JAMES BOND
FACT FILES

For their second printing Macmillan reissued the first seven novels on 17th January 1966, all priced at $3.95 and featuring new dust jackets designed Jerome Kuhl (1927-2016). The novels were all subtitled ‘A James Bond Mystery’ on the front cover, with same brief biography and photograph of author Ian Fleming featured on the rear of each dust jacket. It is interesting to note that the Macmillan reissue of DOCTOR NO reverted to the UK abbreviated title, and is the only US hardcover edition with this title. The only other American printing of the novel to bear the UK title was the 2012 Thomas & Mercer Paperbacks edition.

Eight James Bond novels were published in the USA by the Book Club as part of the ‘Dollar Mystery Guild’ series in August 1965. They had uniform covers and were issued many times well into the 1970s, far outselling any other hardcover editions of the novels in the USA. Alternate coloured covers exist for all titles, and others with the Walther PPK silhouette filled in white. All titles (with the exception of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) have the same rear cover featuring a brief outline of Ian Fleming's pre-Bond career, accompanied by photographer Dan Wynn's (1920-1995) portrait of the author.

New York publisher Michael J. Fine acquired the rights to publish the first twelve James Bond books in the USA, but could not secure THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN and OCTOPUSSY so the series was incomplete. The colourful dust jackets were designed by Richard Rossiter, with illustrations by Christopher Blumrich. The books were issued as the ‘James Bond Classic Library’ collection, and although no price was printed on the dust jacket they were affordable mid-range editions. Two omnibus editions were later published in April 1997, followed by a second printing with different photographic dust jackets featuring a tinted female torso in a bikini accompanied by an automatic pistol and a martini glass.

JAMES BOND NOVELS BY OTHER AUTHORS - First US printings

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