them.
Each book (FEL and then also the Easton Press-produced examples), do have a date in them – such as Casino Royale - left - which says ‘copyright 1953, copyright renewed 1981’. But the later date is noted as probably ‘not’ the date the book was produced, merely the date the copyright for the First Edition Library was renewed. However, the publishing date may not have been too far off this.
From what I can find out, the dates in the FELs are as follows, which may closely relate to when the books became available:
Casino Royale: 1981
Live and Let Die: 1982
Moonraker: 1983
Diamonds Are Forever: 1984
From Russia With Love: 1985
Dr No: 1986
Goldfinger: 1987
For Your Eyes Only: 1988
Thunderball: 1989
The Spy Who Loved Me: 1990
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: 1991
You Only Live Twice: 1992
The Man With the Golden Gun: 1993
Octopussy & The Living Daylights: 1993
Given all the above, there are definitely two distinct types of facsimiles out there – the original First Edition Library ones of the late 1980s to early 1990s, and the late 1990s Easton ones.
Interestingly, I’ve not seen sellers actually alert buyers to this distinction – both types are simply referred to generically as FELs.
Perhaps this distinction is not made because seller don’t know about it, or perhaps because because the later Easton ones are considered less valuable than the original FEL-produced ones.
Because the copyright page wasn’t changed for the Easton Press examples though, identifying whether an example you see is the original FEL or later Easton one can be difficult.
There is one way though: It’s been noted that the original FEL books came with an additional 4-page information slip inside each book (see pic left - in this case the one inside You Only Live Twice) – which the Easton-made books did not.
A problem, however, is that if the book is still sealed, you won’t know which type you have without breaking the seal.
Some collectors like their copies still to be sealed!
It has been suggested that FEL-made facsimile Bond titles were produced in a limited print run of 2,500 per book. However there is no definitively answer to the question of just how long for, and how many of the Easton-made books, were additionally made.
One seller I’ve seen claims the reproduction books (I’m assuming he means the Easton Press ones), "started in 1993" and ended in “around 2002” – but this cannot easily be substantiated.
Other sources claim that the Easton Press titles were available through subscription sites – including UK catalogue company, Danbury Mint.
This makes sense, as Danbury Mint is a sister company to Easton Press, and reseller of limited edition ‘collectables’. (It currently sells a Steiff limited edition ‘Dr No’ musical teddy bear if anyone is interested!!)
Strangely though, if you look at the Easton Press site today, not only does it not show the later leather-bound sets at all (or even mention them), but neither does it have any mention of the facsimile set either. It’s as if both never existed.
Why collect the facsimile sets?
I mentioned at the start of this blog, that the FELs (as I’ll generically call them from now on), haven’t really been on my radar until recently.
Yes, I knew about them, and I was aware of them (even that they were quite rare), but I’d only ever handled a single one (Live and Let Die), and had never seen the rest of them.
My reaction to them historically has been – why would anyone actually want to buy these, when they can collect the ‘real deal’ (ie ‘proper’ genuine Cape editions)?
In fact it tended to shock me that FELs of the first three Fleming titles in particular – Casino Royale, Live and Let Die and Moonraker – consistently sell for around the £350-500 mark (each) – which I thought was surprising, given later editions of the genuine article can be bought for less. A good condition Casino Royale 4th impression (1957) recently sold for £500 on eBay – the first with the change of DJ design.
My attitude has historically been – go for the original if you’ve got £500 to spend and are deciding between a proper vintage book or a relatively recent ‘copy’.
But, I’m not too proud to say my opinion has recently changed.
About a month ago I was fortunate enough to be able to buy an entire – full set – of facsimile James Bond books (see pics right at the end of this blog).
And I have to say, I’m in love with them.
I know people love the Folio Society set – the artwork alone is worth the money.
But these FELs were the original ‘later’ set, and of all the other series of Bond books, using different artists down the years, this is the ONLY set to have stuck with the original covers, and is the only 100% faithful reproduction of the originals.
For all sorts of licensing reasons, I suspect that we won't ever see a fully-realised reproduction set like the FELs produced again.
And for that reason alone, I think any serious Fleming collector should consider owning them.
Yes, they’re copies.
Yes, they’re simply new versions of what many people have already got.
Yes, they’re essentially the same as the originals, and plenty of people would rather buy a new set that had new set of exciting images or illustrations.
But, to me, this set is more than merely a poor-man's copy.
It’s a one-off; it’s scarce; and actually, the reproduction of the books is fantastic.
The colours of the jackets really pop, and look so vibrant – perhaps how the original books first looked before the ravages of time and sun dulled them.
OK, so this You Only Live Twice - for example (see pic, above), isn't 100% like the original, with the colour appearing firmer, but the pinks of the peony flower really do arrest you, and perhaps look as close to what the original may have initially looked like when it came out.
All of these facsimile books are crisp, sharp, and printed on beautiful paper which will stay beautiful and not deteriorate like the originals.
It's noteable that Gilbert can be a bit sniffy about some of the FELs, saying the colours don't exactly match (Live and Let Die comes for particular criticism).
He also notes that while they are a 'sterling effort', they are bound using the 'French Groove' method (see close-up pic, left), rather than the original binding - a technique where a groove is created by leaving space between the book boards used for the spine and front and back covers. The space (apparently), creates a supple area of only cloth and allows books to open flat.
But to me these are small details.
The set I recently purchased are (I feel), particularly unique because not only are all but a couple still sealed in their plastic wrapping (and so are in pristine, un-read condition), but 11 of the 14 come in the original boxes they were posted out in (see pics below).
Presumably the original collector simply kept them safe in these boxes, and never took them out again, which explains why they are all in perfect condition - some 30 years later.
I originally purchased these to sell - but I like them so much, I'm now not sure (the trials of being both a book collector and dealer!)
If you want to make me an offer I can't refuse, let me know! (enquiries@jamesbondfirsteditions.co.uk)
In the meantime, and perhaps until I do sell them, I'm going to enjoy owning them, and I would urge anyone else thinking about collecting them to do so.
They're probably a sound investment (arguably more-so than the Folio set in my opinion) - and they're still relatively easy to pick up individually. Prices will no doubt rise in the future. Whole sets do come up for sale too. I'd say if you like these, and want to own them, act while you can still find them relatively cheaply.
My set - above and below. Who knows, they may end up in the 'for sale' pile...!
