There's a book fair practically every weekend in the UK - and the good news, is that if you visit one, you'll almost certainly find an Ian Fleming first edition 'in the wild'
It has to be said, that one of the best-kept secrets about book collecting in the UK is the perennially strong calendar of regional book fairs.
While online marketplaces are convenient, and they can sometimes yield you a bargain, most would agree they’ve also diminished the happenstance of book browsing; the thrill of spotting a dusty tome that has been in the back a dealer’s cupboard for years, and just the sensation of thumbing through shelves and digging (possibly), for gold.
Oh, and let’s face it, when a book is online, and are there for the whole world to see, you’re not exactly making a great discovery. You’re just being lucky if you spotted, and purchased it before anyone else.
It was this feeling of joy that was a palpable one for me, when I spent a morning (which could have been longer), wandering around the Oxford Book Fair last weekend.
The Oxford Book Fair is now a twice-yearly event run (once in the spring; once in the autumn), organised by the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (or PBFA) - the bookseller membership body that is this year celebrating its 50th anniversary.
A staggering 85 dealers were on show at this single event - crammed into a hall at the Oxford Brookes University campus, and it’s one of the larger events on the PFBA’s calendar, which now runs a similar event somewhere in the country practically every week (there are now 48 events planned during 2024 alone).
Unlike the Firsts Book Fair – swamped at it is by the top London boutique book stores (and with visitor clientele to match), these regional fairs definitely don’t have headline grabbing collections of great rarity or huge value. Jonkers was probably the biggest name there – but moreso because Henley is just down the road.
As such, there won’t be significant ‘star attractions’ either.
The dealers are mostly all small SMEs/independent dealers (some of whom aren’t even online, as one seller told me).
But while they don’t have flashy cabinets (in fact, everyone is furnished by the PBFA’s own homogeneous shelves - see pic above), what they do have is just have ton of interesting books; a ton of time to speak to you, and a ton of enthusiasm – everything that basically makes these events simply pleasant places to be.
Any Bond?
This being a jamesbondfirsteditions.co.uk blog, the hunt was, of course, to see whether there was any good Bond stuff.
And, I’m pleased to say that there really was.
While most collectors cannot always guarantee that they’ll find the particular author they collect, the one thing I’ve always found I can rely on is being able to spot least a few good Ian Fleming books.
So… what was on offer?
Caveat first: At these provincial book fairs, Bond books don’t easily reveal themselves.
Mostly, they’re randomly shelved, next to books on fishing, or such-what, and they’re easily missed amongst the throng of people and books around them.
An initial walk round initially saw me doubt that I’d return home without spotting any, but as soon as you get your Bond radar on, you immediately start getting hits:
This ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ - above right - (first edition, first impression), was obscurely located in the ‘Miscellaneous’ section on one dealer’s shelf. It was not the nicest copy I’ve ever seen, and nor was it cheap for the condition it was in (£300-plus if I remember correctly), but it was there nevertheless.
This lonely offering started something of a run however, because one another dealer’s shelf, not too far away was this selection of books (above middle), grouped together. Somewhat incongruously positioned next to some Agatha Christies was a very decent Dr No, and a not bad Goldfinger (second impression though).
For Your Eyes Only – alas – sported the all-too familiar bright yellow spine lettering, and looked to be in a sorry state. It’s a shocking reminder of how red ink – mixed with just light and the passage of time – can completely transform into a very bright yellow. Sadly, the offer price didn’t reflect this.
A different dealer had another Goldfinger (above left) – better placed next to two bound Tolkien’s – while I would have bought this rather nice (bright white to the spine), Octopussy & The Living Daylights (below, left), if it wasn’t for the fact the price tag was £190, and it had a much later (over-stickered) official Cape price. This Spy Who Loved Me (below, right), looked very appealing at first, but I think the rather grubby The Man With The Golden Gun made it look a bit better than it actually was.
Overall (and on closer inspection), The Spy Who Loved Me was 'OK', but it gave me the impression that it had been packed, shelved, thumbed at a lot a book fairs, and brought back home again many times before.
Proof that you really can miss the wood for the trees at book fairs was stumbling on this shelf, which was easily the best complement of Bond books all in one place:
I say ‘stumble’ because I must have walked passed it at least a few times, before I actually saw what was there. Sometimes you really do need to walk past a bookshelf a few times, and from different directions to finally notice what you might have missed the first time around.
All these books carried the same internal stamp as shown above – Johnny Lim, of Kunching, Sarawak, Malaysia [Someone with the same name, in the same location can be found on LinkedIn... I wonder if these books were once his?]
Alas, the Moonraker, Dr No and Diamonds Are Forever were all much later reprints; as was the Casino Royale and the two The Spy Who Loved Me books. Coming from the more humid Far East, they were all quite badly foxed too – which was a real shame.
I wanted to like these books, but there wasn’t a reason for me to buy them.
But, I did tell the dealer, however, that his Thunderball had the rarer silver foil on the spine – which he seemed pleased to hear about. I’d have bought it myself if the boards didn’t have the splitting on the cloth. But my motto is that if you’re not going to buy at book, at least pass on some advice if you have some.
Was there anything really standout?
Yes is the short answer.
There was one stand in particular – which, despite it having a prominently-displayed signed first edition of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets – caused my eyes to swerve instead to two very beautiful rebinds – first editions of Live and Let Die and From Russia With Love.
Bound by Sangorski & Suntcliffe – practically the only book binding business with genuine brand recognition – these featured beautiful end papers. They were exquisite books and were a joy to behold.
I was reliably told by the dealer that these books – with bright luxurious gilt to the page blocks – were part of a set that was once sold in Liberty of London. I can’t find any mentions of this set ever existing – so I’m not sure if it’s true or not – but nevertheless, the books were wonderful.
All of the pages were clean, and bright, and without foxing. Both of these looked to have been brand new to start with, rather than being battered books and then rebound later. I was sorely tempted!!
My problem though, was two-fold. Firstly, I’m just over halfway through doing my own set of rebinds (see my progress blog here).
So I really need them?
Secondly, was the fact there was just the two. What would I do with them? They would be something of an odd pair of books on my personal bookshelf. If only one could track down the full set if indeed a full set even exists).
What was stopping me putting them down though was the thought that these are just bloody nice items! But is that enough of a reason to buy them?
In their favour, they happen to be two of the strongest books I think Fleming ever wrote. These novels are also easily in my top five favourite Bond titles.
I won’t lie, these were the books I really looked at the longest, and deliberated on the hardest.
In the end, I couldn’t quite justify it…. But I know where they are, and the seller knows I’m interested. These are books I could well come back to me if the dealer still has them.
The ‘proof’ of a good fair
But if I thought this was about as good as it was going to get, Oxford Book Fair really was a treat this year.
When I previously said provincial fairs rarely have standout collections, my own experience walking around many different ones tells me I’m typically correct in making this observation. But that’s not to say there weren’t a few killer items.
The top item (for me anyway), was this rather lovely proof of The Man With The Golden Gun – complete with original jacket.
With a print run of no more than 500 copies, it’s a tremendously rare book, and a book that’s also rarely seen with its DJ. To this end, it was something of a surprise book, given most of the dealer’s other items were the usual mix of average vintage books.
The jacket is in much better condition than others I have seen, and it has done a sterling job protecting the inner softcover book.
It wasn’t cheap, but he’s left me his card, and I’m considering it! Sorry folks, I’m not going to tell you what dealer has it!
What I’ve learned from this weekend’s book fair:
Regional book fairs are places I would always make an effort to go to.
If you love books, they are immediately cozy, friendly places, where you can browse to your hearts content.
Although I wasn’t blown away by what was on offer – after all, these dealers are catering to a multitude of tastes, consumers, and wallet sizes – there were some great Bond finds still, and there are some key takeaways I would say I’ve got from the Oxford Book Fair:
· They’ll always be a Bond book or two (or more): Us Bond collectors are lucky. You might not see a Huxley, or Wyndham, or Stoker or Conan-Doyle, but you will, invariably find a Bond book.
· Condition won’t be great: The bad news is that these dealer do the rounds, and will be packing and unpacking these same books week-in, week-out, and exhibiting them at one fair this week, and another the next week. Condition tends to reflect this. You won’t find pristine books at fairs like this unless the dealers have kept them somewhere special, and limit people handling them.
· Prices: I’m going to be frank, and I don’t like saying this, but I was slightly shocked at the prices I was finding on some pretty tatty looking Flemings. Yes, I know dealers need to make it worth their while, but book fairs aren’t boutique stores, and my expectation was that books would be priced sensibly. But in all honesty, there was nothing here that you couldn’t get online or – a’hem from jamesbondfirsteditions.co.uk – cheaper. And that’s a shame. I wanted to part with my cash, but the black-DJ’d Moonraker pictured above had a price sticker of – wait for it – £250! That was just rude I thought.
· Where were the paperbacks? I saw a small pile of paperbacks but that was it. Do fairs not bother selling entry-level paperbacks anymore?
· Star items 'do' exist: OK, there ‘will’ be one or two items that really do steal your attention. Then you’ll have to work out whether you should pull the trigger or not. I think I could regret not jumping on the books I did see that caught my eye…but then again, you can’t buy everything.
If you want to know which book fairs you should be marking in your 2025 diary, go to: https://www.pbfa.org/
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