Yep, as well as printing errors, differences to the jackets, differences to the foil lettering etc., there's differences in cloth - which says something more about a book's production:
There’s a very good reason why collecting Ian Fleming first editions is (save for most people struggling to afford the very early ones), eminently manageable.
Fourteen books– one per year between 1953-1966 – is by no means an insurmountable collecting task. Bibliophiles only need to get a few books in to have already made a decent contribution to amassing a complete set.
But as we all know, things are never quite as simple as this.
When one enters the world of Fleming collecting, we eventually enter (whether we like it or not), a whole new world of searching for examples that have printing errors, those what are deemed variants to some degree, those that are different ‘states’, as well as those which have advance bindings, or are advance proofs, signed books, special editions and so the list goes on.
In previous blogs, we’ve discussed some of these – including error variants (see blog here), and even differences in spine foils used, the presence of which can make a book more desirable to some by virtue of it being much scarcer.
For completists, this raises collecting Fleming books to a whole new added level.
Tiresome to some; fascinating to others
Depending on which side of the fence you sit on, such production machinations can be tiresome in the extreme; naval-gazing at best, and (at worst), a way for margin-hungry booksellers to attempt to make something more out of something that was originally a mistake, or a get-around bourne out of necessity.
The ‘dropped quad’ on some copies of The Spy Who Loved Me for example (basically a printing mistake); the missing ‘t’ on ‘shoo’ in Moonraker; or the plain white endpapers on The Man With The Golden Gun (used when the green bamboo shoots ran out), are examples that have now assumed ‘variant’ status (whether you agree with this labeling or not).
These ‘errors’ tend to few in number, often denote that they are the earliest printings and – because of this – make them more desirable than ‘standard’ books.
The cut of the cloth:
On their own, variations such as the above can mean the same title can exist in multiple combinations – printing mistake, no printing mistake, printing mistake with regular gilt foil, printing mistake with silver foil, no printing mistake with gilt, no printing mistake with silver foil, all the above with different end papers etc.
It’s easy to see why the whole variant ‘thing’ can be a rabbit hole one can fall down of epic proportions.
But if you really want to up the ante even more, there’s another level that just adds to the various possible combinations even further – cloth type (which – just for the absence of doubt isn’t actually cloth, but textured paper, but referred to as cloth).
For VERY good reason, jamesbondfirsteditions.co.uk makes scant reference to cloth type.
I personally find it one of those areas of completeism that I can’t get very excited about.
Cloth use was simply a function of when stocks ran out, and what was available, and really shouldn't have anything more attached to it than this.
Where it is mentioned is related to a very few examples – where cloth type does seem to have some collectible bearing.
There is – for instance – the well-known fact that On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Octopussy & The Living Daylights are sometimes found with black cloth rather than the standard brown/grey (see pic left).
This does seem to make these black examples particularly more collectible as they are more scarce (see later).
Octopussy - 'brown' vs 'black' board (l-to-r)
It is also noted (see also later), that the first state of The Man With The Golden Gun (with the gold gun to the boards), has its own particular cloth variant.
This is 'Linson' cloth - see picture left, and description below). A gun to boards on any other cloth doesn't exist, making this knowledge about cloth useful to spot fakes .
While cloth type doesn't necessarily float my boat, for those that are interested in cloth types though, Fleming bibliographer Jon Gilbert notes three main types.
For public information purposes - an if you want to identify which cloth your books are bound using - here they are briefly described:
The main cloth types:
1) Fabroleen (Type ‘A’):
· Years used: Between 1953-1965
· Described as: Having a regular, close pattern of raised circular pimples
· Finish: Has a matt finish
· Colour: Black or dark grey in colour
2) Linson (Type ‘B’):
· Years used: Used during the same period as A
· Described as: Having closer and smaller pimples
· Finish: More of a ‘Sheen’ finish
· Colour: Black or dark grey
3) Excelin (Type ‘C’):
· Years used: During 1960-1966
· Described as: Having a woven finish with cross-hatched lines, often wavy, giving the appearance of very small distorted squares
· Finish: Has a Sheen finish
· Colour: Either black, dark brown, or grey
(A fourth cloth type - Type D - was used from 1966 onwards, but was only used for reprints)
Why it’s worth at least ‘’checking’ your books
Despite admitting to not wanting to go down the cloth-type rabbit hole too much, collectors may find it interesting to see how their books vary – just as an exercise in noticing something new about their books that they may not have realised.
It was while looking through my stock that I noticed something I’d not seen on You Only Live Twice before – the presence of a very ‘brown’ looking book (see top book on the pile left), compared to the usual black version that I’m used to seeing.
The presence of this brown book (in a first state example), was enough to prompt me into writing this blog in the first place, because it seemed different to what I was expecting, and different from the other first state examples I had.
As the photos show the top book above is a very obviously 'brown'. On it’s own, it’s difficult to notice, but compared to the books alongside it, the brown hue is very clear.
Whereas brown is normal for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Octopussy (and the exception is the black cloth), in this case, the brown cloth is the exception to the rule.
When looked at a bit closer still, we can see how the grain of the brown book (middle) is indeed different from the top book.
According to Gilbert, the typical black cloth binding is ‘Type C’ – in black (above right in the picture), but there is a first state ‘B binding’ where Type A cloth was used – in a greyish-brown colour. He writes that A was used when stocks of C ran out, and used as an interim cloth while waiting for new stocks of C to arrive. Gilbert says that those books bound in Type A cloth were :”therefore bound later” and is “far less common.”
However, as many of you will probably have spotted, my brown book does not have the Type A pattern to the cloth; rather it looks more like the pattern on the book above left - Type C, but in brown rather than black.
So what I actually seem to have is (maybe) an unrecorded brown Type C-bound book - (Type C did exist in brown - it was the default for On Her Majesty's Secret Service), but doesn't seem to be recorded by Gilbert.
Interesting? Maybe...
It all adds to the story of our books
While I’m not for one second trying to suggest that the grey/brown version is some sort of variant that warrants more interest than it deserves, what it does at least show is that the production of the books wasn’t straightforward, and that as a consequence of having to make production line decisions, differences do exist.
A change is cloth is as close an indicator we have of how early or late into the print run a specific book is – which for some, is something useful to know, and ‘tells’ them something more about the book they own.
(Also see how we can gauge the production for Dr No below)
It’s also worth pointing out that when we’re looking at Octopussy or On Her Majesty’s Secret Service to determine whether they are black or brown in colour, the cloth type used is EXACTLY the same – Type C. It’s just that Type C cloth exists in both brown-grey and black.
Gilbert suggests that for both of these books, the black cloth versions are more scarce, as this was used when the standard brown-grey cloth ran out.
My The You Only Live Twice, by comparison, shows its colour difference by virtue of a completely different cloth being used.
Conclusions
I do get it.
None of this is going to necessarily going to rock your world.
As I have already pointed out, collecting by cloth type is a highly specialised and next-level attention to detail that I suspect the majority won’t care for.
These are what I would call ‘versions’ of the first impressions, rather than variants.
But, I don’t doubt that for some collectors, knowing that there are different cloth types is interesting, and – in the absence of being able to tell if a particular book was the first or last to roll off the presses – spotting a cloth type (and cross referencing it to Gilbert), will reveal a bit more about where that book sits [early or late] in the production process.
For this reason alone, maybe being cloth-aware is not such a bad thing after all, and knowing how to recognise the different types is handy to know.
For reference, here’s how each first impression book was recorded by Gilbert from a binding perspective:
PS If you have anything outside the below – then you might have another hitherto unrecorded example!
(Unless otherwise stated, the colour of the cloth is black):
Casino Royale: Type A (Fabroleen)
Live and Let Die:
Type A
Moonraker:
Type A for both ‘shoo’ and ‘shoot’ state books.
However, a Type B binding also exists in examples of the ‘shoot’ state of the first impression.
Diamonds Are Forever:
Type A and also Type B.
“There is no known breakdown of numbers between the two cloth coverings” – Gilbert
From Russia With Love:
Type A cloth in black and Type B cloth.
“There is no known breakdown of numbers between the two cloth coverings” – Gilbert
Dr No:
First state books (no dancing girl) were predominantly bound in Type B (Linson) cloth, although there are examples of Type A too.
Second states of the first impression were in Type A cloth only.
Says gilbert: “Logic would suggest that the few Linson bindings were bound first, followed by the Fabroleen copies.” He adds: “No second state copy has been noted in Linson.”
Goldfinger:
First state (indent to skill) in Type A in black; as was the second state.
For Your Eyes Only:
Type C in black (the rarer silver spine foiled variant is also in Type C).
Thunderball:
Type C in dark brown; same with the rarer silver foiled spine variant;
The Spy Who Loved Me:
Type C in dark brown (also the same for the ‘dropped quad variant)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service:
Type C in brown; with examples of black Type C bound books also seen in smaller numbers.
“It is possible these [black cloth books) were the last remaining sets of first impression sheets. Few firsts were bound in black.” – Gilbert
You Only Live Twice:
Binding C in black, with a second binding state in Type A.
“Type A was used as interim stock instead of halting production,” – Gilbert.
The second state ‘March 1964’ book is bound in Type C in black only.
The Man With The Golden Gun:
First state (Gun to boards) exclusively in Type B (Linson) in dark grey/darkbrown.
Second state books were bound in Type C.
Second states of the first impression:
Gold lettered spine books: Type B cloth
Silver lettering spines: Type C
Bronze foil lettered spines: Can be found with Type A (dark grey/brown) and Type C
Octopussy & The Living Daylights:
Type C in dark grey/brown and Type C in black.
“The vast majority of copies of Octopussy & The Living Daylights were bound in grey/brown cloth. Black copies are significantly fewer in number,” – Gilbert.
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