Expert on Bond Books

CmdrAtticus

Does anyone know who at present is considered the top expert in the world on the Bond novels?

Sir Miles

CmdrAtticus wrote:

Does anyone know who at present is considered the top expert in the world on the Bond novels?

As in top expert in ALL the Bond books published OR the history of the Bond novels...?...

Donald Grant

Sir Miles wrote:

CmdrAtticus wrote:

Does anyone know who at present is considered the top expert in the world on the Bond novels?

As in top expert in ALL the Bond books published OR the history of the Bond novels...?...

Yeah, what he said. Are we talking just Fleming, or are you including every Bond continuation novelist from Markham (Amis) through Deaver? Also, What about young Bond, Moneypenny Diaries etc?

DG

SpectreBlofeld

Do you have specific questions you want answered? With our powers combined, I expect the people of this forum probably have an answer for just about anything.

scaramanga1

SpectreBlofeld wrote:

Do you have specific questions you want answered? With our powers combined, I expect the people of this forum probably have an answer for just about anything.

Definitely there are those who can help here. If its the Fleming books you need help with there is a plethora of information can be garnered from both members and past articles that have been posted on this site.

CmdrAtticus

Referring explicitly to Fleming's novels. Have no specific questions, I just wondered if there were any experts on those novels and not the cultural history of Bond in particular, which usually always includes a heavy dosage of the films. More interested in stricktly the literary aspects of Fleming's novels. I realize many members have a lot of info on this, but I was looking for someone who is in publishing who has devoted a lot of time to this, as oppose to members who although are fans, they don't always necessarily have official connections to Fleming's estate or the Fleming Foundation and often rely on non-offical sources for their research (such as the internet).

Napoleon Plural

Okay, best one is this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Bond-Official-Companion-Flemings/dp/0719568153/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320349441&sr=1-7

Henry Chancellor's attractive, fairly recent book covers all the Fleming stuff and there's loads of info that was news to me, it is almost as good as a Fleming biography imo.

The others are Kingsley Amis' James Bond Dossier (out of print but surely on ebay etc) and Snelling's 007 Report, which is lesser known but covers much the same ground, both from the early 1960s.

Neither deal with the continuation novels.

Le Samourai

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Okay, best one is this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Bond-Official-Companion-Flemings/dp/0719568153/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320349441&sr=1-7

Henry Chancellor's attractive, fairly recent book covers all the Fleming stuff and there's loads of info that was news to me, it is almost as good as a Fleming biography imo.

The others are Kingsley Amis' James Bond Dossier (out of print but surely on ebay etc) and Snelling's 007 Report, which is lesser known but covers much the same ground, both from the early 1960s.

Neither deal with the continuation novels.

I can't speak for Chancellor's book, but I have nothing but praise for Amis and Snelling. Of the two, Snelling's seems a bit easier to find in the second-hand market. An interesting aspect of Snelling's book is his comparison of Bond to earlier "Clubland Heroes" from the UK such as Bulldog Drummond. It gives you a feel for Bond's literary heritage while also showing how different he was from those who came before.

chrisno1

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Okay, best one is this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Bond-Official-Companion-Flemings/dp/0719568153/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320349441&sr=1-7

Henry Chancellor's attractive, fairly recent book covers all the Fleming stuff and there's loads of info that was news to me, it is almost as good as a Fleming biography imo.

The others are Kingsley Amis' James Bond Dossier (out of print but surely on ebay etc) and Snelling's 007 Report, which is lesser known but covers much the same ground, both from the early 1960s.

Neither deal with the continuation novels.

I read Chancellor's book when I was writing my Fleming novel reviews and found some of the insight immensely helpful towards understanding some of the background to the stories. It was very informative. Amis' Dossier has always ranked highly among afficinados, but I've not had the pleasure yet.

Colonel Johns

Another useful resource is John Griswold's Ian Fleming's James Bond - Annotations and Chronologies from Ian Fleming's James Bond Stories. I don't know whether he is "the top expert in the world" that CmdrAtticus is looking for, but he is surely one of them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ian-Flemings-James-Bond-Chronologies/dp/1425931006/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322785585&sr=1-1

The book contains over 440 pages covering pretty much all aspects of the Fleming books: detailed chronology of the series (including analysis of inconsistencies introduced by Fleming as the series went on), background on the Secret Service at the time of the novels, locations of headquarters and Bond's flat, discussion of the cars, firearms, and gadgets in the series, as well as a detailed chapter on each novel, each of which includes a glossary (covering characters, places, terms, etc.), a day-by-day chronology of the story, maps, diagrams, and some interesting character illustrations by George Almond. There is also information on many of the period and historical background events mentioned by Fleming.

Some of the major incidents throughout the series are given extra attention (for example: sixteen pages (!) on the bridge game against Drax in Moonraker; 11 pages on the golf game against Goldfinger, including hole-by-hole diagrams of the course.

There is also some analysis of the differences between the Fleming manuscripts in the Lilly Library and the published versions.

And, if it matters, a preface by Andrew Lycett and forewords by Zoe Watkins (IFP) and Raymond Benson.

At the amazon link above you can view the table of contents, the entire overview section, and part of the Casino Royale chapter.

Colonel Johns

As a follow up to my last post, I tried to find some of Almond's illustrations from the book online, but couldn't (apart from the couple in the Amazon preview).

I did, however, find this one he did of Fleming which I hadn't seen before:
http://www.georgealmondillustration.com/021.html

Bond Collectors' Weekends

Colonel Johns wrote:

As a follow up to my last post, I tried to find some of Almond's illustrations from the book online, but couldn't (apart from the couple in the Amazon preview).

I did, however, find this one he did of Fleming which I hadn't seen before:
http://www.georgealmondillustration.com/021.html

There are some marvelous Almond illustrations in back issues of Bondage Magazine--and on my wall as he had released a limited print of Ian Fleming via Ian Fleming Foundation.

**I'm expert with the novels and continuation authors if someone has a question.

The Henry Chancellor book was the most entertaining Bond book read since Raymond Benson's Bedside Companion and is worth getting as was written.

As also mentioned, Mr. Griswold's work is also perfect and excellent in every way. We were fortunate to have John visit my Bond Collectors' Weekend 8 to discuss his research with us, in New York.

Silhouette Man

Me?!

The Domino Effect

I would have to say that the leading authority on the books of Ian Fleming is unquestionably Jon Gilbert, author of the incomparable "Ian Fleming: The Bibliography." This is not a one-off book as other books on Fleming or Bond have been by some authors, but rather the culmination of a lifetime spent as a subject matter expert and as arguably the most respected of dealers of Fleming literary material as well. I very much doubt that there is anyone who comes close to Gilbert.

Silhouette Man

The Domino Effect wrote:

I would have to say that the leading authority on the books of Ian Fleming is unquestionably Jon Gilbert, author of the incomparable "Ian Fleming: The Bibliography." This is not a one-off book as other books on Fleming or Bond have been by some authors, but rather the culmination of a lifetime spent as a subject matter expert and as arguably the most respected of dealers of Fleming literary material as well. I very much doubt that there is anyone who comes close to Gilbert.

I'd have to agree with that one, actually. -{