If you want to own some of the 'very first' James Bond first editions, the Boots 'Booklovers Library' books should be on your radar. They're rapidly becoming more collectable:
Above: These rainbow-coloured books are fast becoming collectable as amongst the earliest James Bond 1st editions
Collecting hardback James Bond first editions sounds like a gloriously simple affair.
Fourteen books, 14 titles to aim for; one very small shelf needed; job done.
Of course collecting is rarely that simple. As an additional challenge, some like to collect all the different impressions; others (those with much deeper pockets), are attracted to signed copies, while there’s also proofs and rare first states (such as The Man With The Golden Gun, with the gold gilt ‘gun’ to the front board), to tickle people’s fancy.
But there’s also another variation of books that those who keep abreast of matters can’t have failed to notice recently.
These are the elusive ‘Books Booklovers Library’ edition hardbacks – books that in the last year or so seem to have suddenly started becoming popular.
Often ignored by serious collectors as mere library books, these distinctive tomes – featuring a variety of brightly coloured coverings – are starting to be recognised for what they really are; amongst the very first bound-up Ian Fleming first editions – a distinction that I believe makes them blibliographically significant.
For apart from the uncorrected proofs, and advance library bindings (see later), these Bond books are literally the earliest examples of finished, bound up, completed books.
Boots Books came first
These book have this particular claim to fame by virtue of being destined for the Boots Booklovers Library.
High street pharmacy, Boots, ran a book-lending/subscription service between 1898 until 1966, following the Public Libraries and Museums Act of 1964.
This act created a statutory duty for local authorities in England and Wales "to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons."
Until then however, taking a book from Boots (and other high street store WH Smith) was one of the only ways members of the public could read a book and return it.
But because each new Boots title needed a lot doing to it (it was typically trimmed down in size; needed to be specially bound in its own coloured cloth; needed to be catalogued and got ready in advance of each book’s official publication date), the Fleming titles sporting the Boots Book-Lovers logo all used the very first Jonathan Cape sheets that rolled off the printing presses.
This means that in production terms at least – and as complete bound-up copies – they pre-date the creation and binding of the official Cape first editions.
Not only do their pre-Cape credentials give them collectability, the books themselves are numerically rare (see known numbers later) – and so finding them has become something of a collector’s treasure hunt.
Also unique about these books, is the sheer range of bright colours they seem to come. Often, the same title can come in two, three (or even four) different colours.
This makes collecting all the variations particularly appealing, for it’s still the case that a new colour (see Dr No below), can crop up that hasn’t been seen before (or at least bibliographically noted), before.
The lore of the lonely entries
What I think makes the lore around these books even more mysterious, is the fact that while Fleming bibliographer Jon Gilbert does acknowledge them, they are really only mentioned in passing.
The only other advance bindings Gilbert mentions (and which should not be confused with the Boots Library books) are ‘advance library copies’.
Advance library books are different. They went to mainstream libraries, and can be identified by having the words ‘Jonathan Cape’ on the spine (Boots books do not). These separate public library bindings also have their own more subtlely-coloured cloth (usually blue or green or red). By contrast, the Boot Booklovers books have their own 'branding'.
Spotting a Boots book is easy
As well as their distinctive coloured boards, the Boots books are easily recognised by carrying Boots’ green shield logo on the front, with an eyelet at the top of the spine (left).
They also always have the distinction 'M' for 'Mystery' stamp on the title page (see pics, above).
Membership tokens were rectangles of ivorine with a string that could be secured through the eyelet so that the token acted as a bookmark.
So exactly how rare are these books?
Here are the quantities of the Boots Library books that are known about:
Casino Royale 150
Live and Let Die 175
Moonraker 790
Diamonds Are Forever Unknown: Gilbert says: “Large orders for Boots Library”
From Russia With Love: 437
Dr No: Unknown. Gilbert says “Large trade sales to Boots.”
Goldfinger: Unrecorded
For Your Eyes Only Unrecorded
Thunderball Unrecorded numbers of Boots books
The Spy Who Loved Me 700 copies being ordered by Boots Library
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 700 for Boots library
You Only Live Twice 750 copies went to Boots Library”
The Man With The Golden Gun Unrecorded numbers of Boots books (if any)
Octopussy & The Living Daylights Unrecorded numbers of Boots books (if any)
(PS I've not personally seen any examples or pictures of any Boots copies of You Only Live Twice, The Man With the Golden Gun or Octopussy & The Living Daylights. It's uncertain if any of these exist. If you have, please let me know).
Looking at the known inventory numbers above, even though Gilbert says ‘large numbers’ were ordered by Boots of some titles, my guess that in reality these were not large numbers at all – maybe between 400-700 at most.
Why are we talking about these books now?
You might be wondering exactly why I’m mentioning these books now.
Well, anyone who keeps their eye on eBay can't fail to have noticed that in the last few months, a number have suddenly come onto the market.
Whether it’s just coincidence or not is difficult to tell.
As someone who keeps an eye on all sources books, I can confidently say that Boots Booklovers Library books historically come up very rarely indeed – maybe only a few times a year (that I’m aware of).
So to see four within a few months of each other is certainly unusual.
They include For Your Eyes Only (green cover, sold in August 2024); From Russia With Love (orange cover, sold in September 2024); On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (red cover, also sold September 2024); and For Your Eyes Only (sold in October 2024).
Maybe as one has appeared, other people have realised that they have similar titles too, and are encouraged to sel theirs. But even still, for four to come up in just a few short months is non typical.
Could we be seeing more of them? It’s very likely we could.
Boots titles we've sold
Because they’re first editions, here at www.jamesbondfirsteditions.co.uk we’ve also been quietly hunting these books down wherever we can.
We’ve previously sold examples of The Spy Who Loved Me and Live and a super-rare Let Die (see pics below):
Here’s jamesbondfirsteditions’ latest addition: Dr No
Below though, is the latest one we’ve just acquired: Dr No.
Working on the assumption that the earlier titles had the fewest copies made, we consider this a very rare one indeed.
While I’m aware of red or orange-bound versions of this particular Boots Library title, I’ve never seen a Dr No Booklover's book bound in green.
If you want to buy it, get in touch!
Variations
Although the Boots Library books are typically determined by having vivid cloth boards, there are some exceptions.
You Only Live Twice – was issued with the standard Cape (black) boards – and without the normal eyelet.
What tells it apart from a normal Cape first edition is that on the Boots-made books, there is NO Japanese script to the front board (see pic above).
The spine lettering is also in gilt rather than the usual silver.
I’ve also seen an examples of both Goldfinger and Thunderball where the Boots Library books actually comprise standard Cape bindings, but feature a Boots logo sticker on top of them.
This Boots example (left) shows this in practice - being a first edition/first impression of Diamonds Are Forever.
As can be seen, it features the standard Cape boards, but simply has a Boots Booklovers sticker stuck on top of it.
Why was this?
One presumes that greater-than-expected demand for these particular titles saw Jonathan Cape supply extras of the standard books for Boots to satisfy demand.
A final thought... Not all are first editions:
As a footnote to this piece, it’s also worth noting that while 99% of the time, any Boots Booklovers edition books will be a first editions, it is not 'always' the case.
Below is an example of a Casino Royale that www.jamesbondfirsteditions has sold.
It was a second impression.
Given only 150 copies were bound of the first edition, it seems logical that demand meant Boots needed more, and used some of the second impression sheets for themselves!
So...what to do if you see a Boots Booklovers book?
For some reason, examples of Boot Booklover's books have condition issues. They almost invariably come with splits along the verticle spine crease. I think it's because the cloth is very thin, and when it dries out, becomes brittle and frays.
But, with prices for these books steadily rising - there's only really one thing you need to do if you see one - buy it!
This is especially-so if you can spot a very early book in the series - anything from the 1950s.
To me, these editions show an important part of the story of the publishing history of the James Bond books.
They are increasingly being appreciated for the part they play, and I predict they'll only become more coveted as time goes on.
More will undoubtedly emerge, as houses are cleared, and collections are split up.
My advice: don't shun these books are 'not proper' first editions.
They are, and they're fun, colourful titles to collect.