Visit
our current catalogue
online
Download
press re
leases
and images
Twitter
@cerimax
P
please
don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
Press
Release
For
immediate release
Vintage
Classics and Bentley Motors create luxury special
edition
to mark 60 years of Casino Royale
Featuring
new introduction from Sir Stirling Moss
‘Bond’s
car was his only personal hobby. One of the last of the 4 ½ litre
Bentleys with the supercharger by Amherst Villiers, he had bought it
almost new in 1933 and had kept it in careful storage throughout the
war… Bond drove it hard and well and with an almost sensual pleasure.’
Ian
Fleming, Casino Royale, 1953
As
part of the James Bond celebrations this week to continue the 60th
anniversary of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino
Royale, it is today announced that Vintage Classics has partnered
with Bentley Motors to create a luxury limited edition of the book
that introduced Special Agent 007 to the world.
The
special edition features an exclusive introduction from racing legend,
Sir Stirling Moss, making it a true collector’s item. Just 500
editions will be produced, each costing £750.
The
Bentley is James Bond’s car of choice in the original Fleming novels
and Ian Fleming was a huge admirer of the Bentley Boys, seduced by
their adventures on the racing track. In his introduction, Sir
Stirling Moss comments: ‘When it came to cars Fleming really knew
his stuff… he must have known that the fabulous pre-war Bentleys won
at Le Mans four years in a row from 1927-30.’ This iconic
edition aims to capture that spirit of adventure and the glamour
associated with these leading British brands.
The
book has been created by designers Kris Potter and Stephen Parker at
Random House, who were inspired following a trip to the Bentley Motors
HQ in Crewe. They comment: ‘We knew that any design we came up with
would have to reflect the incredible craftsmanship and heritage we had
seen in the Bentley cars at Crewe, the challenge for us was how we
could combine this with the coolness and nostalgia of Bond... The
inspiration was endless.’
From
the hand-bound beluga leather casing to distinctive Bentley features
such as hand-stitched embroidery and silver foil page edges, this
special edition of Casino Royale is produced with only the very
finest materials. Its striking red, white and black colouring is a nod
to the gambling theme of Fleming’s first novel, where Bond famously
takes on his adversary, Le Chiffre, over a game of baccarat. A special
feature of this edition is the bespoke set of playing cards, hidden
within a secret compartment.
Key
features of the design:
*
Presented in an elegant leather clamshell case, this edition of
Fleming’s best-loved Bond book is an object of automotive
craftsmanship.
*
The case and special edition are bound in beluga coloured leather,
sourced from the tannery in Italy which provides hides for Bentley’s
interiors.
*
Using Bentley’s craftsmanship, this edition features the iconic
double stitching and signature winged Bentley logo – all hand
stitched on the leather casing.
*
Bentley’s trademark knurling adorns the metal spine. This feature is
inspired by the Bentley steel tread plate.
*
Each book has a limitation marque with Ian Fleming’s signature,
reflecting the plate you would find on a Bentley engine.
*
Throughout each book are evocative brush illustrations by the Award
winning illustrator Damian Gascoigne.
*
Removing the book from the clamshell reveals a hidden compartment.
Within this secret compartment lies a leather-bound case of Bentley
Bond playing cards.
Published
on 13 April 1953 by Jonathan Cape, Casino Royale introduced
James Bond to the world. The first print run of 4,728 copies sold out
within a month. Following this initial success, Fleming went on to
publish a Bond title every year until his death in 1964. It is in
Casino Royale where 007 first utters the immortal line ‘Bond -
James Bond’ and where Bond first reveals his recipe for the famous
Martini cocktail, christened the ‘Vesper’ after the first Bond
girl, Vesper Lynd. The artwork for the original cover was designed by
Fleming himself, decorated with a heart motif to reflect a playing
card.
2013
is an exciting year for Bond publishing. Earlier this year to
celebrate the 60th anniversary of Casino Royale,
Random House –which houses Fleming’s original publisher, Jonathan
Cape - released new editions of Fleming’s non-fiction books Thrilling
Cities and The Diamond Smugglers. Today, Jonathan Cape
published the next authorised James Bond continuation novel, Solo by
William Boyd.
The
book is available from 1st November 2013 exclusively from
Random House and is available to customers globally, excluding the USA
and Philippines. Orders can be placed through a dedicated Random
House phone number.
From
the UK: 01206
255666
From
outside the UK: +44 1206 255666
Quotes
on the design of the special edition
“Bentley
is very pleased to have been asked to get involved in the design of
this very special book. We have worked closely with the team at
Vintage to develop a design that has the same luxurious feel and
quality of finish as the finest cars in the World.” Harry
Cooklin, Marketing Communications Manager, Bentley Motors Ltd:
Tom
Drake-Lee, Vintage Sales Director and Bond Brand Manager:
‘Bentley’s
focus on hand-craftsmanship and their use of high-end materials made
them an irresistible partner for the anniversary special edition of
Casino Royale. It’s a spectacular combination of three of
Britain’s iconic brands – Bond, Bentley and Vintage.’
Statement
from Kris Potter and Stephen Parker, Designers, Random House
‘We
knew that any design we came up with would have to reflect the
incredible craftsmanship and heritage we had seen in the Bentley cars
at Crewe, the challenge for us was how we could combine this with the
coolness and nostalgia of Bond. We were inspired by all the details we
saw at Crewe from the iconic double stitching of the leather interior,
the power-lines of the body work, the machine turned panels,
embroidered head rests, to the bright works of the engraved
tread-plates and the engine limitation plates. The inspiration was
endless.
For
visual references from the book the casino setting seemed an obvious
place to start and we felt there should be a strong visual link to the
imagery associated with casinos and playing baccarat. The colours of
the playing cards, the textures and the excitement of the casino
itself informed our choice of colour palette of black, white and red
of the nine of hearts. As Bond’s fate hangs on the turn of the nine
of hearts card, the idea came to us that if we could hide some playing
cards within the book it would both increase the feeling of
interaction as well as reinforcing the sense of espionage. We wanted
the book to have unexpected elements and a playfulness.
We
wanted to enhance the enjoyment of the book for our readers by
embellishing the pages with evocative brush illustrations.
Award-winning illustrator Damian Gascoigne was commissioned to
highlight key points from the text with simple line, giving the
pages an energy that embodies both the thrill and excitement of
the book. They give glimpses of the plot whilst providing a decorative
balance to the text design.
The
black leather box is a clam shell design of impressive scale when
opened. We wanted this to have real impact and to echo the desire for
the unexpected we had seen at Bentley we chose to line the box with a
shock of red, only visible in a small flash from the outside. The book
itself sits proud from the box and is bound in the same leather
highlighting the craftsmanship of Bentley with the use of embroidery
on the title and logo and the double stitching. Lastly we incorporated
the tread plate design we had seen at Bentley for the spine, which has
its own metal plate set into the leather, this has been echoed on the
page edges with the use of silver foil.
For
the hidden playing cards we wanted to reflect the interior of the cars
and looked to the beautiful machine turned panels that would have been
in the Bentley Blower driven by Bond in the book. We utilised the dark
and light variants to differentiate between the two packs. We wanted
the box containing the cards to have the same red lining as the main
box and again to have that flash of red around the opening.’
ENDS
For
further information please contact:
Ceri
Maxwell, Press Officer, Vintage
CMaxwell@randomhouse.co.uk
+44
20 7840-8459
Notes
to Editors:
·
The
Bentley and Vintage Classics special edition of Casino Royale
will be available from 1st November priced £750.
Pre-orders can be placed by calling a special dedicated phone line:
From
the UK: 01206
255666
From
outside the UK: +44 1206 255666
- Vintage
Publishing, a division of Random House, relaunched Ian Fleming’s
entire James Bond backlist in print and ebook format in the UK in
September 2012
- 2013
is a significant year for Bond, marking 60 years since Ian
Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was
published by Cape in 1953
- Corinne
Turner, Managing Director, Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, is
available for interview through Random House
- Tom
Drake-Lee, Vintage Sales Director and Bond Brand Manager, is
available for interview through Random House
- Kris
Potter and Stephen Parker, Designers, Random House are available
for interview through Random House
- Literary
Agent to Ian Fleming Publications Ltd and William Boyd: Jonny
Geller at Curtis Brown: 0207 393 4492
- Ian
Fleming Publications Ltd is the Fleming family-owned company that
owns the copyright in the Bond books www.ianfleming.com
Bond
Books
- Over
100 million Bond books have been sold (and over half the world’s
population has seen a Bond film!)
- Ian
Fleming wrote 14 James Bond books: Casino Royale,1953; Live
and Let Die,1954; Moonraker,1955; Diamonds Are
Forever,1956; From Russia with Love, 1957; Dr. No,
1958; Goldfinger,1959; For your Eyes Only,1960;
Thunderball, 1961; The Spy Who Loved Me,1962; On
Her Majesty’s Secret Service, 1963; You Only Live Twice, 1964;
The Man With The Golden Gun, 1965 and Octopussy and the
Living Daylights, 1966
- Fleming’s
other works include the children’s favourite, Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang (1964), which was made into a film and stage
musical, The Diamond Smugglers (1957) and a collection of
travel writings called Thrilling Cities (1963)
- The
Ian Fleming centenary was celebrated on 28th May 2008 with the
publication of Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
- Charlie
Higson is the author of the Young Bond books which are published
by Puffin in the UK; Hyperion Books in the US
- Samantha
Weinberg, writing as Kate Westbrook, is the author of the Moneypenny
Diaries published by John Murray in the UK
- Other
previous authors of official James Bond novels include Kingsley
Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson and Jeffery Deaver. The new
James Bond book by William Boyd is published in hardback, ebook
and audio editions on 26 September 2013 by Jonathan Cape, an
imprint of Vintage Publishing, in the UK and Commonwealth, and by
HarperCollins in the US and Canada
Bentley
Motors
For
further information on Bentley please go to www.bentleymedia.com
Twitter
– @BentleyMotorsPR
You Tube – www.youtube.com/bentleymotors
Notes
to editors
1.
Bentley Motors
employs around 4,000 people in Crewe which is home to all its
operations including design, R&D, engineering and production. The
combination of fine craftsmanship, using skills that have been handed
down through generations, alongside engineering expertise and
cutting-edge technology is unique to UK luxury vehicle manufacturers
such as Bentley. It is also an example of high-value British
manufacturing at its best. Bentley exports over £1bn worth of goods
in 2012. The company is the third largest R&D investor in
the UK's automotive sector and the 18th largest nationally.
2.
At the half-year
point in 2013, Bentley’s deliveries to customers increased by nine
per cent to 4,279 cars. The Americas remained Bentley’s largest
sales region with 1,282 cars delivered to customers in the region, up
12 per cent on the same period in 2012. In Europe, deliveries
grew by 22 per cent with 740 cars delivered to customers. In the UK,
698 cars were delivered to customers, a 25 per cent increase on the
first half of 2012. In China 817 cars were delivered to
customers, a 23 per cent decrease, which reflects anticipation of the
new Flying Spur, the top selling Bentley in China, which becomes
available later this year. The Middle East region performed extremely
well with deliveries up 28 per cent to 394 cars. Asia Pacific also had
an outstanding quarter, increasing its deliveries by 53 per cent to
222 cars and Japan saw growth of 28 per cent with 96 deliveries.
