Espionage in Edinburgh

There will be Espionage in Edinburgh this summer following confirmation that the City Art Centre will be the first venue outside London to host Bond Bound - Ian Fleming and the Art of Cover Design, an exhibition on the book art of the world’s most popular spy, Bond… James Bond.

Bond Bound charts the role of artists and designers in creating and defining the Bond look and features book covers, film posters, letters and previously unseen archive material. The exhibition runs 5th July to September 14th.

May 28th 2008 marks the centenary of the birth of Ian Fleming (left) and the launch of Devil May Care, the new bond novel by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming.

City Culture Leader Deidre Brock said, “This is a special year for Bond fans as 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the creator of the world’s favourite secret agent. We are delighted that the Bond Bound is coming to the City Art Centre to help mark this special anniversary.

“It’s a great exhibition and we expect it to be very popular with both the people of Edinburgh and visitors to the city during the busy festival season.”

Stretching back more than half a century, the covers provide revealing snapshots of shifting attitudes to sex, feminism and the changing international climate.

Over 100 million copies of the Bond novels have been sold worldwide and the suave secret agent has been the inspiration for many cover designers, including Dutch artist Dick Bruna, creator of the much loved Miffy series, who produced the covers for the Dutch editions.

The exhibition comes right up to date and includes artwork from Charlie Higson’s Young Bond series and The Moneypenny Diaries by Samantha Weinberg.

The exhibition runs at City Art Centre from 5th July to September 14th. Admission is £5 adult / £3.50 concessions / £2.50 children.

Penguin also releases a new hardback edition of all of Fleming’s classic Bond books with new covers created by the designers Michael Gillette and Jon Gray. See Amazon’s dedicated Bond Store of books and audio books