I have in stock an almost complete collection – in hardcover and paperback - of the James Bond novels printed by Jonathan Cape Ltd. and Pan Books Ltd., over the duration of the Twentieth Century. The bibliographic jiggery-pokery surrounding these books – in terms of placing them before serious collectors – is seriously brain-straining, so I thought I would share. This is a look at the very first Ian Fleming novel, the first in the Bond series, and its bibliographic history as overseen by both Jonathan Cape and Pan.
*****
Casino Royale (1953)
“The scent and smoke and sweat of
a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul-erosion produced
by high gambling – a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension- becomes
unbearable and the senses awake and revolt from it.”
*****
Published
by Jonathan Cape Ltd., London
Printed
by Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Ltd., London
Bound by A.W. Bain and Co. Ltd.,
London
Octavo; hardcover, with red spine
titling and an upper board decoration; 218pp. First edition dustwrapper
designed by Ian Fleming; later dustwrapper designed by Pat Marriott.
Plot Synopsis:
M sends Bond – impersonating a
rich Jamaican playboy – to the Royale-les-eaux casino in
Northern France in an attempt to bankrupt le Chiffre, the paymaster for a
SMERSH-controlled trade union, by embroiling him in a game of baccarat. Vesper
Lynd – personal assistant to the head of Section S (“Soviet Union”) - is sent
along to support Bond’s role and watch the funds, while the CIA and the French Deuxième
Bureau also send agents as observers. After a short but heavy confrontation,
le Chiffre proves the more capable player, cleaning Bond out and leaving him
wondering how to report his failure to M. Felix Leiter of the CIA shows up and
offers Bond a lifeline by giving him access to US cash. The game continues –
despite one of le Chiffre’s minders trying to kill Bond – and Bond takes the
paymaster for eighty million of SMERSH’s francs,
Knowing that his life is forfeit
if he does not recover his agency’s money, le Chiffre kidnaps Bond and Lynd and
he tortures Bond to get the funds returned. However, SMERSH reacts more quickly
than le Chiffre was able to anticipate, and an agent interrupts the torture
session to kill le Chiffre for his ineptitude. He brands Bond on the hand - a
Cyrillic 'Ш' for шпион (shpión, Russian for ‘spy’) –
as a sign for any agent coming after him in future with specific orders to
murder him.
As Bond recovers from his ordeal,
he develops warm feelings for Lynd, and they eventually become lovers; he even
contemplates leaving the Secret Service to be with her. They see a man named
Gettler, who seems to be shadowing them, and, the next morning, Bond discovers
that Lynd has committed suicide. Her note explains that the Soviet Union had
imprisoned her Polish Air Force lover in order to coerce her into acting as a
double agent for the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs. She had intended to
flee the life of an agent with Bond but, seeing Gettler following them,
realised that they would never be free of Soviet influence. Bond tells his
agency of her duplicity and coldly finishes his report with the words, “the
bitch is dead now.”
The Book:
Because Fleming was a
little-known author at this stage of his career, only 4,500 copies of this book
were printed, and most of those were sent to libraries. The avid collector will
seek out a copy of this book that has the original first release dustwrapper
(see below) and which has spent no time in a public lending library. Some
nefarious retailers will try to remove the library markings from their copies,
so caution is advised when approaching an instance of this work.
The binding of this book is a
solid brown cloth-effect hardcover with spine titles echoing the typography of
the dustwrapper: Fleming’s name is printed horizontally at the top, the title
is printed vertically beneath this, and the publisher’s logo is at the spine
heel. These titles and decorations are all printed in red. The upper board
displays a single heart, also in red. The format is octavo, roughly 193mm x
130mm, and there are 218pp., without decorative endpapers or adverts. The title
page echoes the typography of the dustwrapper, with the publisher’s logo in the
centre just below the author’s name. Unlike the dustwrapper, this format
remained in production (with the necessary adjustments to the publication
details page and lists of other books by Fleming facing the title page) for the
entire run of the hardcover release.
The Dustwrapper:
Probably reflecting a tentative
sales approach in regard to an untested product, the dustwrapper for Casino
Royale is relatively benign, and rests upon its typographical strengths.
The front flap declares that it was designed by Fleming himself and this places
it in similar territory with many of the successive wrapper designs. The
‘wrapper is grey, and the upper panel depicts a play upon the Nine of Hearts,
with four bleeding hearts top to bottom on either side and single heart in the
middle surrounded by a wreath. The titling is a little flamboyant in yellow and
the wreath bears a discreet motto which declares “A Whisper of Love; A
Whisper of Hate”: for those paying attention this gives the lie to the
notion that this might be any kind of sedate work of modern literature or,
possibly, a guide to card games. The lower panel carries a 1943 pencil sketch
of the author by a Naval associate, Robert Bartlett, with intimations that it
was done while Fleming was engaged upon secret service skulduggery of some
kind. A biographical sketch beneath this puts Fleming in the context of his
brother Peter Fleming, “the more famous writer”. The corners of the dustwrapper
are all clipped, but a true, un-price-clipped example will show the price of
“10s. 6d. net” on the front flap. This is the wrapper of the true first
edition; the fourth edition replaced the artwork with a more colourful design:
The replacement ‘wrapper is a
workmanlike effort by Pat Marriott which nevertheless contains some degree of
subtlety. When faced with a brief that involves playing cards, naturally the
artist will turn to the iconography of the card deck for inspiration. The upper
panel shows a Queen card – upright, Hearts; upside-down, Spades – indicating a
double nature at work and hearkening to Vesper Lynd’s double-agent status. The
figure lifts a toasting glass with one hand while holding a letter marked
“O.H.M.S.S.” (“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”) in the other. There is nothing
really offensive about the imagery here – the figure of the Queen card
highlights the impact of Vesper Lynd in the narrative and speaks to her
treachery without really letting any cats out of the bag. The lower panel and
rear flap contain lists of other Fleming titles, with reviews of the novel on
the front flap. The corners are clipped but a true, unclipped dustwrapper will
show a price of “15s. net” on the front flap. This is the dustwrapper that was
used for the 1963 edition – the last hardcover edition of this novel produced
during Fleming’s lifetime, although the design was used well into the 1980s
before being retired. The fourth edition release does not credit Pat Marriott
as the artist; later editions do.
Pan Paperback releases:
Casino Royale – A Secret Service Thriller
Published by Pan Books Ltd., London
First printing, 18th April 1955;
Second printing, 1955
Pan
Books, No.334
Octavo;
paperback; 159pp. (+1p. of adverts). “Painted Pans” edition: cover by Roger
Hall
This was the first of what
collector’s would later come to call the “Painted Pans” – the early Bond
releases by Pan Books were all designed with images of the characters done in
oils. The roster of artists changed constantly at the start, probably due to
taste or availability, but they eventually found the best fit first in Sam
Peffer and then Pat Owen.
What this release displays more
than anything else is the artist’s infidelity to the text. The figure of Bond
playing cards on the front cover is a comfy, middle-management type with blonde
hair, someone more likely to be seen on an Enid Blyton cover, or a Ladybird
Book. This image probably lent weight to the blonde Daniel Craig taking over
the cinematic role later on; but fortunately, later artists actually seem to
have taken the time to read the book before putting brush to canvas.
Casino
Royale – Enter James Bond: Secret Agent!
Published
by Great Pan/Pan Books Ltd., London
Third
printing, December 1958;
Sixth
printing, 1960.
Great Pan No.G198.
Octavo; paperback; 158pp. (+2pp.
of adverts). “Painted Pans” edition: cover by Sam Peffer.
A better representation of the
main character is given precedence here: the focus is all Bond, not the card
games. Vesper is left to cringe in the lower left corner, across from a
night-time scenic silhouette of the casino. Peffer was the ‘go-to’ guy for Bond
at this stage.
Casino
Royale – Enter James Bond - Secret Agent!
Published
by Great Pan/Pan Books Ltd., London
Seventh
printing, April 1961;
Eighth
printing, 1961.
Great Pan No.G198.
Octavo; paperback; 158pp. (+2pp.
of adverts). “Painted Pans” edition: cover by Pat Owen.
With the shift to Pat Owen as the
Bond artist, an attempt was made to trademark Bond as a recognisable character
for marketing purposes. Consequently, these early covers display a banner
across the bottom quarter of the front cover, showing a James Bond placeholder
who looks more like Leslie Charteris’s “Saint” than Bond himself. This banner
was replaced in later editions.
Owen’s artwork concentrates on
the character of Vesper Lynd, showing her full forward in alluring evening
dress. The background gives us a vignette of the infamous torture scene which
was otherwise largely downplayed in discussions of the book.
Casino
Royale – Enter James Bond: Secret Agent!
Published
by Great Pan/Pan Books Ltd., London
Ninth
printing, April 1962;
Eleventh
printing, 1962.
Great Pan No.G198.
Octavo; paperback; 158pp. (+2pp.
of adverts). “Painted Pans” edition: cover by Pat Owen.
With these releases, the banner
showing Bond was replaced by a yellow strip emblazoned with the silhouette of a
pistol and two bullets against Bond’s call sign of 007. In export editions, the
price was left off the cover, allowing overseas dealers to sticker the book at
local rates.
Casino
Royale – Enter James Bond: Secret Agent!
Published
by Pan Books Ltd., London
Twelfth
printing, January 1963;
Pan Books No.X232.
Octavo; paperback; 189pp. (+3pp.
of adverts). “Painted Pans - X-series” edition: cover by Pat Owen.
In 1963, Pan Books took over
direct publication of the Bond series once more and re-numbered them in doing
so. These numbers were all prefaced by an ‘X’ and thus we have the ‘X-series’.
The covers were the recycled Pat Owen images. The shake-up was probably part of
a streamlining process in preparation for what would be coming next, with
Raymond Hawkey taking over creative control later in the year, and was likely a
concerted attempt to use up excess printed copies of the text block. This was,
therefore, the last hurrah for the “Painted Pans”.
The back cover of this edition
shows a monochrome author portrait of Ian Fleming. This portrait was taken by
Cecil Beaton and is rather effete, what with the bowtie and the cigarette
holder.
Published by Pan Books Ltd., London
Twelfth printing, May 1963;
Twenty-fourth printing, 1966
Pan Books
No.X232.
Octavo;
paperback; 189pp. (+3pp. of adverts). “Hawkey” edition: cover design by Raymond
Hawkey.
Raymond Hawkey’s approach was
fairly innovative: rather than trying to depict the particulars of the
narrative contained between the covers, he relied on the reader’s imagination
and allowed them to project themselves into the world of the books.
Consequently, all of the covers which he designed are rather flat and show
touchstone props that were chosen to connect the reader with the action.
Hawkey’s other innovation was to place the name “James Bond” in bold, large
letters at the top of the front cover – this was done to make the books leap
out at casual viewers browsing in newsagents and bookshops. Fittingly, the
cover for Casino Royale, shows a green baize background upon which lie
three cards and a bank cheque for a phenomenal amount of cash. As a call-back
to the first edition of the book, the one card that is face-up is the Nine of
Hearts. As with the earlier release, the back cover has the picture of Fleming
taken by Cecil Beaton.
It's interesting to note that the
transition to the new cover took place while the previous edition was still in
production. The early issues of the Hawkey design were new covers wrapped
around the earlier text blocks. Thus, the early Hawkey editions are still
considered to be the Twelfth Printing, rather than the Thirteenth
Casino
Royale
Published
by Pan Books Ltd., London
Twenty-eighth printing, July
1969.
Octavo; paperback; XXXpp. (+Xpp.
of adverts). “White Model” edition.
With the advent of the 70s it was
felt that a change in the covers was needed. This gave rise to a series of
cover choices which have been tagged as the “white model” series, for the fact
that each cover has a white background and features a photographic image of a
woman in clothes (or not) with props appropriate to the action of the novel.
The large name at the top of each book was retained from the preceding Hawkey
series of novels. For Casino Royale, the woman is wearing a green
evening gown with long white gloves and is resting against an ornate dining
chair; the title of the book appears above her in red beneath the bold banner
heading for the series, “James Bond”.
During this period, Pan changed
its logo and the edition of The Spy Who Loved Me was the first of the
Bond titles to bear this two-colour badge (the original logo was just black).
Since Casino Royale was only printed in this format once, all copies
have the old monochrome logo. The back cover of this edition displays the Horst
Tappe author portrait of Ian Fleming (still with a cigarette holder but now
moodily enshrouded by smoky plumes) along with the then-new nine-digit
International Standard Book Number (ISBN) code which had come into force in
1970.
Casino
Royale
Published
by Pan Books Ltd., London
Twenty-ninth
printing, July 1972.
Thirty-third printing, June 1976.
Octavo; paperback; XXXpp. (+Xpp.
of adverts). The “Still Life” series.
From 1972 to 1977, the “white
model” series gave way to the “Still Life” printings. These paperback versions
were graced with a photographic image of a collection of objects which held a
resonance to the action within the covers. Casino Royale’s cover shows Le
Chiffre’s false teeth and Benzedrine inhaler alongside a casino card shoe; a
box of Gauloises cigarettes; the bamboo carpet beater used to torture Bond; a
hunk of butter sitting in a bowl of ice and some caviar in a spoon, which
reference meals shared by Bond and Vesper Lynd; a strip of bandage and a
diamond brooch; a hotel registration card and a cockroach, emblematic of some
of the hotel locations referenced in the tale; and a photo of Vesper. With each
of these covers, the image wraps around to the back cover, giving plenty of
scope to display all the required items.
As part of the marketing for this
series, a special boxed edition of four titles (Dr. No, Goldfinger,
Casino Royale and From Russia, With Love) was released in
a specially printed slipcase, the images of the objects from each of the three
books involved were combined for the slipcase cover and were obviously taken at
the same time as the individual book covers.
The Movies:
It’s well-known that the Broccoli
machine which put the Bond novels onscreen missed out when the rights for Casino
Royale first became available. Nevertheless, they steamrolled on, kicking
things off with “Dr. No” (1962) and getting the whole Bond movie phenomenon
underway. Those possessing the rights for the celluloid interpretation of Casino
obviously felt that the whole Bond thing was too ridiculous for words and so,
the movie they concocted was patterned along those lines. The 1967 film
has little or nothing to do with the book and was simply a cameo vehicle for a
plethora of movie stars resting on their laurels and a showcase for those
up-and-coming. Notoriously Peter Sellers and Orson Welles couldn’t stand to be
in each other’s company, so scenes of them playing baccarat were filmed
separately using stunt doubles. Interestingly, Ursula Andress, who played
“Honey Rider” in the movie of Dr. No, plays “Vesper Lynd” in this
film. Releases of the book that appeared at this time made reference to the
movie as quite distinct from the contents within their wrappers.
2006 saw the rights to the book
made available to the Broccoli empire and, with Daniel Craig taking over the
role as James Bond, the filmic world of Bond was set to reclaim the one piece
of Fleming merchandise that was always tantalisingly out of reach. This version
takes some liberties with the narrative (as do all of the Bond films to some
degree) but – apart from the colour of Bond’s hair – remains mostly faithful.
Movie Tie-in Releases:
Casino
Royale
Published
by Pan Books Ltd., London
Twenty-fourth
printing, June 1966;
Twenty-seventh
printing, 1968
Pan Books No.X232.
Octavo; paperback; 189pp. (+3pp.
of adverts). Robert McGinnis, cover design.
Although Pan Books had nothing to
do with the movie release of Casino Royale, they obviously decided to
capitalise on the film’s existence by riding its coattails. The front cover of
this printing shows a naked woman in body-paint carrying two silenced pistols
and with the words “James Bond 007 Casino Royale” emblazoned upon her.
Beside her appear typed words, seemingly taken from a memorandum penned by
“M.”, extolling the virtues of the new movie while declaring it to be nothing
like the book. The cover was retained for four printings. The image on the
cover which wraps around to the back, was taken from the movie promotion and a
list of the cast members and their characters from the 1967 film was reproduced
on the back cover.
*****
“‘Yes, dammit, I said “was”. The
bitch is dead now.’”
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