The market for early editions of Birds of the West Indies continues to be quite bullish.

A friend recently pointed out a couple of first editions of James Bond's seminal 1936 Birds of the West Indies are for sale. The price has certainly gone up since its debut, when it sold for $4.50.

Here's one for $16,000.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334539080202?hash=item4de415420a%3Ag%3ABioAAOSwMpdkh2Ju&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338304675&customid=&toolid=10049

Here's another for $12,500.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/385678296079?hash=item59cc37c40f%3Ag%3A4DEAAOSwbW9kh2H%7E&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338304675&customid=&toolid=10049

Neither had a dust jacket, which is a nice feature to have when you're shelling out that kind of dough, but the main selling point is that they are signed first editions.

A couple of years ago, I could have bought one for $4,000, but I thought that was a bit steep. Wrong.

I also found an unsigned 1947 edition on eBay, incorrectly billed as  Field Guide of Birds in the West Indies. The blurb for the book states that this was the edition of the book that Fleming used to swipe Bond's name from the cover, but that is most likely incorrect. 

While researching The Real James Bond, I came across an interview with Bond in which he said that when he visited Fleming at Goldeneye, Fleming showed him the 1936 edition.

The 1947 edition is still a great book, and the first edition that was streamlined enough to be useful in the field.

A few British sellers were offering the same copy for $1,900.

No mention of a dustjacket for that copy either.

https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a6_t1_27&qi=HyM9QfKfbe6C5rrPCs184yYv0Gc_1695644148_1:5:27&bq=author%3Dfleming%252C%2520ian%2520%2D%2520bond%252C%2520james%26title%3Dfield%2520guide%2520of%2520birds%2520in%2520the%2520west%2520indies

A while back, I noticed that the logo for Ian Fleming Publications was not a pistol as one might expect, but a hummingbird. And not just any hummingbird, mind you, but a Red-billed Streamertail.

I asked the publisher if she would be interested in an article about the bird behind the logo, and she immediately agreed.

The article features photos I took of the bird while in Jamaica, a photo by Ricardo Miller (one of Jamaica's top birders), plus other hummingbird shots and a photo of Goldeneye, now a luxury resort.

You can read the article here:

Bob Dolgan, writer of This Week in Birding, Filmmaker and Piping Plover fan, tweeted:

Ian Fleming and Jim Bond might appreciate reading this fine book in Eleuthera, Bahamas. A story about a pre-eminent ornithologist of the Caribbean. The first bird guide to the West Indies was by Bond.

All that -- and an awesome photo from the Eleuthera in the Bahamas!

Bob's website is http://turnstoneimpact.com

... Ian Fleming sat down at the bullet-wood desk in his bungalow on the north shore of Jamaica to write his first 007 novel.

   Near his desk sat a copy of Birds of the West Indies, by a Philadelphia ornithologist named James Bond.

   Fleming called his place "Goldeneye" (above). He would call his spy thriller Casino Royale.

    Next Friday: A hummingbird dear to Ian Fleming's heart.

   (Photo courtesy of Island Outpost.)

Jim Bond died on Valentine's Day, 1989, after a long bout with cancer. He was 89.

His ashes are buried next to his wife Mary's in a cemetery in Lower Gwynedd Township, not far from his childhood home outside of Philadelphia.

Their ashes are buried near the graves of Jim’s mother, brother and sister.

The church’s altar has an exquisite stained-glass window (below) donated by Bond’s father in memory of Bond’s mother.

The window, of a Resurrection scene, was made by Clayton & Bell of London, who also designed several windows for Westminster Abbey.

My column this week is about the Bee Hummingbird, the smallest hummingbird in the world.It was one of the many star attractions of James Bond's Birds of the West Indies, I saw earlier several this winter on a trip to Cuba with the Caribbean Conservation Trust. With a terrific photo by Kevin Watson.  (Thanks, Kevin!)

Want your own copy of The Real James Bond?

You can order a hard-cover copy online here.  (This website helps raise money for independent bookshops.)

You can order a signed copy from me here.

You can order a Real James Bond eBook for Kindle here.  You can order a Real James Bond eBook on Apple here.

You can read my interview with BirdWatching magazine here.

You can subscribe to this blog by supplying your email address under "Subscribe" in the column at right.

Sure is a lot you can do!

Interested in learning more about the book? Here are some useful links, including a raft of great reviews.

You can read my article about the real Bond in The Smithsonian Magazine here.

My interview with BirdWatching Magazine is here.

The Real James Bond has gotten some marvelous reviews and praise, and I thought it might be helpful to link to as many of them as possible in one spot -- here:

Looking forward to presenting my next Zoom talk on Tuesday, with some new material on 007 in the Adirondacks.

Meet The Real James Bond
A free Zoom talk for
the Southern Adirondack Audubon Society
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 7 pm.

I happened upon this webpage advertising a copy of How 007 Got His Name, signed by both James Bond and his wife, Mary Wickham Bond.

Here's part of the description:

First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author and her husband James Bond on the front free endpaper: "To Sarah and Bill, with Democratic wishes (R-L? or L-R?) from Mary Wickham Bond. April 8 1967" and "From a Republican. James Bond". While copies signed by the author occasionally appear in commerce, those signed by the subject are evidently scarce.

https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/how-007-got-his-name-156034.html

Worth a look!