Dear Reader,
This week I’ve been thinking about books. Well, I’m always thinking about books, and I imagine you are too as you’re here. But I’ve been thinking about the books we treasure and why.
We’ve launched a competition to win the gorgeous proof of Double or Nothing. To win, you just have to tell me on Twitter or Instagram you’re favourite Fleming novel and why. I’ll pick the winner on Monday. Meanwhile it’s amazing seeing the different connections people feel to a particular book, and the points of similarity. (Especially heartening to see a LOT of love for Moonraker’s Gala Brand, one of my favourite of Fleming’s female leads, who never actually made it to screen.) Folks were also posting their favourite Bond editions, which prompted me to set up a poll asking which editions send you searching in your local second hand bookshop. So far, Pan paperback is pulling ahead with a stonking 56% of the vote, followed by first edition Capes at 29%, Penguin Modern or Centenary at 12% and Coronet trailing on 3%.
Ian Fleming has been bound in some iconic book covers over the years, but I’m particularly delighted to see this love for Pan paperbacks. I first read Ian Fleming when I was about twelve or thirteen and decided I wanted to try writing spy fiction, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. My mother suggested I try reading some (always a good start). We were in Camden Town, so popped into Black Gulls Bookshop, a treasure-house of books, where I found From Russia With Love in Pan. I was already a huge fan of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series, but this was the first adult spy novel I read. My life was changed, and soon I was hunting for Pans everywhere – as well as hoovering up John le Carré, Graham Greene, even George Mikes’ The Spy Who Died of Boredom, whose satire mostly went over my head as a teenager.
My grandmother lives near the town of Faversham in Kent, which was a good hunting ground back then (and still today), with a second hand bookshop, antique store or well-stocked charity shop on every corner. I would leap on any Bond I could find in Pan, and the same for Modesty Blaise. This rule still stands today – if I see it, I buy it. (Luckily there are worse vices, right?) The pride of my Bond collection, other than my Pans, is three first editions that my mother has tracked down in the last few years with eagle eyes: Live and Let Die, Thunderball and the The Spy Who Loved Me. These books are so precious to me I don’t even like to handle them, just gaze lovingly. Do you have any books you handle with tissue paper in your collection, whether they’re valuable or not?
When Testament came out, I was interviewed by Fine Books Magazine as a ‘Bright Young Collector’ (cue blushing graciously). You can read it here. My collection isn’t nearly as impressive as a lot of people’s – I don’t collect for value, sequence or completism necessarily, more for what I love. My book collection includes Georgette Heyer in first editions and Pan paperbacks; Modesty Blaise in Pan paperback; and a few first editions of Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton and Baroness Orczy.
But the bulk of my collection is taken up by dictionaries. Dictionaries on any subject from any time: words, watches, stamps, inventions, slang, rhyming, antiquarian, modern. The pride of my dictionary collection is an 1834 edition of Dr Johnson’s Dictionary. Dr Johnson is my spirit guide, if I may be so bold, and actually makes an appearance in my next novel, A Wild & True Relation.
For collectors, there’s a set of rules about what makes a book valuable, and of course the author’s signature plays a part. This week, I’ve been signing book plates for editions of Double or Nothing that you’ll be able to find in your local independent bookshop.
Here’s a before and after –
Another factor is exclusive additional content. I was so excited to be asked by Waterstones to write an essay on the legacy of women in Bond for their special edition.
And this week, I’ve written exclusive additional content for the Apple ebook of Double or Nothing: a list of 5 Fleming Novels to start you reading Bond. So if you like to have the ebook as well, do check out Apple Books. It was very hard to choose just five! What would you pick?
I’m excited to say I’ll be sending out signed Double or Nothing book marks to Founding Members of girl with the golden pen next week. Look at these beauties!
And paid subscribers will soon receive a Q&A with Tom Heap, a Specialist in Sotheby’s Luxury Watches and Timepieces Department. This is the first in my series of Q&As with fascinating people I meet on my writing journey.
If you’re a paid subscriber, you can also comment beneath last week’s post (‘Fasten Your Seatbelt’) with a question for the mailbag newsletter this month. I’ll do my best to answer them all! And I’ll be setting up a Discussion Thread so we can talk all things Bond, book collecting and more.
Meanwhile, it’s just three weeks until Double or Nothing hits shelves. Trouble sleeping, me? Never! It’d be amazing to see you at book events if you can make it. As promised, here’s the link for the Edinburgh book launch on 8th September and the event at Mr B’s in Bath on 22nd September. Hope to see you there!
From Kim, With Love x