JAMES BOND
FACT FILES

The covers presented on this page are displayed in the order they were first released in the USA, which for some series was not the same publication order of the Ian Fleming novels in hardcover. As such this provides a far more interesting historical context to the publishing history of the James Bond novels in paperback in the USA.

APPENDIX B: Ian Fleming's James Bond novels - a complete checklist by title of all US paperback cover variations

The publishing history of the James Bond novels in the United States of America is not as straightforward as it was in the United Kingdom, as the rights to Ian Fleming's early books were originally held by different publishers. Before all titles were acquired by the New American Library and issued in paperback under their Signet imprint, the early James Bond novels were not published in uniform editions, and their position in the marketplace was not established until much later than in the UK. American paperback editions of Ian Fleming's first four James Bond novels appeared in the mid-1950s, with CASINO ROYALE re-titled You Asked For It, as it was felt that American readers wouldn't be able to pronounce ‘Royale’. MOONRAKER was similarly re-titled Too Hot To Handle, possibly in order to avoid any confusion with the then-current Arthur Watkins stage play The Moonraker, which was later filmed in 1958 starring George Baker [Sir Hilary Bray in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)]. The first four Ian Fleming novels were issued with garish pulp thriller-style covers that did not look out of place amongst the other cheap detective fiction available at bookstalls across the USA.

Signet Books (the paperback imprint of the New American Library) issued Ian Fleming's novels starting with the first US paperback of FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE in September 1958, followed by DOCTOR NO in June 1959. The company then acquired the rights to the first four James Bond novels, and reissued LIVE AND LET DIE in October 1959 and CASINO ROYALE (under its original title) in February 1960. The first US paperback edition of GOLDFINGER was published in June 1960, with MOONRAKER added to the range four months later. This also marked the first time Ian Fleming's third novel was published in the USA under its original title. All of the paperbacks had cover artwork painted by Barye Phillips (1924–1969), and the last four covers state that the novel was a James Bond Thriller by the author of DOCTOR NO, as this was the most well-known title in the USA at the time. In June 1961 the FOR YOUR EYES ONLY anthology made its American debut in paperback, also featuring a painted cover by Barye Phillips.

In November 1961 Signet Books then issued DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER in paperback, four years after the Perma Books edition. The new cover was again painted by Barye Phillips and the original artwork later presented to Ian Fleming whose widow Ann in turn gave it to their former employees Mr. and Mrs. Beckett as a retirement gift in 1974. FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE was also published in November 1961, and later reprinted as a film tie-in paperback in 1963-64. DOCTOR NO followed in December 1961, and later had an overprinted flash to tie in with the first James Bond film when reprinted in late 1962. A black & white still of Sean Connery and Ursula Andress from the film appeared on the revised back cover. CASINO ROYALE, LIVE AND LET DIE, GOLDFINGER and MOONRAKER then followed at monthly intervals in 1962.

THUNDERBALL made its US paperback debut in May 1962, followed by THE SPY WHO LOVED ME a year later. The first US paperback edition of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE was published by Signet in August 1964, and retained its simple golden gryphon motif cover designed by Paul Bacon, that had appeared on the dust jacket of the hardback edition published by Signet's parent company in September 1963. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE was the first hardback published by the New American Library, and remained on the US best-seller list for six-months. The paperback edition broke the style of the earlier Signet James Bond editions which by now had sold 7-million copies in the USA. Later movie tie-in paperbacks of GOLDFINGER and THUNDERBALL issued by Signet, reverted to the vertical text on the right-hand side of the cover, stating that the novel was ‘A James Bond Thriller’.

Although Signet did publish a new paperback to tie-in with the Columbia Pictures release of Casino Royale (1967), featuring a repainted version of the Robert McGinnis poster artwork, there was no new paperback to support You Only Live Twice, and instead a removable pink arrow-shaped sticker was applied to the cover to announce the new film. Signet returned to a Barye Phillips painted vignette cover for the July 1966 paperback release of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, and re-used the photograph of author Ian Fleming by Dan Wynn last seen on the 1965 box set, for the paperback edition of OCTOPUSSY in July 1967. Signet reprinted the James Bond novels in paperback many more times throughout the 1960s, with later editions featuring a ‘007’ logo and page-turning motif in the top left-hand corner.

Alongside their regular paperbacks, Signet also produced movie tie-in editions of Ian Fleming's novels. GOLDFINGER uses a new illustration of the golden girl, and CASINO ROYALE featured a repainted version of the Robert McGinnis poster artwork (although the UK PAN Paperback retained the original art). In addition to the movie tie-in edition in 1967, the yellow cover Signet paperback of CASINO ROYALE (D1997) which had been in circulation since 1961 also had a gold medallion label applied to the cover with the text ‘NOW AN EXCITING NEW MOTION PICTURE’. Interestingly the Signet THUNDERBALL movie tie-in also used an alternate version of the Robert McGinnis poster artwork showing Bond wearing a diver's mask on his head. This was the only time this version of art was seen until Graham Rye featured it on the cover of 007 MAGAZINE Issue #48 (December 2005), and again on 007 MAGAZINE Thunderball 50th Anniversary Special (June 2015).

The cover of the Signet movie tie-in paperback for ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE also used an alternate photograph of George Lazenby surrounded by models from the UK photo session, with the girls in slightly different positions to those on the UK PAN paperback edition. Although the movie tie-in editions of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and LIVE AND LET DIE were published in paperback by Bantam, it was Signet Books who published THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN in 1974, as they still held the US paperback rights to Ian Fleming's final four James Bond novels at that time. Signet later reprinted the four titles again several times throughout the next two decades until they lost the rights in the early 2000s.

Although Signet Books could no longer publish Ian Fleming's James Bond novels from CASINO ROYALE (1953) to THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1962), they retained the paperback rights to the author's final four titles and continued to issue these sporadically until the late 1990s when the rights were taken over by Penguin Random House. Although not directly linked, it would appear that the final Signet paperback edition of OCTOPUSSY (above) was inspired by the 1983 Roger Moore film, as the cover photograph depicts a girl in Indian costume, when there is no reference to India in any of the short stories that appeared in the anthology.

Bantam Books (an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group) issued five James Bond novels in paperback starting with the first US publication of COLONEL SUN by Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis) in May 1969. The superb cover artwork was by James Bama (1926-2022) who had earlier illustrated the cover for Bantam's 1967 paperback Alias James Bond - The Life of Ian Fleming by John Pearson, turning the author into James Bond himself. James Bama's other foray into James Bond artwork was with the covers of Popular Science magazine  in January 1966, featuring an illustration of Sean Connery and the gadgets from Thunderball (1965); and again on the cover of the June 1967 issue with an illustration of ‘Little Nellie’ from You Only Live Twice. Bantam later issued paperbacks of CASINO ROYALE, FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, DOCTOR NO and GOLDFINGER in 1971/72, and finally a reissue of COLONEL SUN in 1972 using the same artwork as the 1969 paperback but this time in reverse. The artwork on these five paperbacks is often incorrectly attributed to three-time James Bond poster artist Frank C. McCarthy (1924-2002). James Bama had often used US model/actor Steve Holland (1925-1997) as a photo-reference for his paintings; most notably as heroic-adventure character Doc Savage on the legendary series of paperback covers he painted for Bantam Books in the 1960s. It is undoubtedly the square-jawed Steve Holland who also provided the facial reference for the GOLDFINGER cover at least.

MOONRAKER was published by Bantam in March 1973, although its catalogue number pre-dates the earlier novels in the series, suggesting its publication was delayed. The Bantam paperback edition of MOONRAKER stands alone and features cover artwork by Howard Rogers (born 1932), who depicts Bond as a contemporary figure, which is in stark contrast to the more traditional hero illustrated on earlier covers.

Interspersed with these titles Bantam also published movie tie-in paperback editions of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and LIVE AND LET DIE both featuring the poster artwork of Robert McGinnis.

The early 1980s saw independent publisher Jove Books issue Ian Fleming's first seven novels and collection of short stories with new cover art by Barnett Plotkin (1932-2003) who now depicted James Bond as a more modern figure. Roger Moore's fifth James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981) was also released during the period Jove held the US paperback rights, so their edition became the nominal US film tie-in, with the addition of a new strap-line on the cover.

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