Colonel Sun - Pegasus Hardcover
angelicbond
Posts: 194MI6 Agent
Has anyone bought the Hardcover edition of Colonel Sun from Pegasus Publishing? I’m finding it difficult to find out specific details about it online, namely:
- Does it have a dust jacket?
- if so what colour is the book when the dust jacket is taken off
- What size is the book (ie is it in comparable height to other modern hardcovers (like Folio Society)
Thanks for any help!
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Comments
Sorry, can't help with the questions, but I think it's interesting that the book is unequivocally credited to Kingsley Amis. Is this the first time that has happened, @Silhouette Man @CoolHandBond or anyone else who knows?
I don’t remember an edition which solely uses Kingsley Amis as the author, but the Americans were using his name in brackets from the beginning…which I suppose could be unequivocal?
Sorry, my fault for being unclear. I believe this edition is the only one (so far) to simply credit the book to Amis with no mention of "Markham", but I'd be happy to be wrong.
Once again apologies to the OP for being unable to answer the questions.
I think its good they drop the "Robert Markham" pretense and give Amis proper credit for whatever reason.
but I'm sure every edition I've ever seen somewhere makes clear the author is really Amis, as if the words Robert Markham is merely part of the cover design, you just have to look at the fine print to find the real authors name. the publishers never did try to stick to the fictional author name alone, especially since there was only the one book in the series and the author was famous enough his name oughta move a few more copies.
I forget what his credit was in SPECTRE: did it simply say "some dialog by Kingsley Amis" or did the film also try to credit the imaginary Robert Markham?
I forget what his credit was in SPECTRE: did it simply say "some dialog by Kingsley Amis" or did the film also try to credit the imaginary Robert Markham?
It did? Wow. How come I missed that?
The credits thank the estate of Kingsley Amis.
To answer your questions, @angelicbond:
The book boards are white when the dust jacket is removed. There is red lettering down the spine which is in the same font as the lettering on the dust jacket spine.
I'd say that the book is about the same height as a Folio edition would be. It's not as big as new hardback books tend to be nowadays (i.e. like the Horowitz Bond novels) but it is more in keeping with the more compact sizes older hardback books used to be. I prefer this slightly more compact size as I actually think it looks more pleasing aesthetically and is more in keeping with hardback novels of yesteryear. That said, it is about an inch taller than the UK Jonathan Cape first edition of Colonel Sun.
I hope that helps to answer your questions.
P.S. I also answered this at the "other place".
Yes it was Blofeld's lines about him and James both being present when a man was deprived of his sight. It is a nicely twisted bit of dialogue.
Yes, @Barbel, I believe this was the first time that the novel was solely credited to Kingsley Amis with no attendant reference to the Robert Markham pseudonym. I remember this being pointed out at the time of its release back in March 2018 (to mark the 50th anniversary of its original publication) possibly in an article on MI6HQ's site. I have virtually every copy of Colonel Sun that is readily attainable, including some foreign translations. As far as I can tell, the nearest it came to Amis being referenced over Markham before this was the 1997 Coronet paperback reissue of Colonel Sun where Amis's name credit is much bigger and "writing as Robert Markham" was the kind of tagline credit beneath:
Of course the ironic thing was that from the Jonathan Cape UK first edition onwards virtually every copy referenced Amis as the author and that Markham was merely a pseudonym. It was never really a true pseudonym in the sense that it was hiding the author's actual identity. I suppose anyone who needed to know that Amis was the true author did but whether the general "man in the street" knew at a glance that Markham was really Amis is another matter altogether...
Thanks, SM, I thought this was the case. Certainly Amis' name would sell more books!
You can be forgiven for missing it as the credit is written in small text near the end of the long credits. I remember sitting until I was the last person in the cinema back in 2015 just so I could see the credit. This was much to the chagrin of the cleaners who were waiting in the wings!
Yes, it certainly would've been much better had it always just been credited to Kingsley Amis and the umbrella pseudonym idea had been shelved or revived for much less famous authors. Getting such a big postwar author name like Kingsley Amis and then partially obscuring it under a pseudonym is surely a foolhardy approach from a marketing point of view. I think it also led to some negative critical notices as well to the effect that Amis was just in it for the money and even ashamed to fully put his name to the new Bond novel. Of course nothing could've been further from the truth but the use of the Markham pseudonym did sadly muddy the waters somewhat. I'm glad it's ultimately been ditched as Kingsley Amis on his own has much more prestige and selling power.