Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service was apparently serialized in the California Weekly People supplement of the San Francisco Examiner. The first six chapters appeared in the Jan 26th, 1964 issue. The cover of the supplement measures about 14.75 x 10.7 and featured very cool graphics, including a fabulous color illustration of the beach scene by (I believe) house editorial cartoonist, Ken Alexander. They also reproduced the familiar "A James Bond Thriller" type-logo from the Signet book-cover designs of the era. Inside, Alexander contributed five other illustrations (two in full color). Alexander died at age 87 in May 2012. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was famously serialized in Playboy in 1963, and later adapted as a comic strip in the UK in 1964 by John McLusky. I shared this significant eBay find with Jon Gilbert, author of Ian Fleming: The Bibliography. Neither of us had ever seen it and were quite excited! In the end, the paper sold for just over $200. It was hard to let it go, but I am determined to track down a copy at an affordable price in the future. I'd love to use it for a project I am working on! For historical purposes, the scans from the auction are below (click to enlarge). I send my congratulations to my fellow Ian Fleming collector out there. I wish I shared your deep pockets today, but I also share your excitement in adding this piece to your collection. Have any Spy Vibers ever seen this edition before?
For Your Shelf Only, where guests share stories about collecting and show us some of their treasures. You can find most of the series links here: Jon Gilbert, Raymond Benson, Jeremy Duns, Peter Lorenz, David Foster, Rob Mallows, Roger Langley, Craig Arthur, Fleming Short, Matt Sherman, Alan Stephenson. Check out my books Counting Sheep and Mort Walker Conversations. You can find James Bond books and other spy treasures in Spy Vibe's secure Amazon Store.
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