James Bond Archives

Voituer

Is it just me or is this book not actually that good?

I am reading through and I got far more enjoyment from John Corks book James Bond The Legacy. In my, humble, opinion this huge book would be much much better if it were just rare pictures of behind the scenes and documentation.

This is just my opinion but I really am very very dissapointed - Dr No was done much better in 'A Bond for Bond' the story of the financing. The Legacy book was written in a far more entertaining way and with not as much banality.

I will finish it and may enjoy it more but there are far far better books out there and it certainly is a long way from being an ultimate tome.

CarsonDyle

I'm enjoying it but "The Making of OHMSS" is still my favourite.

thespyboys11

Voituer wrote:

Is it just me or is this book not actually that good?

I agree...I'll shortly send you my address so you can send it to me for disposal.
Ed

Voituer

make sure you do and no sneeky reading it )

Jag

While not a single Bond book may be perfect, there have been so many published over the decades that it is not easy to do something entirely new and previously unknown. I think The Archives are one of the best books out there, largely to its size, photos and overall publishing quality. The price on Amazon is also reasonable. I would not pay the prices eBay sellers are asking though, and would not be interested in the special editions sold by Taschen for about $1,000.

Voituer

Jag wrote:

While not a single Bond book may be perfect, there have been so many published over the decades that it is not easy to do something entirely new and previously unknown. I think The Archives are one of the best books out there, largely to its size, photos and overall publishing quality. The price on Amazon is also reasonable. I would not pay the prices eBay sellers are asking though, and would not be interested in the special editions sold by Taschen for about $1,000.

I cannot agree enough apart from it being one of the best books - as for the $1000 edition.........................


I have now finished it and its ok, nice to own BUT there is nothing very special about it appart from the size.

Size - Its a big very heavy book and that makes reading it and handling it a major problem, it does however provide a great format for large printed pictures. The picture print quality is excellent but I feel the actual pictures are, on the whole, not great and therefore 6/10 on this one

Content - Well this is a strange one as its written in an interview commentary style and where the author tries to place the narrative this is constantly attributed to him and not to the source.

Where other people contribute it is uncomfortable as their comments might be third hand as they might be dead and the author could not have spoken to them - the source material for these comments is not revealed.

content 4/10 - this is a low score but 99% of the text is available elsewhere in other publications.

RARE STUFF - well I give this a 4/10 as the number of rare shots is poor.

Why such low scores? I don't want to be too unfair BUT as a buyer of this book I feel let down by the descriptions of what it is and what it is supposed to have achieved.

This book has in its title 'Archives' it describes itself as content selected from EON archives and that is very very misleading.

Considering the amount of time and the number of files the author is supposed to have had access to then where is all that information?

I ask this as it is certainly not in this book - if you read the bibliography, at the back of the book, it looks like the real source material for the text.

maybe there was nothing left of interest at EON , I don't know but if this is the best of one million photographs them I am shocked.

For my tuppence this would have been a fantastic book if it had no text, just great images of behind the scenes from each film.

The inclusion of Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again was a welcome suprise especially as they are not EON productions. Again this content was not from EON archives but Playboy and other articles.

What is this book trying to be - I don't know
Is it something special - no but its very nice
Are there better books out there - many but I do like 'James Bond - The Legacy' by John Cork and Bruce Scivally - similar content but in a much more readable size.

texas007

For me, the Gold Edition or the $1,000 edition is worth getting because of the signed artwork by Ken Adam. I bought the package just for that - I did not even look at the book as I don't really care - left it sealed until people here want me to check it out.

Jag wrote:

While not a single Bond book may be perfect, there have been so many published over the decades that it is not easy to do something entirely new and previously unknown. I think The Archives are one of the best books out there, largely to its size, photos and overall publishing quality. The price on Amazon is also reasonable. I would not pay the prices eBay sellers are asking though, and would not be interested in the special editions sold by Taschen for about $1,000.

ppw3o6r

Like Texas007 I purchased the Gold Edition for the signed Sir Ken Adam art print portfolio and of course to have something special signed by the current 007 Mr Daniel Craig. As for price, well if you went into a West End specialist gallery & saw a signed Ken Adam art print on the wall for £500 & you had a flexible friend with you & you could afford it?, trust me you'd buy it. Yes the book is a big lump but with a bit of thought if you haven't got a reinforced coffee table available?...I used M8 rawl bolts for the enclosed

AdamCarterJones

I bought my Father the signed Gold Edition--Goldfinger version--for Christmas.

I echo Texas and ppw's sentiments about purchasing it for the print alone. It is truly magnificent.
I quote my Father after unwrapping it "This is the best Christmas present I have received in years!".
Says it all for me as he is tremendously difficult to buy for at that time of the year! )

minigeff

I'm still on the fence. When I first heard about this 'behind the scenes rare photos from the archive' book, I immediately thought of loads of pics from inside the prop archive....

Bit of a bummer to here the 'never seen before' shots aren't high in number and there's virtually no pics of props, with the majority being set designs etc.

I think if I got it, it'd quickly become a shelf filler, so for the time being, I'll pass I think.

AdamCarterJones

Worth getting hold one of the signed Gold Editions though, my friend.

minigeff

No doubt it is, but I'm afraid I'm one of those common working class types who simply can't afford such luxuries.

No grudge held though, I'm sure it's a lovely book and hope that all the buyers are pleased with their purchase.

MG -{

Jag

The simple reason it works for me is that I'm not interested in purchasing a large collection of "behind the scenes" and other books about Bond movies. If you do have them, then perhaps The Archives are not too exciting.

Also, the $100+ I paid for it is not a huge price for the whole package. Now if I got the book for Xmas (even just the standard edition), I’d call it the best Xmas present in years too!

The added bonus is that if you decide to sell it in years too come, you are likely to make a profit - most Taschen publications appreciate in value. Just keep it in mint condition!

AdamCarterJones

Sorry MG, I hope I didn't come across in a negative way.
I completely understand where you are coming from.
At the time I didn't have any cash, so everything I bought at Christmas went on the credit card - got a while to pay it off, thank God!

Jag has a point. The first edition Kubrick Archives is currently for sale for between £400-900.00.
Later editions can be had for under £25.00. The same will apply to the Bond Archives, though just how much the Gold Edition will increase is hard to determine.

minigeff

Nah it's ok, I wasn't offended at all. If I could afford the gold edition, I'd buy it as I think it's worth every penny. Having both KA and DC's sigs in them is one thing, but the KA artwork is another bonus, plus the book looks great all blinged up, and with it being a relatively small run I'm sure it's value will only go up, it's a fantastic collectors piece.

Which is exactly my point, it seems that the book is more a collectors piece than a useful reference book for us prop makers.

I'll just wait and get it in a sale, but even then, from what I've heard it's not really gonna be much use to me.

£650 can buy me a fair amount of tooling, materials or hell, it could even feed my family and keep the house warm, which I'm pretty sure my mrs would say is the priority ) and she'd be right )

Like I said, I hope everyone is chuffed with theirs, but I was hoping there'd be a more prop orientated book for us grown ups. The DK Q branch book was a bit kiddy for me tbh.

MG -{

Voituer

Just to clarify I am only concerned about the book as that is what we bought here and I do feel it is misdescribed. As its primary purpose is a book it is also very hard to read.

When is a book not a book?

With the addition of legs (Seinfeld) it could actually become a coffee table book )

I do not disagree with the comments on the additions in the Gold editions - they were probably worth the price alone to the buyers. I am not an autograph collector so they have little value to me.

Each to his own, I feel a little cheated thats all..........................

scotty8692

minigeff wrote:

Nah it's ok, I wasn't offended at all. If I could afford the gold edition, I'd buy it as I think it's worth every penny. Having both KA and DC's sigs in them is one thing, but the KA artwork is another bonus, plus the book looks great all blinged up, and with it being a relatively small run I'm sure it's value will only go up, it's a fantastic collectors piece.

Which is exactly my point, it seems that the book is more a collectors piece than a useful reference book for us prop makers.

I'll just wait and get it in a sale, but even then, from what I've heard it's not really gonna be much use to me.

£650 can buy me a fair amount of tooling, materials or hell, it could even feed my family and keep the house warm, which I'm pretty sure my mrs would say is the priority ) and she'd be right )

Like I said, I hope everyone is chuffed with theirs, but I was hoping there'd be a more prop orientated book for us grown ups. The DK Q branch book was a bit kiddy for me tbh.

MG -{

Yeah MG, you may not be, but if you were buying it solely as a prop making reference book-I wouldn't even bother shelling out for the standard version-I can't recall seeing any pics of props in it upon my quick flicks through it, but maybe I'm wrong. I'll have another look this evening, have to bundle it up to send it back to Taschen after some defects with my Golden copy.

AdamCarterJones

Must be a killer receiving a book like this only to send the thing back!

At least you didn't receive a completely different item like I did from someone else this week!
...Bought a poster, received a motorbike leather suit instead! 8-)

What have Taschen said?
Are they giving you a refund?

scotty8692

Hi Adam-sorry to hear about your trouble with your poster! I have been sent the wrong item in the past, but never quite that wrong! As for Taschen, it's kinda a long story. Might shoot you a PM about it as it's still on going.

MG, as for buying it for a prop making reference-I'd say don't buy the book-most of the shots in the book are of memos, behind the scenes photography and stills from the films. What few items (as part of other pics, not on their own) are shown in the book, there are probably photos elsewhere of them that would help reproduce them. It's a good book to read, but if you bought it for prop making, you'd end up disappointed.

AdamCarterJones

Just a punt here, but has nobody on this forum thought of writing a prop book on Bond?
There's obviously a market for it...

Scotty, I just had to laugh when I opened the box.
I've given the seller until tonight to contact me after my email, but if I don't hear anything I will be in touch with him tomorrow!

SilentSpy

I think the book is great. As I said in the other thread, I've been making an event out of reading it. I listen to the same movie as I'm reading the chapter. I have my Bond drink. The images are high quality. Many are new. Some aren't. If you can get the first print at half off it's a steal for Bond fans.