For fans of the real James Bond and Birds of the West Indies, a mystery still surrounds the very first edition, published in 1936 by the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and printed by the Waverly Press in Baltimore.

The mystery is:  Why was the book published with two different bindings, one gray and the other dull green, with slightly different type on the spine?

The title page for both -- indeed, the entire book -- seems identical in both instances.

The photos are of my two first editions, one in each color.

No one seems to know which was published first, or why a change was made.

The one pictured above has the original dust jacket -- which took me four years to find for sale.

The dust jacket still has $4.50 in pencil -- the original price.

Tomorrow: A great webpage about all the editions of BOTWI.36

Friday: All about the bird on the cover of the 1936 and 1947 editions.

Yesterday: Read the 1936 BOTWI online for free, here.

Last Sunday: Ian Fleming's copy of BOTWI.